Varudu movie reviews give few details on Bollywood's newest epic
Bollywood today released worldwide its newest song-and-dance epic, Varudu.
But Varudu movie reviews give few details, and aside from providing the names of the stars and a picture of its bare-chested male lead (Allu Arjun), the company released little information in an attempt to build hype. The film opens across the United States today, including in Los Angeles, Dallas, and Boston, according to India Glitz.
The story follows Sandy, an American-Indian who agrees to an arranged marriage to a bride ultimately kidnapped half-way through their wedding, according to a review in CineGoer.com. Sandy must then rescue his bride, which escalates into a grand wedding ceremony fight, according to a review from Ganpati News.
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The film will be in Telugu, the official language of southern state Andhra Pradesh, though presumably subtitled. (Telugu is India’s third language and the 15th most-spoken language worldwide, just ahead of Italian and Vietnamese). It’s director, Guna Sekhar, and star, Allu Arjun, are both Telugu. The Keralite-born Tamil actor Arya (he goes by one name) appears to play the antagonist.
According to India Glamour, “It will be the first time in the Telugu movie industry that a movie will be realized without revealing the lead heroine. Usually the trend or we can see is the practice of the movie industry to sell the movie with the lead heroine's curves and smiles.”
Few details have been released about the film in an attempt to tease audiences. “From this reviewer’s perspective, not a bad strategy – except a little ‘too’ little has been forthcoming,” said critic Phil Butler.
“Any way,” Mr. Butler continued in his preview, “the stars and people behind the film are some of the best in the business, so at least a level of excellence can be expected. The cinematography, as is customary in Indian films, is superb.”
Melodramatic movie trailers hint at an epic tale of romance and war.
Mani Sharma's score was released March 7 with great fanfare, too:
In November while in Mumabi (Bombay), this correspondent was recruited for one of the hundreds of Bollywood epics churned out yearly.
“Hey, do you want to be in a Bollywood movie?” asked a pot-bellied guy reclined on a motorcycle as we passed him on a street in downtown Mumbai. “I’m recruiting for extras who can work tonight.”
The offer was enticing, but I needed to catch a flight the next morning at 6 a.m. I told this to the man, Imran, and he said he’d let us skip out early to get to the airport in time.
“We’ll even drop you off at the airport,” he said.
“What’s the pay?” I asked, expecting something in the range of $100 per person for a full night’s work.
“500 rupees,” Imran said.
“Ten bucks!” I said.
“Hey man, this is your chance to be in a film (called "Veer") starring Salman Khan, the biggest name in Bollywood. You’re only in Mumbai once and Mumbai is Bollywood,” he noted, in a pitch that sounded practiced.
I took the offer.
