The fundamental difference between SHIVA and ARJUN REDDY is that whereas Shiva probably could have been more structurally designed in terms of shot taking,shot division and characterizations,AR is much more identifiable and relatable in every sense.
Personally I could identify with seven or eight scenes from AR which happened in my own life and that’s the connectivity I am talking about.
The highly unconventional casting is just one of the many break throughs the film has managed to overcome ..Me being too long used to a stereotype way of thinking,when I first saw Shalini in her introduction scene,I was aghast that anyone can think of her as heroine material but by the time the film reached interval I felt there could be no one ever who could be better than her.
I was also impressed with the ability of Sandeep Reddy Vanga to evoke so much heroism without any heroics in any scene ..its commendable on both the directors and actors part that they could so resist the temptation to crossover into widely believed and universally accepted commercial cliches.
There’s no attempt in the story to be judgemental on the characters and that can only come from the directors highly matured understanding of real people in real life situations ..A case in point is the director treating with respect even that guy who gets beaten up by vijay in the class room.
Nowhere does it seem as if Sandeep took a decision to sit and write a great scene as often is the case with most main stream writers and directors ..It feels as if the scenes were just organically flowing by themselves and Sandeep just happened to be there to capture it.
Also though the story is so simple the cuts in the screenplay take it to another level ..one cut I especially liked is the way the previous scene cuts into a glass shard being taken out of Shalini’s foot.
I always believed that,if the slow motion camera and ramping techniques were not invented most of the present day heroes would have to sit at home because none of them have the ability to hold a close up in front of the camera.
Without the aid of both Cinematic techniques and artificially written punch dialogues I can’t recall a single actor creating any kind of impression compared to what Vijay has done in AR..I especially love the lengthy profile close up of Vijay towards the interval with that single tear drop slowly flowing on his cheek..it’s one of the most evocative Cinematic images I have ever seen in my life.
All in all I strongly believe that all of us in the whole film industry should thank Sandeep and Vijay for making all of us realise that a highly impactful film can be made..
With such a low budget
Without lip sync songs
Without gravity defying action
With 3 hour above length
Without punch dialogues
Without any top technicians
and above all with an absolute 100% complete honesty in story telling..
The audience should thank Vijay and Sandeep for making them realise that such high quality films like AR can be actually made and they don’t need to settle for sub standard cliched and disgustingly formulaic films
All aspiring film makers should thank Sandeep for giving them a new direction to their directorial aspirations
To talk about Sandeep Reddy in one line in comparison to all established directors he respects the audiences intelligence whereas established directors imagine the audience to be fools.
To talk about VIJAY DEVERAKONDA in comparison in one line,he in both looks and star charisma is 10 times better than PAWAN KALYAN and he is 20 times better in performance than PAWAN KALYAN
Considering the extraordinary realism in his performance I think VIJAY DEVERAKONDA should be given the title REAL POWER STAR
