Toss Review

Monday, July 16, 2007
After his debut film Manodu bombed at the Box Office, director Priyadarshan Ram has comeback with Toss. The film has showed us that he is capable of doing a good job directing a film. The drawback about Toss is that the first half progresses very slowly and the second half equally fast. The audience is unable to allow the previous scene to register before the next scene starts. By the tim, they get the connection between the two scenes the film is already over.

Story:

Sivaji Rao (Vinod Kumar) is an honest and sincere police constable. Naik (Suman) is his close friend. Sivaji Rao gets a medal for his services, something which irks Naik. In anger, he implicates Sivaji Rao in an illicit liquor deaths case - after which he commits suicide. Agastya (Raghunatha Reddy), Sivaji Rao's trusted lieutenant, finds out Naik's motive. Naik gets to know this and sees to it that he is killed too. His wife too falls victim to Naik's devious plan.

Somehow Agastya's son and daughter Neelakanta (Upendra) and Nayana (Priyamani) escape from the attackers. Nayana goes blind after being poisoned. Neelakanta then blames Sivaji Rao for Nayana's loss of sight and for the death of his parents.

Enter Parasuram aka Parsu (Raja). He is man with a good heart. He tries to get a job with the police. Being unable to do it, he becomes an undercover policeman and draws Self Employment Tax being unemployed on paper. A mafia gang robs a bank and takes away Rs. 10 crore from it. The police are led to believe that Neelakanta is the culprit. Naik engages Parsu to get hold of Neelakanta and get the stolen money back. Little does he know that Parsu is Sivaji Rao's son.

While going about it, Parsu kills Naik whom he finds molesting Nayana. He gets smitten by Nayana and falls in love with her. Neelakanta, who is on lookout for Sivaji Rao's family members, fins out that Parsu is Sivaji Rao's son. He also finds out that it was Naik- not Sivaji Rao- who was responsible for his father death. In the end, he takes a bullet and dies trying to protect Nayana.

Plus Points:

The films lead cast have acted exceptionally well. Upendra is as usual. Raja especially did his two action sequences well. Priyamani has played the role of a blind girl exceptionally well too. Kamna Jethmalani has done well to play her glamour role in the film. Ramya, Upendra's love in the film, is just ok. The film has been made using Digital Wiper Stream Camera technology, one that is used in Hollywood. Songs wise the title song sounds fresh.

Minus Points:

Director Priyadarshan Ram handled most of the technician's roles taking credit for the films story, screenplay, direction and editing. He has not been able to justify all these four responsibilities. The first half of the movie has a quick pace while the films second half moves very slowly. The music by Mani Sharma is good but hasn't been choreographed well. The films editing has not been done well as the director left the first half of the film unedited while refining only the second half, making it dragged.

Conclusion:

The comedy in the film courtesy Krishna Bhagawan, Venumadhav and Ali is not upto the mark. Kamna Jethmalani's role in the film is a useless one - not contributing to the film in any way whatsoever. Abhinayasri's role in the film is a routine role. There are no sizzling dances/item numbers in the film.

Priyamani is a feast for the eyes. She has played her glamour role very well. Other roles in the film, which are not etched well, are those of Suman and Raghunatha Reddy's. The flashback in the films second half does not fit into the storyline of the film.

Credits:

Cast: Upendra, Raja, Priyamani, Kamna Jethmalani, Ramya, Suman, Vinodkumar, Ali, Krishna Bhagawan, Venumadhav, Raghunatha Reddy, Subbaraju, Sudha, Abhinayasri, Master Bharatkumar and others
Cinematography - Surender Reddy
Dialogues - Sampath Nandi
Lyrics - Ashok Teja, Kandikonda, Anant Sriram, Sai Sriharsha, and Priyadarsini Ram
Music - Manisharma
Presenter - Priyadarsini Sarada Reddy, Co-producer - KK Radhamohan, Producer - Dev Amarnath, Story, screenplay, editing and direction - Priyadarshan Ram.

Banner: Dev Film Dreams
Released on: July 14, 2007