SFR: Mahesh Babu

At the success meet for Khaleja. (Already? It opened only 4 days ago.)



13 images behind the cut:

NFR: Mahesh Babu, yet again

At a press conference regarding his selection as Provogue's brand ambassador for Andhra Pradesh.



Nine more pics behind the cut:

SFR: Mahesh Babu, again

Launching Khaleja merchandise for Univercell.




20 pics behind the cut:

SFR: Mahesh Babu

At Radio Mirchi for Khaleja music launch.



+18 pics behind the cut:

NFR: Mahesh Babu

Launching Amrutanjan Strong Pain Balm.




10 adorably cute & sexy pictures behind the cut:

TPP: Mahesh Babu

OMG! SHAKING AND CRYING AND PRAISING BEYSUS!

NFR: Mahesh Babu

A couple of childhood photos I nicked from here and here. I wish I could find more, but my Google is broken. (In other words, "Plz HALP thxbai!")




ETA 12/16/09: From louella:




ETA 12/17/09: From filmizest:




ETA 01/22/10: Here are some YouTube clips of a teenage Mahesh in Koduku Diddina Kapuram and Gudhachari 117: un deux trois quatre

ETA 09/12/10: Another one I found here. I meant to post it a while back:

SFR: "Gona Gona Gona" from Athidi

This song has been in my head all day. I blogged about the movie here.

I can't believe Mahesh is 35. I think he looks about 10 years younger. I wish he would do another movie with Shriya. I liked what little screen time they had together in Arjun.

Yuvaraju(2000)

I've thought about buying this for the longest time. It's only $5.99. It has Mahesh. It has Simran. But it also has a kid, and I don't like kids. Also, it sounds verrry long and boring. And the other heroine, Sakshi Sivanand, does nothing for me. The YouTube vids I glanced at didn't sway me to buy it. While I think Mahesh and Simran make a cute couple, I believe I will give this one a pass for now.

I wish Mahesh would come out with a new movie already, even though his next sounds like it might be the Tollywood version of Collateral(remade in Hindi as The Killer).

ETA 01/22/10: I ordered it. I hope I don't hate myself. Sakshi looks annoying, but hopefully the presence of Mahesh and Simran will make up for that.

ETA 01/27/10: I had it playing in the background last night while I was doing other things, and my first impression is that while it's very looonnnnggg(or at least feels that way), it's not bad. The kid didn't get on my nerves like I thought he would, and Sakshi wasn't that annoying(facially, she reminds me of Reema Sen), although I would've preferred it if Simran had been the main heroine instead of her. Mahesh was his usual goofy-looking-but-still-cute and charming self. My $5.99 + s&h wasn't wasted. That's good. Now, I'm considering Vamsi(and watch, it'll get marked down to $5.99 if/when I buy it for $7.99).

ETA 02/08/10: I just remembered exactly why I felt compelled to order the DVD. Next time I watch it, I'll have to remind myself to keep an eye out for that particular scene.

Raja Kumarudu(1999)

Mahesh Babu's debut film. I watched a little bit of it last night. It was alright. Preity Zinta was suprisingly tolerable. I lost interest once the comedy track began. Don't know if I want to drop sixteen and change on the DVD. I might get the VCD at some point simply because I find Mahesh's goofy charm irresistible.

Songs from the movie that I found on YouTube: Un deux trois quatre(pic quality isn't the greatest)

Nijam(2003)

The short version, for now, part deux: I heart Mahesh Babu. If only I could've been Rakshita's character and mercilessly teased him "[beyond] the limit of decency"(to quote one reviewer). He is extremely pleasing to my eyes. And Rakshita's no slouch, either. Even glammed-down, she's still sexy.

Raasi/Manthra reminds me of someone, maybe a yesteryear actress, but I can't think of who, and it's driving me nuts.

More later, once I gather my thoughts.

ETA: I haven't forgotten about this, just got sidetracked, as usual. Three things:

The look in Raasi's eyes when she rammed the knife into Mahesh's side was both scary and a thing of beauty.

The movie doesn't start to pick up until after the father is killed and the mother and son set out to destroy the people responsible for his death one by one.

The showdown between Mahesh and Gopichand at the end requires a serious suspension of disbelief.

Bobby(2002)

One-armed Prakash Raj is love. I like to rag on him for being in every third movie I own or have watched, but seeing him in Bobby, with only one arm, I felt for him. Rationally, I know that his other arm was strapped behind his back and not really missing, but still, it was touching, and kind of funny as it reminded me of the "one-armed solider" dance this kid in my high school German class did. Anyway...

Mahesh Babu and Aarti Agarwal are Romeo and Juliet-type lovers whose fathers(played by Raghuvaran and Prakash Raj, respectively) are bitter enemies. Unfortunately, they don't remain enemies. And just as unfortunate, not everyone dies in the end. I hate seemingly tragic love stories that end on a happy note(not unless I'm misunderstanding and Mahesh and Aarti's marriage just before the closing credits was really a "dream-before-dying" scenario, but I don't think so). I firmly believe that star-crossed lovers should not survive, simply because I'm fatalistic like that. (Or would "morbid" would be a better word?)

Mahesh did a good job in the acting department, although I wish his character would've gotten laid already so that he would shut up about "committing the sin". Aarti looked lovely and appeared to have good chemistry with Mahesh. One of my favorite scenes is the one where she tips him 100 rupees for (accidentally) rolling out a red carpet for her, and the back and forth banter between them that follows. I also liked the scene where she and Mahesh are sitting on top of a bus, in the rain, smoking, and she suddenly puts out her cigarette, saying that she no longer feels the urge to smoke out of boredom now that she has him, and they lean in for a kiss that leads to the "Vaa Vaa" song.

This movie appeals to the fifteen year-old in me who believes in the made-for-TV version of love and romance. It has a little Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet(the fish tank scene), a little Showgirls(the french fry scene), a little Spice Girls' "Wannabe" video(during the "Pullani Pullattu" song when Aarti Agarwal is dancing on the stairs with four other girls), and a song("Lokam") whose beat is ripped off from Jennifer Lopez's "Love Don't Cost A Thing". The picturisation of said song makes me feel as if I'm on drugs, which isn't a bad thing. It was certainly different, kinda cool, and kinda "Where have I seen this before?" I'm sure it was "inspired by" another artist's music video, but I can't think of who. Moving along...

My only quibbles are that the movie tends to drag in places, and the comedy bits with Brahmanandam and Sunil, while brief compared to the amount of screen time they normally get, could've, should've been left out. But otherwise, the $5.99 I paid for this DVD was well spent. I had zero expectations and wound up pleasantly suprised, which is always a good thing.

Arjun(2004)

If I were to have a greedy, murderous mother-in-law, I'd want it to be Sarita's character in this movie. Watching her look all crazy-eyed and ready to kill you over 10 paise was the best part of this flick. I bet if Mahesh Babu had fought her instead of Prakash Raj at the end, she would've won.

Speaking of Prakash Raj, I actually liked him in this movie. Normally, whenever I see him playing yet another villian I'm like, "Whatever." But here, I was kinda rooting for him and Sarita because they made such a good evil pair.

Shriya Saran didn't have much to do except look wide-eyed and open-mouthed, and appear in four of the six songs. Very pretty, though. Purple is a good color on her.

The sister sentiment was sweet. The scene where Arjun(Mahesh) is running down the road with Meenakshi(Keerthi Reddy) in his arms while she's going into labor made me go, "Awwww...I wish I had a brother like that!"

I also wish there had been fewer fight and action scenes to go along with the absence of a separate comedy track. With regards to the former, the cheesy graphics brought to mind a quote from Beavis and Butthead: "These special effects aren't very special!"

The picture quality isn't the greatest, either. Most of the time, I felt as though I were watching an oft-viewed rental tape. But for $4.99, I guess I can't be too suprised.

In spite of those quibbles, I liked the movie. It's not great, but it's watchable. And, unlike Heartbeats, it didn't make me go "WTF?" at the end. (More on Heartbeats in a future post, hopefully.)

Athadu(2005)

Yeah, I was "eh" on this at first, but after watching Athidhi for the ten millionth time I decided that I needed another Mahesh Babu fix. So I thought I'd give this another chance. I'm glad I did, because it's actually pretty good. It may very well be bumped up to "really good" after I watch it a few more times.

'Cause I like to keep it brief:

I prefer the longer hair Mahesh sported in Athidhi, but he still looked good.

I'm torn as to which pairing I like best: Trisha-Vijay or Trisha-Mahesh?

Hi, Prakash Raj, how ya doin'? (He actually didn't bug me in this movie. I must be getting used to seeing him all the time.)

Suniel is considerably less irritating when he's not constantly saying "angle". (Prior to this, Athidhi was my only exposure to him.)

Trisha was her usual cute, bubbly, and sexy self.

I liked the picturisations of the "Chandamama Chandamama" and "Avunu Nijam" songs.

The shoot-out inside the church with the flying pigeons and the slow and stop motion made me think of Mission: Impossible 2 and The Matrix.

I had a feeling that tenth marble would come in handy.

Takkari Donga(2002)

Did a quick flip-through the chapters to make sure I didn't have another defective disc on my hands.

In most scenes, Bipasha Basu's skin tone is so bleached out, it's practically yellow. I assume that has to do with the type of film that was used, because Mahesh Babu and Lisa Ray were sporting a similar look.

Was Bipasha that thin at the time of shooting, or were "Promise of a New Day"-type camera tricks used? I prefer her meatier appearance in Jism.

I'm not sure why I bought this movie, but I hope I like it.

Unrelated: Prithviraj looks rather handome in Classmates. (I'm doing a flip-through of this one, too.) In Kana Kanden, he didn't do anything for me, but looking at him now, I'm tempted to check out more of his films.

Kavya reminds me of Asin for some strange reason.

ETA 01/22/10: I tried to watch this movie, but I can't get into it. Skipping chapters doesn't help, either. I dig the cowboy getup, but not even the sight of Mahesh could convince me to keep this movie in my DVD player.

ETA 02/28/10: Last night, I gave it another chance and actually kept the disc in my DVD player long enough for a couple of re-watches. I'm not crazy about the movie as a whole but some of the song picturisations are nice. "Aleba Aleba" is my favorite, especially 1:34 to 1:54 ;) I liked Bips and Mahesh together. Minus the flood lighting and with a few more pounds, she would've been perfect. Lisa Ray was pretty but not as alluring as Bipasha. The outtakes during the end credits were fun to watch, as was Mahesh in that cowboy outfit. I'm not a fan of westerns but I could look at him in that getup all day.

Pokiri(2006)

The DVD is playing as I type this. I watched parts of the Tamil remake with Vijay and Asin a while back. From what I remember, it was alright, but I like the Telugu version better, mainly because I prefer the Mahesh-Ileana pairing to the Vijay-Asin one :)

ETA: I really like this movie. I can't believe I put off buying it for so long. The more I watch it, the less inclined I am to give the Tamil version another look-see. Vijay and Asin pale in comparison to Mahesh and Ileana. I like the former two, but not as a jodi, and I doubt Vijay looks as good in a uniform as Mahesh.

ETA 01/22/10: No one does the slo-mo run quite like Mahesh. Vijay couldn't even come close. Now, I have the Tamil version, and have watched it a couple of times, and it's not bad, it would be a lot better without Vadivelu, and the Asin-Vijay pairing isn't quite as awkward as I initially thought, but for whatever reason(s), I can take them better as a pair in Sivakasi.

Athidhi(2007)

It's so typical of me. I start out not liking or feeling "meh" about a particular actor/actress and then one day, bam! I suddenly like him/her. Such is the case with Mahesh Babu. After last night's viewing of Athidhi, he is my new onscreen crush. He looked so good, I got all fangirl "Squee"-y whenever he stepped in front of the camera.

I had to go to bed, so I didn't watch all of it, but what I did see, I liked. It's not a great movie, but it's watchable. I can tell this is one of those flicks that I'll grow to love after several repeat viewings.

Amrita was cute, and she shared good chemistry with Mahesh. I liked her comedy scenes, particularly the one where she imagines bashing up Sunil for acting like he was some kind of super stud. (Aside: His constant use of the word "angle" got on my nerves.) I'd like to see her in more Telugu films, especially since none of her Hindi ones inspire me to break out my debit card.

One of my favorite scenes in the movie is when Amrita asks Athidhi if he ever loved anyone and he replies "Sridevi", and goes on to say that she's now married and has kids, and that he would've told her he loved her had he been born fifteen years earlier. Granted, those lines were in the script but still, I was tickled to hear that, being a huge Sridevi fan :)

Minus points: The beginning dragged a bit, and I wish there had been fewer fight scenes and a little more footage of the Athidhi-Amrita romance. Also, the songs were lackluster. This is the kind of movie that "needs" a great soundtrack in order to make up for its shortcomings.

But in spite of its flaws, I'm pleased with my purchase. I bought it on a whim, and it turned out to be a good choice.

ETA: The more I watch this, the more I like it. I still think the songs are lackluster, and that there are too many fight scenes, and I wish the director had had the guts to shoot an atypical ending(for a brief moment, I thought it was going to end on a sudden and somber note, but my hopes were quickly dashed), but despite that, I really enjoy this movie. Again, it's not great, but it's entertaining, and looking at Mahesh makes me all tingly inside :)

ETA2: Athidhi has become my "go-to" movie whenever I'm in a crappy mood(like now). "Khiladi Koona" and "Ornayano Pichi Pichigaa"(aka "Gona Gona Gona") have grown on me somewhat, but I like only certain parts of each song. I'm diggin' Mahesh's longer hair; I think it really suits him. I wish Amrita would forget Bollywood and join Telugu films. **chuckle**

P.S. I'm watching the "Valla Valla" song right now and I kinda like it, mainly because of the picturisation.

ETA3: I officially like "Khiladi Koona" and "Ornayano Pichi Pichigaa". Repeated viewings will do that, I guess.

Sainikudu(2006)

Even though it started off slow and dragged in places, I knew that I would order this movie after I finished watching it. The chemistry between Mahesh Babu and Trisha Krishnan alone was enough to convince me to buy it. I liked this film better than Athadu, which I started watching first, but it failed to hold my interest, despite the cute scenes with Trisha and Mahesh. However, I figured I would be partial to Sainikudu after I read on Wikipedia that it didn't do as well as Athadu. I tend to like the so-called flops or average grossers of a particular actor or actress better than their hits.

As with Vijay, I had formed a somewhat negative opinion about Mahesh based on what I saw in still photographs. But after seeing him on film, I had a sudden change of heart. I now think he's rather cute and has a compelling screen presence. I'm glad I took a chance on him. I forsee a Pokiri DVD in my near future.

Trisha was lovely, as always. I think I am officially in love with her.

The running time could've trimmed by a half-hour.

ETA: WAAHHHHH!!!! My disc is defective! It froze during the "Aadapilla Aggipulla" song and I had to skip ahead two chapters before it would play normally again :( I have to order another one, I guess. **sigh**

BTW, I loved Trisha and Mahesh's scuffle in the woods prior to the start of "Aadapilla Aggipulla". I thought it was both hot and funny.

ETA 02/19/10: I finally bought a replacement DVD. It plays all the way through, yay! However, it's not as entertaining as I initially thought. I can see why it flopped. I enjoy watching Mahesh, still love the scene where Trisha imagines Mahesh trying to rape her in the woods. I liked seeing him, however briefly, as a lecherous rogue and wished I were in her place, only I wouldn't have resisted, 'cause I'm naughty like that.

P.S. Trisha was cute, but she kinda annoys me these days. I'm so fickle with my affections.

P.P.S. I don't know why it took so long for me to warm up to Mahesh. Maybe because I'm more into the heroines than the heroes. (It's that whole "identification" thing, I think.) Also, the running time could've been trimmed by about forty-five mintues. And while I found it rather boring this time around, I still kinda like it better than Athadu.