Film: Panjaa
Cinediary Rating: 3/5
Cast: Pawan Kalyan, Anjali Lavania, Sarah Jane Dias, Shesh Adavi and Others
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Lyricst: Ramajogaya Sastry, Chandra Bose
Cinematogrpaher: PS Vinod
Editor: Sreekar Prasad
Art: Sunil Babu
Screenplay: Rahul Koda
Dialogues: Ravi Abburi
Director: Vishnu Vardhan
Producer: Neelima, Shobhu, Nagesh Muntha, Prasad Devineni
Date Of Release: 9th Dec 2011
Story:
Jai (Pawan Kalyan) is a loyal follower of Bhagavan (Jackie Shroff), who is a big don in Kolkata. Kulakarni (Atul Kulakarni) is the rival of Bhagavan. Jai has a friend named Jahnavi (Anjali Lavania) who is a club dancer. Bhagavan’s sadistic son Munna (Adivi Seshu) has an eye on her. Meanwhile Jai falls in love with Sandhya (Sarah Jane). Munna kills Jahnavi as she rejects him. Then Jai kills him in turn. Now Jai becomes the prime target for Bhagavan. What happens next is to be seen on the screen.
Values of the Movie Panjaa:
Storyline selected by Vishnuvardhan has two different shades. One is Mafia angle and the other is a Love Story. Narration wise, everything went well till the Interval.There was style and substance with exciting Interval block. Later on Vishnuvardhan failed to keep the momentum going on. His direction missed to raise the enthusiasm in audience resulting in a pale show.
Screenplay could have been definitely better. Cinematography of PS Vinod is top notch and its the real taste in Panjaa. Editing by Sreekar Prasad could have been still sharper with decrease in length of run time. Background of Yuvan was vibrating while songs remained unsatisfactory. Production values of Sanghamitra and ARKA stood high.Performance wise, this is best show from Pawan in recent times. Without succumbing to any extras, he just followed the character.
With a rugged beard through out the film, Pawan is seen in a new style. His mannerisms, body language, simple comedy punches and as usual action sequences are to please his Fans. Next to speak about is Adavi Sesh who played key role in giving a turn to entire story. He has the ease and an artist who is worth to watch in future. Sarah is attractive and curvaceous in traditional attires while Anjali is alluring and sexy in modern skimpy costumes. Comedy
wise Brahmanandam as SI Papa Rayudu could not generate enough laughs in second half. Jackie Shroff and Atul Kulkarni were decent. Tanikella played a cunning character. Ali, Sampat, Subba Raju, Jhansi and others were okay.
Artists Perfomances:
Its Pawan Kalyan show. Pawan’s new look is impressive in the movie. It’s clear that new look is just for change and to differentiate Pawan from his earlier movies. He is apt at his role. He did best in entertaining audience. His action, dances, dialogues, comedy etc is at his best and definitely will get applause from audience. Especially, the comedy senses with Brahmandam who acted as drunken police officer is hilarious.
The dialogues in the climax and fights with Villains are one of best performances of Pawan in the movie.Sarah Jane Dias, the former Miss India is the main heroine. She impresses audience with her look. She is seen in village girl getup and as a modern girl getup. Both these getups suits her. She has good screen presence as Pawan’s love interest.
Anjana Lavania is pretty and sizzles in the item number ‘Veyira Cheyiveyara’. She acted as childhood friend of Pawan Kalyan. She has less screen presence when compared with Sarah Jane Dias. However, she has done good job for her role .Adavi Sesh surprises everyone with his acting. Jackie Shroff is main villain and justifies his role. Subba Raju as Sarah Jane Dias’s brother, Tanikella Bharani, Atul Kulkarni, Paruchuri Venkateshwar Rao, Jhansi etc done their job well.
Ali plays one of the key role in the movie. He acted as Childhood friend to Pawan Kalyan’s. He is at his best.
Technical Departments:
Director Vishnu Vardhan who is known for making stylish films failed in the direction department. Vishnu Vardhan chose an age old story alright, but didn’t give the right treatment to appease the current generation audience. Rahul Koda has to learn a lot about screen play. Movie is slow in its pace right from start to finish. There is lot of scope for Editing.
The only positive thing about movie is music by Yuvan Shankar Raja and cinematography by PS Vinod. Dialogues by Abburi Ravi are good in couple of scenes. Action by Shaam kaushal is a big letdown. One would expect a lot in action genre movies. Styling by Anu Vardhan is good.
Highlights:
Pawan Kalyan stylish action fights and punch line dialogues.
Sarah Jane Dias and Anjali Lavania glamour
Action Sequences
Vishnuvardhan’s mark direction
Comedy track between Brahmanandam and Pawan Kalyan
High Technical Values
Picturesqueness of Songs
Twists in the movie
Item song with Anjali Lavania
In the second half Pawan kalyan’s fighting scenes and the comedy with Brahmanandam will be the highlights the movie
Negatives :
Thin storyline
Dragging moments
Lack of comedy
Analysis:
Panjaa is an action romance flick and director Vishnuvardhan once again proves that he’s a stylish director. Panjaa comes with heavy dose of action sequences – gun fights, bomb explosives, etc. It gives you sights of movies like ‘Balu’ and Nagarjuna ‘Antham’ as Vishnuvardhan was focusing heavily on technical aspects to elevate the movie. Pawan Kalyan is once again seen in a gangster character as he earlier played in Balu. However, Panjaa lacks the killer instincts to hit the trigger.
There’s not enough drama in the movie to make it comprehensive and it’s like shooting in the dark at various points.The action sequences were well shots by Vishnuvardhan and he has shown Pawan Kalyan in a different way. Although sporting beard, Pawan looks elegant and was in his elements and his dialogue
delivery was aggressive.
In fact, in Panja, Pawan on more than couple of occasions, look like Chiranjeevi in his gestures and mannerisms. Adivi Sesh is a revelation. His murderer looks and body language is stunning. Vishnuvardhan has done a commendable job in getting the best from all the characters. Perhaps new heroines might be a minus to Panjaa since people miss out on the connectivity. A known heroine could have been a huge asset.
