Mythri Films (P) Ltd. Presents
U.K. Avenues
Black & White (2008)

Cast: Rajeev Kanakala, Sindhu Tholani, Jackie Shroff, Surekha Vani, Uttej, C.V.L. Narasimha Rao, Ayesha Jaleel, Raghu, Jeeva, Melkote, K. Viswanath, Ali, Shakeela, Jenny, Tirupathi Prakash, etc.

Dialogues: Sreekanth Vemulapalli
Camera: Joshi
Art: Kala Venkatesh
Costumes: Srinivas, Omkar
Makeup: Srinivas Chowdary
Choreography: Kaladhar
Action: Vijay, Dragon Prakash
Sound Effects: Damu Kumar
DI & Visual Effects: Prime Focus
Music: Vijay Kurakula
Lyrics: Vanamali
Editing: Marthand K. Venkatesh
Producers: P. Uday Kiran
Co-Director: Dhyana Surya
Story, Screenplay, Direction: Sreekanth Vemulapalli

Date of Theatrical Release: August 21, 2008

Summary:
A technically appreciable, thought-provoking film about social responsibility of individuals, told in a no-nonsense, curt manner.

What's it all about?
Bharath (Rajeev Kanakala) is an orphan who has only one friend in life, Sreenu (Uttej), a colleague in the orphanage and in his job too. Having realized the fact that the society provided him with everything and brought him up to be a successful software engineer though he was an orphan, he tends to be socially responsible so much that he can risk his life to save lives of several policemen in a landmine blast planned by naxalites. For this bold move, the Indian government even announces a Citizen Award from the President of India (K. Viswanath)! Bharath once meets Sameera (Sindhu Tholani), who seems to be caring about the society too. Naturally, they fall in love and get married with the blessings of Sameera's parents (C.V.L. Narasimha Rao & Ayesha Jaleel). Two mysterious attacks on Bharath's life create tension in their lives, though he survives through them both.

Bharath joins a hospital due to a minor accident, and thus may miss his chance to receive the Citizen Award in Delhi. At such a time, a bomb blast in Hyderabad kills a pair of lovers in the city's outskirts. Enters CBI Officer Khan (Jackie Shroff) to investigate the case. From the videos of the blast available from a private TV channel, Khan identifies Bharath's car parked in the bushes behind the scene. As Khan starts his investigation around Bharath and Sreenu, Sreenu gets killed! Is Bharath really innocent? Is he really socially responsible as he claims he is? What's Sreenu's role in the whole story? Who's trying to kill Bharath? Is Khan sincere? What's Black and what's White? are questions that get answers as the investigation unwinds.

Performances
Cast:
Rajeev Kanakala is good as a simple guy who comes up in life with hard work. He presents all the necessary emotions with ease, for the veteran actor he is! Sindhu Tholani is adequate in the role of the loving wife of the protagonist. She never falters in giving the right emotions throughout her role. Jackie Shroff as a CBI officer is dignified and fits the role very well. He does his role in a justified manner, with the required underplay, unlike a few other Bollywood imports. Uttej as a friend of the protagonist is lively. He did particularly well in the emotional scene with Rajeev Kanakala after the latter saves his life. 

Technical Departments:
The story is interlaced with social responsibility and spreading of terrorism. Screenplay is tight, with not even one unnecessary or misfitting scene anywhere! Though a debutant, Sreekanth Vemulapalli handles the direction department with appreciable skill and sincerity. It needs a particular mention that he has taken care about characterization of each role, logic in the whole stream of events, and not wasting any footage for unnecessary scenes. He chose his artistes from known faces but still ensured that the budget remains low,  too! Only, the climax could have been a bit more elaborate, one may feel, but one can immediately see why the director cut it right there - so that a long series of events can be cut out completely and left to the imagination of the audience. Instead, voice-over by Tanikella Bharani takes off from the climax, and passes on the message effectively.

Sreekanth Vemulapalli also pens dialogues well - there's not one wasted dialogue; comedy is an undercurrent in some scenes still, thanks to the dialogues and timing, because the movie itself has no scope for much comedy. Music by Vijay Kurakula, supported by sound effects by Damu and mixing (Madhusudan Reddy) is a very important aspect in such a suspense-filled theme, and comes out to be good on the whole. The song valapananaa, vala ananaa!... is good too, in its lyrics, visuals, and playback (S.P.B., Chitra). The visual effects are good too in parts. Camerawork is good, particularly so with the lighting effects and filters in the flashback episodes that bring a different hue and thus a different feel.

Dubbing for Sindhu Tholani is by her own, while the low-bass voice for Jackie Shroff is fitting to his characterization and body language. The director should also be appreciated for justifying the artificial accent of Sindhu Tholani's own dubbing through a dialogue and the story! The producer should be appreciated for his faith in the film's content, so much as to not insist mixing any masala into the theme at least to bring it to the regular Telugu film duration. (The film is less than 2 hours long.)

• Kid: "Uncle, meerEm chEstaaru?"
  Rajeev Kanakala: "nEnu software engineering-nammaa!"
  Kid: "mee vallanE anTa kadaa, rate-lannii perugutunnaayi! maa daddy mimmlani rOjU tiDutUnTaaru!" (Dialogue between a kid and Rajeev Kanakala)
• "Cricket match, English tappinchi iddaru telugu vaaLLaki common-gaa Emii migilETTu lEdu!" (Uttej)
• Emotional scene between Rajeev Kanakala and Uttej... and the director's idea to not make it heavy by immediately lightening the scene very efficiently and logically too.
• The romantic dream of Rajeev Kanakala is shot well too, showing that the director has the capability to bring in any emotion, but only when it is needed.
• Rajeev Kanakala protecting a pin-up tricolor flag on the road with his hand, pinning it to Sindhu's saree and saluting it - this scene comes as a part of the visuals through the song valapananaa... but does underline the hero's characterization.
• Jackie Shroff's example of water and alcohol, as he explains how innocent individuals could be confused for being criminals.
• Jackie Shroff's single-dialogue chiding of TV channels for trying to create sensation out of little things when the country itself is facing much larger crises each day!
• A dialogue at the beginning of the film about how the Naxalbari movement has now turned to be a war between naxalites and police.

Minor Overlook:

• Jeeva's role - is he a politician or a government employee of some kind? Whoever he is, can he as an individual direct the local police to contact a CBI officer for investigation?
• A dialogue by Sindhu Tholani "chooDaTam tappa Em chEyagalav?" is repeated as Rajeev Kanakala thinks of her. However, that dialogue was, even originally, a part of Rajeev Kanakala's imagination and was not reality!
• Conferring of Citizen Awards seems to be happening in an auditorium kind of setup, much different from what one could expect from the participation of President of India.

Bottom Line:

Black and White is a technically good movie from a debutant director who seems to know how to keep the film free of nonsense. A decent subject, tight screenplay, and good suspense though not so nail-biting, good audio and visual effects to back the movie, and adequate performances - this movie has all these, and is a low-budget attempt. Let's hope our audiences can rise up to appreciating such efforts. Only we should realize that such movies - even if they're half-decently made - are better than many big budgeted flicks that tumble at the box office because of zero content or bad treatment!

Review by NaChaKi