Magadheera opening - Tollywood meets Wuxia

[dangermousie]

I am only five minutes into Tollywood smash hit Magadheera but I am in total and utter love!

The opening is pure wuxia - it's 1600 BC and we meet our protagonists (they have names but I have not yet memorized them so let's just call them Princess and Warrior) in the last moments of their life. They are on a remote cliff with the aftereffects of battle everywhere around them and both are mortally wounded. Dying, Princess stretches out her hand and asks Warrior to finally allow himself to tell her he loves her now they are dying. He starts moving towards her and her outstretched hand telling her he loves more "more than myself" but before he can reach her and they can touch she dies and her inert body slips off the cliff. So he throws himself after her, desperately trying to hold hands with her as they fall. By the laws of wuxia - no luck, of course.





















































And they both go splat.

Flashforward 2000+ years to the story proper - we will have true love, reincarnation, revenge, and tons of awesome flashbacks to ye olde times (I believe basically half the movie is set in the past explaining how they got to that opening scene).

MMMMMM.

This movie is going to be most enjoyable.

Comments

[darkeyedwolf.livejournal.com]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/Dangermousie/aishwarya/Magadheeramp4_000246037.jpg

I LIKE.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Let me know if you want download links for the movie :)

*push push push* (but not off the cliff)

[darkeyedwolf.livejournal.com]

Sure! It's subbed, right?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

PMed you.

Yeah, it's subbed - I know zero words in Telugu :)

[darkeyedwolf.livejournal.com]

Awesome, thanks!

So is this Bollywood, or...?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Close - this is Tollywood.

India has a number of regional film industries of which Hindi-language Bollywood is the biggest and most internationally known. (It's been getting pretty Westernized recently so I left for greener for me pastures).

There are a ton of other movie industries but the most prominent and best of them are Kollywood (Tamil movies based in Tamil Nadu) and Tollywood (Telugu movies based in Andhra Pradesh). These South Indian movies usually are more violent, have healthier-looking ladies, guys who love to sport stubble, some awesome song-and-dance sequences and not Westernized at all. Magadheera is a Telugu movie - I have recently discovered Telugu movies and they are my new obsession - the guys are hot and take on 20 enemies on sight, there is always enough plot for 10 movies, lovers are always star-crossed, and it's all so very fun.

Plus, it has this:

http://dangermousie.livejournal.com/1870722.html

There are also Bengali movies, Malayam movies (made in the state of Kerala), Kannada movies (Sandalwood), Bhojpuri movies (in the state of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh etc), Assamese cinema, Marathi cinema, Oriya and Punjabi cinema.

Usually when they quote amount of movies made per year in India and it ends up being a staggering number it's because they include all those regional ones in it. All these other ones are harder to find though you occasionally come across Bengali arthouse stuff or (rarely) Malayam and Kannada movies with subs and accessible abroad.

[darkeyedwolf.livejournal.com]

OMG

THAT PICTURE

*SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUSTS*

I had no idea India put out so many movies, that's really awesome.

[fivil.livejournal.com]

I love the beginning - the movie instantly grabbed me. And the mysterious repetition of numbers .. the meaning of which I won't spoil you! But it's SO Tollywood. :D

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Those were some freaky/awesome opening credits. And the opening scene itself = instant love.

Btw, a heads-up. Even though the dl site I linked to a couple days ago worked fine for me before (both for visitng and dls), when I went there today my virus protection stuff kicked into overdrive and my computer had to be shut down and restarted after which I removed a couple of trojans. So be careful if you use it!

[myrna-nora.livejournal.com]

I just finished it and I LOVED it! I thought of Wuxia in the opening scene as well.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am addicted to this movie!

[prismatic-star.livejournal.com]

lol, there's a mistake in the subs. It's supposed to be 1609 AD because later on they explain something with the stars 400 years later which brings them back to 2009.

this movie is awesome sauce.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

That makes sense, thanks!

[main-hoon-emily.livejournal.com]

ISN'T IT FABULOUS??? I just finished watching about half an hour ago and I could watch it again right now. I need more movies like this.

And wow, Ram Cheran Teja is ridiculously good looking. His eyes...*swoon* Did you know he and Allu Arjun are cousins?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I would so want to go tho THAT family reunion! :)