My weekend with "Kick"

Some of you might Know that I had wanted to watch a telugu movie in hyderabad even before i came to this place. Also i wanted to try out some authentic andhra cuisine before going back to chennai. Yesterday(May 10th) happened to be the last weekend of my stay in Hyderabad and yesterday also happened to be the day when both of the above wishes came true!
I had been making some noises about this for a while and my good friend Sumanoj made a neat plan to make me realise them. Our first stop was the PVR movie theatres in Hyderabad central,PanjaGutta. Suman had booked tickets for the telugu movie "Kick",featuring Ravi Teja and Ileana.I have already had the experience of watching a really horrible movie called "Khatarnak" featuring these two,so i was a bit scared when i heard about the booking.But Sumanoj assured me that the movie was the "most bearable" of the lot which had released during the recent times.
We entered the theatre as the names started rolling after stocking ourselves with liberal amounts of pop-corn and pepsi.So we missed the all important scene of Ileana performing Yoga moves, due to the delay.Now! Dont act so innocent and ask what relevance does it have to the story......Its just that ..It was "Ileana" and she was performing Yoga!!!..Enough said!


I am sure you guys wont be so naive as to ask me what is the story of this movie! One doesnt go to watch "Kick" if he/she wants a story.One settles with one of satyajit ray's movies or one of those movies from the regional language movie feature in DD on sundays,if he wants a story.Better still,One borrows some pirate DVDs of some Korean,Iranian or some other movie from a God forsaken corner of the world,if he wants a story. You might actually not understand any story from the movie ,but you can always talk volumes of how great the movie was and make up any story that comes to your mind! They cant tell the difference.Anyway! Iam digressing!


The movie starts with Actor Shaam coming to Malaysia to meet Ileana.They meet up in a train,as arranged by their parents to have some chat and decide whether they can go ahead with the marital alliance.And thats when Ileana starts narrating her failed love affair.

Thus starts the flash back and in comes Ravi Teja! He is this most freaky,most irresponsible,most crazy guy who goes around doing whatever he wants for the sake of "Kick".The narration starts with him informing the parents of his friends about a probable elopement and then helping them get married at the same time!!Needless to say our hot looking heroine falls in love with this crazy guy!!I mean! Thats expected right?! The good looking smart girls always fall for some crazy guy,eve teaser,mentally imbalanced,"child like"(dumb),violent rowdy etc etc..So the love story flourishes with crazy antics from Ravi Teja and ends when Ileana realises that he has been interested just for the "kicks" and not reallllllly in love with her!!(Duh...what a bulb!)
And thats when Shaam starts his flashback!!No..no!This is not another failed love affair! This is about a criminal who has been outwitting him and has been driving him crazy with his clues and hints!Surprise Surprise!! The audience get to know that the clever criminal is none other than our Ravi Teja!And ...We get to know that he is in Malaysia for some reason.The movie breaks into an intermission!!
If your eyes balls are rolling and your heads are spinning already i will save you from the drudgery of reading about the remaining story(?!).


Ravi Teja fits the role of a idiotic yet intelligent, carefree yet meticulous, crazy yet deep character perfectly! I got to say that he has enough screen presence to make you laugh and smile at his antics! And one couldnt hate him all that much inspite of his non-heroic, non-serious characterisation.


Ileana plays the role of I_am_a_hot_intelligent_girl_but_i _will_fall_for_an_idiot role to perfection!!I guess being a girl helps play it so naturally.(obviously! :-S).Her acting(?!) seems to have improved just a little bit since i saw her in "Khatarnak".She is a just a little more bearable during her exaggerated outbursts.


Shaam occupies a lot of frames in this movie.I have always felt that he has been an unlucky actor and I felt the same in this movie too.He is stylish,manly and all
brisk and serious ,as he moves around with assurance as a police officer all through the movie!I wont be surprised if his female fans base increases some more after this movie.The guy deserves it totally.


The biggest strength of the movie is the light mood that has been maintained all through the movie.There are ample comedy scenes in the movie not just from the lead characters but also from a handful of regular comedy actors whom i have seen in the other telugu movies(Dunno their names :().None of the songs stuck to my mind but they were quite tolerable and are placed fairly aptly,so that they dont kill the flow of the movie.The BGM also seems to complement the movie perfectly.Though i must warn you that the previous two statements of mine could be sheerly motivated due to the brilliant acoustics in PVR cinema
The movie never drags on anywhere during the 2-3 hours.Inspite of the flashbacks and twists and confusions of the storyline the screenplay is quite clear and never allows you to scratch your head or squirm in your seat or look at your watch! That i think is the biggest success of the director.The visuals are quite bright pleasant and colourful!!The actions sequence are apt and well within the mark considering the fact that this is a masala movie.Thank fully there are no gory bloody scenes or cheap romance or lewd comedy!! Full marks to the makers for this.I am sure I would have appreciated a lot more of the comedy if only i had known telugu.Most of the times i smiled cluelessly as people around me laughed for the timing jokes!
Overall it was a time spent with laughs and entertainment and i didnt have to "kick" myself for having had to watch the movie!

Soon after the movie I had lunch in "Chutneys" and savoured the hot south Indian thali with Gongura chutney,famed avakkai,paruppu podi et all…..
Thank You Suman for a memorable outing :)


PS:Iam wearing the famed Orange shirt today again . I had already terrorized a sleepy security guard as he had a glimpse of me while I swiped in.Reports indicate that he wont be able to sleep for the next 10 days. I am hoping to employ the time tested technique of hiding in the corners and looking down at the floor whenever people look at me as if I have just escaped from the circus. I hope I can get through the day this way.Wish me luck :)