New films have made their way into the Telugu list this fortnight. Three of them were released during the Sankranti festival.

The top five Telugu films are:

1. ‘Krishna’ – This, perhaps, is the most successful of the Sankranti releases. Ravi Teja and Trisha star in the film, which seems to be doing well in terms of audiences and revenues. Director V.V. Vinayak chose a rather stereotypical story, but Ravi Teja ably carries it on his shoulders.

2. ‘Vaana’ – A Telugu remake of the Kannada blockbuster ‘Mungaaru Malle’, the film is directed by M.S. Raju. It is technically sound with melodious music, good camera work by Sekhar V. Joseph and some good locales. Lead pair Vinay and Meera Chopra do not create any magic, although the hero makes some effort to do so. Somehow, the movie is disappointing. Nevertheless, it is drawing families and is doing average business.

3. ‘Anasuya’ – Bhumika Chawla steals the show in the title role. Playing a TV journo, Bhumika displays good acting skills. She portrays the right kind of emotions in the film. Ravi Babu, who is also the director, looks good as the villain. This ‘edge-of-the-seat’ ‘noir’-like thriller has got critical acclaim – the film is technically slick albeit a bit dark in terms of lighting and is faring well.

4. ‘Mantra’ – The whodunit film starring Charmee and Sivaji is faring well as far as revenues go. Suspense thrillers and murder-mysteries are not common in the Telugu film industry and ‘Mantra’ and ‘Anasuya’ have shown that this genre goes down well with the audience if the film is made well.

5. ‘Pourudu’ – Sumanth is back in action with the film. Although he does a good job, the story is a down-to-death one. The film is faring fairly well.

Well-known producer M S Raju is now fully drenched in rain with negative talk over his film ‘Vaana’. Raju took up direction for the first time with this film. The film is actually a remake of a hit Kannada film ‘Mungare Mali’.

The Kannada film ran for over a year and broke several records. But the Telugu version has not been received well by the audience. The climax did not go well with the Telugu audience. The tragic ending was not justified and the weak script is one of the culprits. The director tried to make the film a double tragedy by killing the rabbit called ‘Devadasu’ in the ending. Well, there is no proper reason for the rabbit’s death!

Many people say that ‘Vaana’ is a poor and tasteless kichidi of many old Telugu films. There is no depth in the film and the sentiment is also very weak.

Raju is now embarking on a new film. He will introduce his son Sumanth Ashwin as hero with this film. Teja is the director. Raju is known for interfering in the work of the director. It now remains to be seen how far Teja will tolerate interference in his work from the producer.

This Pongal witnessed four releases in Tollywood. Pourudu and Vaana didn’t have any pre release hype so the competition is always between the biggies, Balakrishna’s “Okka Magadu” and Raviteja’s “Krishna”.

Both the films released with a gap of one day and it is Krishna which got the upper hand in terms of talk. Okka Magadu talk is too bad that only a miracle could help the film’s fate. On the other hand Krishna which got less hype and expectations compared to Okka Magadu is all set to rule the box office. Okka Magadu lacked entertainment and it is the biggest strength of Krishna. Though Krishna lacks novelty it is the racy screenplay and comedy which helped the film in a big way. We have to wait for another day before we declare Krishna as clear winner for this Pongal as Vaana result is not out yet!