Stalin

the movie is not bad, the subject and the message is awesome. Though murugadass is an excellent director but for this movie he has been below average. there is no much specialty in any of the field direction, acting, music nothing. but anyhow the movie is okay and worth watching ones. i being a big fan of chiru am not satisfied. main cause for the film to not run well is the music, mani sharma has been very bad and music is the main draw back. but any how the message of helping any three members and asking them to help three more is an excellent idea and i think that should be accepted by all. that message is the best in movie. this is not the best of chiru but is one in the average.

We saw it with Russian subtitles; translation by Ushki.

It's a drama-comedy-action-musical movie that combines all the parts in equal proportions. And this time the drama is kinda more real than artificial.

The protagonist being called Stalin adds additional drollness to this film. Though, i don't think it was an ironic decision.

The lead is Chiranjeevi (Alluda Majaka), the villain is Prakash Raj (Singham, Singam, Wanted), in a secondary role there's Sunil (Maryada Ramanna, Magadheera), in episodic appearances there're Mukesh Rishi (Koi... Mil Gaya, Singam 2, Rebel) and Brahmanandam (everything).

The cinematography is that of a 2000s kid's first digital video project - a lot of most basic frame manipulation, and delivered very fast. The action looks fun, but it's of lower-medium budget. I think this is the first bharat film where the dance choreography has impressed me for one reason or another. The main theme is the best song but it isn't present on the soundtrack album.

We saw it in London.

Usually if any Chiranjeevi's movie is released, there is a festival period for online and print media. This kind of situation was at sky high for 'Stalin' as well. I will write on 'Stalin' in next paragraph after some general observations. I find Chiranjeevi is a versatile mass hero in India like Amitabh Bachan. Like Chiru, Amitabh is also acted in both classical and pure mass masala movies. I participate in discussions with friends and family members about telugu movies, because we watch movies not only of Chiru but other telugu movies acted by other popular hero's. Overall, I personally believe Nagarjuna and Chiranjeevi have been successfully able to reach masses in Andhra Pradesh by their good off-screen communication skills. In fact both of them are choosing their movies (in the recent period) which have either devotional framework or society concern. I deny that Chiranjeevi ignored message oriented movies in his earlier days. He did extraordinary youth message movies like Challenge (direction: Kodanda Rami Reddy) etc, but that time he didn't had such following which he enjoys today. For me 'Stalin' climax fights resemble that of his movie 'Challenge'. Sri Ramadasu by Nagarjuna is truly thought provoking movie by any standards.

Some of the reviews have suggested direction of Murugadoss in stalin was not up to the standard of his previous movies. But, I think Murugadoss did a very good job and he is very successful to live up to the image of our megastar. The message in the movie is clear. Such messages can be entered into public minds and possible social change only if a stature of Chiranjeevi shows them on screen. In this aspect the movie is a great attempt. Roughly Chiru might have fan following anywhere between 3.6 and 5.4 crores in Andhra Pradesh alone. I am not biased for him, because I watch movies by all major hero's and appreciate good movies. Next best fan following in Andhra Pradesh might be somewhere between 1 and 2 crores for any other hero (excluding Sr NTR and ANR). It is worth to watch 'Stalin' with all the family members. We all came out of the movie with a very positive mind. Songs are not very catchy, but this I believe helped a lot on concentrating on the movie and its theme. Stunts and picturisation is super! Overall, 'Stalin' sets a trend in recent Indian cinema.

In Hollywood movies, if mass heros like Arnold or Bruce Willie does super stunts people accept, but heros like Kevin Costner or Tom Hanks do super stunts then people do not accept. Similarly, some stunts in 'Stalin' although might sound impossible, but is fine to have such for a hero who enjoy huge mass support.

High-Voltage movie with Chiru's gr8 performance. Gr8 message to the people and to the fans of Chiru. Ifs full of Chiru show and he did it perfect. Trisha done well with her character. Movie is going to be biggest hit of South India. Murugadoss proved his talent by this movie again. Songs and fights are excellent by Chiru. The movie will collect more than 50 crore. The music by Manisarma is very good. All characters in the movie performed very nice in their parts. Sunil done well at the climax scenes and in comedy scenes. Prakash raj acted as the senior politician and showed a greatest performance as an 80 year old man. Finally one will feel by saying a good movie. Stalin rocks.

Mega Star and Padmabhushan Chiranjeevi, who gave sensational message-oriented hit films like 'Indra' and 'Tagore' has again set another new record with his latest flick 'Stalin' directed by Murugadoss and produced by K Nagendrababu. The film was released across the world with 400 prints and is being screened in over 550 theatres world-over from September 20. The film is creating new records in terms of collections. 'Stalin' had collected over Rs 6 crore share on the first day itself, which is a record in the history of Indian film industry. The film had collected Rs 17 crores in total as the share for the first one week, which is a new record in the south Indian film industry. The details of shares area-wise is as follows:

Share in Rs: Nizam – 4,77,58,538, Ceded – 3,01,72,331, north Andhra – 1,70,36,726, East –1,03,12,910, West – 80,87,091, Krishna – 1,02,68,710, Guntur – 1,16,22,106, Karnataka – 1,42,54,267, Overseas – 1,51,02,628, Tamil Nadu – 26,02,124, North India –32,67,801. All put together the total share is 17,66,91,156.

Story

Stalin (Chiranjeevi) is an ex-military man who spends his time in helping people. He usually gets peeved that the apathy in the society and how it affects in turn. He wants to bring change in the society by implementing a simple formula of extending unconditional help to those are in need. The rest of the story is all about how he transforms the society with that simple formula.

Artists Performance

Chiranjeevi:

Story of this nature needs an actor with lot of off screen influence. Chiranjeevi's reputation as man of social service helps the credibility of the character. Chiranjeevi did extremely well in emotional scenes. His dances in Parare and Tauba songs are very good. There is a good comedy episode with heroine in the beginning of second half.

Others:

Trisha is lovable in a small role and her comedy timing is good, as usual. But her role is not a part of the main story. Prakash Raj acted as a senior politician and he is good with Nellore dialect. Sunil steals the show with an emotional performance in climax. You will see different Sunil in that scene. Kushboo is neat as sister of hero. Mukesh Rushi and Pradeep Rawat are good in their roles. Sarada and Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao are adequate. Anushka did an item song.

Technical Departments:

Story - screenplay - Direction: The basic thread of one helping three people is inspired by the Hollywood film 'Pay It Forward'. The director added a conflict thread in the form of Prakash Raj and made it sure that the 'pay it forward' concept converges with the villain thread in climax. The director Muruga Doss exploited the humanitarian angle very well. But he could not fuse other threads (sentiment and action) of the film in a convincing manner. The screenplay should have been better. There are certain episodes in the film that touches your hearts like the race of physically challenged people. At the same time there is a brainy action episode (well - oil tanker).

Other departments:

Music by Mani Sharma is average. It sounds good on screen with visuals. I personally liked 'Siggutho Chichi' and 'Suryude' songs. The crowds liked 'Parare Parare' and 'Tauba Tauba'. Dialogues by Paruchuri brothers are adequate. Cinematography by Chota K Naidu is good except for a couple of scenes in fight sequences. Fights by Kanal Kannan are superficial with lot of thread work. Producers Nagababu and B Madhu should be commended for coming up with a film that has social relevance and humanity aspect.

Analysis:

First half of the film is pretty mediocre as there is no conflict thread in terms of villain. Second half is better from the moment villain enters the scene. The last 20 minutes of the film stands out with very good emotions. There are ups and downs in the film with logic missing in some scenes. The human element of altruism deserves an appreciation. Stalin stands as an example of how a good climax can change the fortune of a film. Stalin is worth a watch for humanitarian aspect and an emotional climax.