Writer Acharya atreya writes very sadly and at the same it makes tears in my eyes especially the song "kalanaidi" makes very strong impact simply a good film in telugu
2 Reviews
Excellent drama
yaswanthcrazy1 April 2020
Light and Shadows in life
VamsiDS28 September 2014
Warning: Spoilers
The great french director François Truffaut once said," I demand that a film express either the joy of making cinema or the agony of making cinema. I am not at all interested in anything in between; I am not interested in all those films that do not pulse". This movie is about both the joy and agony of its people who are caught in a cycle of happiness and sorrow created by their own thoughts and actions. Velugu Needalu is pure, simple, deep and true as life itself is. Its characters try to make their life and life of others around them happier and easier but TIME has its way eventually.
The movie starts of by taking us into the house of Venkatramaiah (SV Rangarao) and Kanaka durga (Suryakantham) who have adopted Suguna from durga's sister as she died. Kanaka durga takes care of her adopted daughter very well but as soon as she finds out that she gonna have a child of her own she starts to hate her. This establishes Durga as a very single dimensional character which she remains till the end. She can only think as far as her husband and daughter and nothing more. And since she is so monotonously single dimensional no one takes her seriously and their reactions towards her are often comical indicating that they don't really care for what she has to say.
Venkatramaiah reluctantly allows suguna to be brought up by Vengalappa ( Relangi) and his wife. And we soon see Suguna (Savitri) is in college and studying her final year of MBBS. Her classmate is Chandram (ANR) who is also a good poet. Now as plot unfolds they both get to know each other and fall in love. This is where the characters deepen. I am not going to spoil it for you. The acts made by one for the other to be happy ends up creating more pain to the other, as in life time and the tenderness of our human body takes its toll. Nothing lasts forever but when it lasts it seems as though it will. These themes are perfectly blended in the story in a very subtle and beautiful way by director Adurti Subbarao and writer Athreya. Take example of the scene where Raghu (Jagayya) dies of car accident. The same scene made today would have been made out of graphics and gravity defying acts but it is done in this film using some brilliant editing which clearly shows how such an incident takes place at a frantic pace and its over before you know something as happened. Also take the scene where Varalakshmi ( Girija) has to decide between her husband or her parents. Her train of thought is so clearly shown by a long shot of the whole bungalow, then her whole family and finally her and her husband. Viewers may not understand this directly but this works on every viewer on a subconscious level.
One of the best scene in the movie comes when chandram meets suguna after raghu dies. The director shows only the shadow of savitri indicating that she is only a shadow of herself since last he met her. As soon as chandram turns towards her in agony you already know that he feels somehow guilty of everything that has happened and cannot process it at all. That how well developed the characters are in that scene.
Another theme which the director expresses is that the old must give way to the young. Here Venkatramaiah who is the owner of a press which is run in an old fashioned way. He must give way to chandram who has modern ideals but this isn't a easy thing to do. When the things go against Venkatramaiah he furiously defends his position. I found the character of venkatramaiah most interesting as when chips turn against him he does the exact opposite thing of what you expect him to do which makes him all the more true and deep. Its not easy to create such a character as one can easily get lost by just going with the flow.
The performances are top notch ( may be a little dramatic but true any way). And the songs offers a brilliant way of dwelling into the depths of thoughts of the characters. Velugu Needalu is a beautiful masterpiece which will stand the test of time (unlike happiness and sorrow).
The movie starts of by taking us into the house of Venkatramaiah (SV Rangarao) and Kanaka durga (Suryakantham) who have adopted Suguna from durga's sister as she died. Kanaka durga takes care of her adopted daughter very well but as soon as she finds out that she gonna have a child of her own she starts to hate her. This establishes Durga as a very single dimensional character which she remains till the end. She can only think as far as her husband and daughter and nothing more. And since she is so monotonously single dimensional no one takes her seriously and their reactions towards her are often comical indicating that they don't really care for what she has to say.
Venkatramaiah reluctantly allows suguna to be brought up by Vengalappa ( Relangi) and his wife. And we soon see Suguna (Savitri) is in college and studying her final year of MBBS. Her classmate is Chandram (ANR) who is also a good poet. Now as plot unfolds they both get to know each other and fall in love. This is where the characters deepen. I am not going to spoil it for you. The acts made by one for the other to be happy ends up creating more pain to the other, as in life time and the tenderness of our human body takes its toll. Nothing lasts forever but when it lasts it seems as though it will. These themes are perfectly blended in the story in a very subtle and beautiful way by director Adurti Subbarao and writer Athreya. Take example of the scene where Raghu (Jagayya) dies of car accident. The same scene made today would have been made out of graphics and gravity defying acts but it is done in this film using some brilliant editing which clearly shows how such an incident takes place at a frantic pace and its over before you know something as happened. Also take the scene where Varalakshmi ( Girija) has to decide between her husband or her parents. Her train of thought is so clearly shown by a long shot of the whole bungalow, then her whole family and finally her and her husband. Viewers may not understand this directly but this works on every viewer on a subconscious level.
One of the best scene in the movie comes when chandram meets suguna after raghu dies. The director shows only the shadow of savitri indicating that she is only a shadow of herself since last he met her. As soon as chandram turns towards her in agony you already know that he feels somehow guilty of everything that has happened and cannot process it at all. That how well developed the characters are in that scene.
Another theme which the director expresses is that the old must give way to the young. Here Venkatramaiah who is the owner of a press which is run in an old fashioned way. He must give way to chandram who has modern ideals but this isn't a easy thing to do. When the things go against Venkatramaiah he furiously defends his position. I found the character of venkatramaiah most interesting as when chips turn against him he does the exact opposite thing of what you expect him to do which makes him all the more true and deep. Its not easy to create such a character as one can easily get lost by just going with the flow.
The performances are top notch ( may be a little dramatic but true any way). And the songs offers a brilliant way of dwelling into the depths of thoughts of the characters. Velugu Needalu is a beautiful masterpiece which will stand the test of time (unlike happiness and sorrow).
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