Komaram Puli : Pawan Kalyan Puli ends up being Powerless !!!

It has been almost three years since Pawan Kalyan’s ‘Jalsa’ released. After innumerable delays, court cases and technical glitches his ‘Komaram Puli’ is said to be releasing with 480 prints across 1000 theaters worldwide. It’s got director S.J.Suryaah, whose earlier film with Pawan Kalyan – ‘Khushi’ set the box office on fire.

It’s got A.R.Rahman’s music, Binod Pradhan’s cinematography, a new heroine and a producer who is said to have spent Rs. 42 crore. Will the tiger roar? Komaran Puli is all about how these ingredients were mixed to finally dish out a powerless and tasteless dish!!!

Komaram Puli (Pawan Kalyan) is born in extreme conditions. However, his mom (Saranya), whose police officer husband has been killed by Al Saleem, brings him up to be as fearless as a tiger. Puli becomes a special police officer in Prime Minister’s security and manages to save the PM’s life. He is granted permission to take on crime directly in the state with his personal team.

Here he happens to have a tiff with Al Saleem, though both are unaware of who the other is and what ‘connection’ they have. Puli hurts the ego of Al Saleem, getting him to do mistakes and more mistakes. But Al Saleem is clever too. What he does, how Komaram Puli overcomes Al Saleem, and what he speaks to the world forms the rest of the story.

Pawan Kalyan looks like he is in the character, though he got a bit chubby (Never mind because the girls will like him!) Saranya acts well in the mother’s role. Nikesha Patel has a nice entry into films in India. There are certain scenes that connect to the audiences thoroughly. Master Bharath, who has got a very small role, got the most number of claps for his act.

is role conveys that even a child knows who the villains in a state or a country are. But on the whole the entire film is Pawan Kalyan’s one man show. He talks, entertains, fights, does comedy and everything that is there to be done! There are certain interesting points that Pawan Kalyan brings up in his dialogues.

It is the way the dialogues are delivered that spoils the gist of what is being said. The characters are too vocal and their dialogues are too loud. The story is clichéd, running mostly on contrived scenes. Visual Effects or graphics should have been dealt better. While the fight scenes are interesting in certain situations, they are not as consistently entertaining as one would expect.

The biggest problem with the film is that Pawan Kalyan has got five or six long monologues, there is one for Saranya, and another one for Manoj Bajpai too. Manoj Bajpai ends up being a caricature as he reminds us of Ashish Vidyarthi, and sometimes Subbarju from ‘Pokiri’! His silent expressions and sarcastic laughs are good though.

First lesson for Suryaah – don’t tell a cop story if you don’t know how. Second. Don’t use graphics if they don’t integrate into your story. And most importantly use star power to make the character stronger not the other way around. Suryaah’s story has so many holes that you could drive a truck through it.

The most gaping hole is the romance track. NikishaPatel is annoying. And that has got nothing to do with her poor dubbing or her baby fat. And then he wastes talents of the likes of Nassar and Manoj Bajpai. If you can’t make them act, what defense do you have to wield a megaphone for a Pawan starrer.

The next disappointment is A.R. Rahman’s musical track. He has to get over his Vandemataram and Maa Tuhe salaam hangover. Sippy’s punch dialogues are another big let down – something that should never happen in a Pawan film. Puli fails in a couple of areas with the main culprit being the lack of focus on the cop angle.

Director Surya tries hard to make a story of an idealist cop but falters by bringing in the one-sided romantic track which dilutes most of the first half. The other main culprit is villain’s character which is poorly sketched out by Manoj Bajpai. Saleem’s character that should have had cunning & aggression to counter Puli’s intensity & passion instead ends up being comical in most parts.

Nikisha Patel makes a forgettable debut in her bimbette act while Ali & Bhramaji are wasted in miniscule roles. Shriya’s item number alongwith her two minute role seems to be forced into the screenplay. The other laughable and unbelievable part is the Puli Team who despite their hi-fi fancy equipment and special powers is unable to identify the terrorist who is a part of their core team.

The songs look extremely rich, Sriya’s ‘Dochey’ being the best. Editing is sloppy. One wonders if there were issues with certain frames, because the pictures (only in few frames) appear too dotted for one’s comfort. Only the film makers should know if it was intentional! Music by A.R.Rahman has been declared a hit.

He and the cinematographer Binod Pradhan help elevate Pawan Kalyan. S.J.Suryaah had an inconsistent run through out his career, dotted with hits and failures. He should learn to balance it, the sooner the better. Tinu Varma and Vijayan’s stunts are good in patches. Graphics by Pixelloid could have been better. The editing though is a big let down.

The rest of the technical team go through the motions of capturing content. One thing is for sure. The enormous budgets spoken off are not reflected in the end product and that is something that the Telugu film industry itself should note. Loudness works but not all the time. Romance has naughty side to it but not all the time.

A villain can be egoistic, but he wouldn’t become a villain if he was a fool in the first place. Komaram Puli’ has its good moments, but it is the bad moments that out number the good ones by a huge margin. The film will survive only if the fans want it to. Even die-hard fans of Pawan will find it difficult to sit through the film.

The director should have stuck to making a realistic film about the cop and his quest for justice instead of bringing in unnecessary sub-plots & dragging it to a predictable climax. Suryaah’s inept handling has sunk it. He spent more money on Pawan’s image than Puli’s character. ‘Komaram Puli’ could have been a great film.

But Suryaah wanted the easy way out. He thought that allhe had to do was rope in a big star and spend big money to ensure success. The foreign locations, expensive sets and weak villainy don’t just add to an entertaining experience. Unfortunately that’s not the route that leads you to success.

Numerous references are made to the Power Star tag throughout the film with the best analogy being the “Simha” & “Star” symbols on a cop’s uniform being equated to the Power Star!!!

CEO forum

Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday asked the industry not to nurse fears of lack of peace in separate Telangana and said his party would take all steps to promote and protect industrialisation.

Asked to spell out his industrial policy for Telangana in the present scenario of uncertainty, Mr. Rao assured the India CEO forum of research body International Market Assessment (IMA) that peace was permanent in Telangana though the State was passing through a phase of uncertainty.

The situation arose only on account of integrated State, he said in his interaction with participants after making a presentation to them. Emphasising that peace had never been a casualty, Mr. Rao said the State witnessed a volatile situation since his hunger strike in December last which was the result of a counter agitation in coastal districts.

This was stated by TRS leaders who accompanied Mr. Rao to the meeting, which was out of bounds for the media. The TRS chief expressed his resolve to welcome investments but warned that there should be transparency in all transactions. The party would extend all concessions as per the law of land but expected the industry to cooperate in developing the area.

This was missing in the last five years when the industry claimed huge chunks of land and other benefits. Answering a question on the impact of naxalism on industry, he said the problem was a consequence of backwardness which had roots in neglect of Telangana in the integrated State. The problem would die down like in Jagtial, once a disturbed area, where canal water made all the difference.

The answer to naxalism was development which was bound to be faster in Telangana which had rich natural resources. In this context, he referred to Planning Commission reports suggesting higher rate of growth in Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand than their parent States. Smaller the unit, greater the growth, he added.

Mr. Rao dismissed the proposal of Hyderabad as a Union Territory saying it was thoughtless and would not be accepted at any cost. After all, Mumbai did not go to Gujarat when that State was carved out. To a question on the likely developments after December 31, he said the New Year would herald the emergence of separate Telangana as the Srikrishna Committee would submit a positive report on Statehood.

His interaction was followed by a power point presentation by his son and Sircilla MLA K.T. Rama Rao. Prof. K. Jayashankar and Mr. Rao later answered questions from the participants.

The top 10 reasons why you and everyone else needs to take breaks from time to time.

1. Your body needs to relax

As simple as it may sound, everybody needs to slow down once in a while. As much as some of us want to believe we can work through anything, we are human and our bodies and minds do need to rest. You can only keep going on fumes for so long. It’s even harder if you quit caffeine!

The other thing to remember is that it takes a bit of time to unwind. Weekends aren’t really enough to catch your breath. Even a one week holiday barely gives you enough time to unwind. Most people find that they finally really start to relax after a few to several days of rest, which means by the end of a week you’re finally starting to truly relax. It’s generally not until the second week of holidays that you really relax and benefit from your holidays. Unfortunately for a lot of us, it’s very difficult to take more than a week at a time of holidays.

And just taking a day off here and there is definitely not enough, sometimes you truly need to take some time to slow down your pace. It’s amazing the difference it can make. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that one day off is enough to fully recharge, it’s not. It’s a good start, but that’s all it really is. I view it as more of someone drowning and being able to get a grasp of air. It’s not enough to save you, but it sure does feel great!

2. Get new perspectives

If you never take a step back, you’re always going to be looking at it from the same angle. Taking a break or a holiday gives you the opportunity to take a step back and look at what your doing from a different perspective.

It’s amazing what a little difference in perspective can make. The theory of relativity is really just looking at the world from a different viewpoint. Instead of everything being absolute, Einstein basically realized that everything is relative. In other words we move relative to others, not from an absolute point in space. A simple little difference in perspective lead to a massive improvement in physics. That simple change in perspective completely changed how we view the world and lead to incredible discoveries.

While you probably won’t make the same level of groundbreaking discoveries as Einstein did, it may be enough to give you a significant boost in whatever it is you’re doing. I know being an entrepreneur sometimes I have to look at how I run my business from the outside, otherwise I would just keep doing more and more of the same. Looking from the outside allows me the opportunity to grow when and how I least expect.

3. Appreciate what you have

Like anything, if you do it too much, you start to lose your appreciation for it. For example, imagine if everyday someone did your laundry, cooked all your meals, and so on. After a while you would start to lose your appreciation for everything that’s done for you, it would almost become an expectation. Many hilarious Hollywood movies are based on this single idea.

It’s not until you stop getting the benefits that you really appreciate what you had and lost. For me blogging had become somewhat of a chore and I was no longer appreciating the benefits. And after writing for many years on a regular basis, I kinda got use to it. Once I stopped, about a few weeks into it, I started to want to write again. And the more I wanted it, the more I appreciated that I had the opportunity. And so instead of blogging being a chore as it had eventually become, it’s now something I really look forward to!

4. Improve the quality of your work

Generally if you do something a lot, you start to get lazy with it. A good example is a business manager or entrepreneur that’s had a nice growth and success history. After a few years of getting lots of good results, they may start to slack off a bit on their work because everything is going well. They have the midas touch. That or they’re getting so busy they start to take shortcuts. And unfortunately they may be able to get away with it for some time, riding on their previous successes. The bad news is that eventually it will catch up, and that’s when bad things happen. We’ve all heard stories of people who had it but then road the wave until they crashed.

For whatever reason, I find that when I take a good break, I have a tendency to ramp back up my quality of work. When you come back, you want everything to be done as best as you can. Things that you’d let slide you now address. Of course we always have to be careful about doing busy work just to be busy (like making sure your email inbox is completely clean). It’s just that in many cases you feel refreshed enough to address some of those bigger issues head on rather than deferring them where before you would defer them as much as you can. You’re up to dealing with the hard issues.

5. Disconnect to relearn how to focus

It’s amazing how good it can be to disconnect. Turn off your cell phone. Step away from your emails. Instead of always being on, multitasking like a mad person, it’s great to be able to relearn to focus.

We’re so used to constant distractions in our day and age that we forget how intrusive they can really be. After you’re disconnected for a while, you start to realize how many of those distractions are really just disruptions. You don’t need to receive all your emails right away. You don’t need to address every issue right now. You don’t need to respond to every email this minute. The world doesn’t come to a grinding halt! It’s good to remember that once in a while.

6. Discover and learn new things

How often can we just take the time to learn new things which will in turn make us that much more productive? To be quite frank, most people just keep doing things the same way because of two reasons.

The first is because they’ve always done it that way and they always will. It’s easy and they’re comfortable with the way they are doing things.

The second reason is that they just don’t have the time to learn anything new. That, or in my opinion, they don’t take the time. That is to say they don’t really understand the value of learning.

For example in software development I believe it’s crucial that you investigate your possible solutions before jumping on what you know. Sometimes the difference can be an order of magnitude increase in productivity. Not always, but often the difference in productivity is staggering. This of course doesn’t mean research everything to death, but do take the time to look at alternative options. You might be surprised more often than you think.

This is also partially where you can get the sunk cost effect. Basically the sunk cost effect is where you keep going the same path because that’s what you’ve always done and have invested large amounts of effort and/or money to get it working. In technology, this may be where you create a framework and stick to it regardless of where the programming world is going, or even how badly it’s working out. At some point alternatives and much better solutions come around, but forcing your people to stay to a specific solution because it’s worked in the past and because you have a large system built on it isn’t always the best solution.

As a quick tip, this is why I strongly believe all companies have limited lifespans. Eventually companies get stuck in some way or other due to the sunk cost effect, and they either collapse under their own weight or another new company eclipses them by leveraging a better and more productive way of doing things. As the cliche goes, out with the old in with the new.

7. Create a strategy for the future

When we’re in the thick of it we rarely take the time to create strategies for what we’re doing. We’re mostly just acting and reacting. Rarely do we plan and strategize. It’s generally only when we take a break that we can really do this.

My favorite example for this is video gaming. Before you start a video game, especially multiplayer games, you prepare your strategy. Then you try to execute it. Rarely do you adjust your strategy in the middle of a game. You’ll sometimes make tweaks to it between games, but often they won’t be very significant. It’s not really until the time between when you end your gaming session and you restart your next gaming session that you really take the time to plan what you’re going to do. That’s when you think about what you’ve done, and what you can do to improve your gameplay.

The same is true for almost everything in life. When you’re in the thick of it you’re too busy dealing with the situation. It’s generally only after the fires have been squelched that you figure out what happened, and look at how you can prevent it for the future.

8. Spend more time with family and friends

As though it wasn’t obvious enough, we’re probably all guilty of working too much. As much as I try to balance work and play, I’m sure I work too much. So taking a break is a good time to improve that balance.

And if you think you aren’t working too much, let me ask you this: On your death bed, will you ever tell yourself you should’ve worked more? Never have I heard of an instance of someone regretting not working enough. All you hear are stories of people regretting they worked too much and didn’t spend enough time with their families. Ask yourself right now, if you only had one week left to live, what would you do? I doubt your answer would be to work 24/7 for that week. Most likely you would completely skip working. That says it all right there!

9. Catch up on much needed sleep

A really weird thing I found is that when I take a holiday, I always get a lot more sleep. Suddenly instead of sleeping 4-6 hours a day, I start sleeping 8-10 hours a day, sometimes more. Why is that? I would assume because my body naturally needs more sleep than I allow it to take. I make no mistake about it, I am in no way hiding the fact that I’m fooling myself into thinking I can do this and get away with it. No one can. Eventually something has to give.

10. Improve your health

And last but not least, it’s a good chance to improve your health. Go outside and get some sun. Exercise. Ride a bike. Take a walk. Swim. Go for a hike. Whatever activity you prefer, it’s a good time to do it. We’re almost all guilty of not exercising enough. And although exercising during a holiday is not enough, it’s better than nothing. Plus, if you’re lucky you’ll continue doing it for a long time after you come back from your holiday.