'Homam' Review: Something New That Appeals A Few

Film: Homam Rating: 2.5/5 Banner: Sreya Productions Cast: Jagapathi Babu, Mamata Mohandas, JD Chekravarthy, Pradeep Rawat, Manish Manjrekar, Madhurima, MS Narayana, Brahmaji, Raja Raveendra etc Music: Nitin-JD Chakravarthy Editing: Bhanodaya Cinematography: Bharani K Dharan Lyrics: Suddala Ashok Teja Director: JD Chakravarthy Producer: Kiran Kumar Koneru Released On: 28 August 2008 The long awaited film 'Homam' released finally today. Let us see how it has gone with the taste of the audiences. Story: Malli (Jagapathi Babu) is the son of a criminal. He wishes to become police officer but his family background keeps him away from entering police department. A sincere police cop Vishwanath (Pradeep Rawat) makes him an under cover cop. And thus Malli joins the gang of a big gangster Daddy (Manish Manjrekar) and becomes a covert. On the other hand Chandu (JD Chekravarthy) is a helper to Daddy's gang who joins police department and works for Daddy. Mahi (Mamatha Mohandas) is a doctor who falls in love with Malli. The other girl (Madhurima) becomes the love interest to Chandu. The turmoil starts between Chandu and Malli in second half and finally who wins on who becomes the climax. Performances: Jagapathi Babu performed in his stereotype style blending both action and sentiment. Mamatha Mohandas has nothing big to play and same applies for Madhurima. JD Chekravarthy attempted to act in 'open style' without any inhibitions (he appears in underwear in a couple of scenes). Pradeep Rawat, well known notorious face on Telugu screen has played a positive role. Manish Manjrekar presented villainy well. MS Narayana's comedy with Hindi brought laughs to some extent. Dialogues are ok to large extent. Lyrics are very weak and music killed the words as usually. Action sequences are also not that convincing and impressive. And coming to JD Chekravarthy, as he has taken the 'Departed' directly, he got some saving grace with creativity in story development. He tried to show something different but that difference may not appeal for all sets of audiences. Analysis: The movie is directly taken from Hollywood flick 'Departed' and the climax is changed where it appeared to have dragged. Screenplay chosen for this film is something new and at the same time it becomes hard nut to bite for majority of Telugu audiences. Many scenes have lost required punch, which Telugu audiences anticipate, due to this screenplay model. Music in songs is very weak in the film while the background score is ok. Especially the first song sounds strange for the variety in it. While some enjoy some others discard it with disgust. And the much hyped and publicized steamy song on Mamatha Mohandas is not seen in the film. Probably it adds to the film only after 10 days to get mileage. Sakshi Sivanand's item song conducted heat to the screen. First half of the movie goes with crispness while the second half is dragged to some extent. On a whole, the film may gel well only with patient audiences those can get connected to variety. And the mass audience like little comedy sprinkled by MS Narayana but not the narration style. The title 'Marana Homam' was flashed on screen at the end of the movie. It is the sequel that is going to release on October 9th tentatively.