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22nd
October 2005
Commercial
cinema can be divided into three kinds - movies that wind
to a clean conclusion per your expectations (Okkadu, Murari),
movies that you wished would end any second now ('Takkari
Donga' and the only reason you don't run away from the theatre
is because of the concern for a friend dozing off on your
shoulder) and the third kind are the movies that you wished
would never end (Athadu). Coming in the combination of two
individuals who have tried to stick to their craft in the
face of 'the in thing of the season', Athadu marks a triumph
in terms of technique, story telling and some cool acting.
I would first and for the most part focus on the mover behind
the screen, the director.
Trivikram
Srinivas is known more as a dialogue writer that has had audience
spellbound through his wit and some convoluted logic. Most
of the times, the logic is half-baked but makes for some good
comic sound bytes. In the fast changing society of call center
youth and soppy-serial-watching-house-wives, anything that
can capture your attention for more than three seconds pays
and that has become Trivikram's secret of success. His first
attempt 'Nuvve Nuvve' sticks to this classic template where
characters talk nice rhyming language and look at everything
through analogies just like a professor tries to teach difficult
topics to his students. The banter goes on and on, between
'two old males sipping whisky' to 'two young lovers' to 'a
father and son' to 'a father and daughter'. I personally do
enjoy the words while they last but the fact that none of
Trivikram's characters ever speak like the people you see
everyday probably was the reason for the movie's not-so-great
performance all around. OK, now if I have the attention of
all the folk who think Trivikram is the best thing to happen
to Tollywood after Charles Chaplin happened to Hollywood,
that last statement was in a lighter vein to get you riled.
Some food for thought though, if you will.
Such
a director taking a drastic turn to deliver a very slick actioner
was - to me - a welcome change. Any director that tries to
explore outside his comfort zone and delivers stupendously
should be commended heart-fully. The first half an hour of
the movie especially the title song was nothing less than
spectacular to my style-parched eyes. To start with, there
were several cool ideas that TS incorporates through out the
movie. Not willing to make this any more verbose, I will try
to stick to the age old idea of bullet points to make my point
( you can see Trivikram's influence on my English language
and I thought it was P.G. Wodehouse all along, silly me ).
I will first list down some of the key points that are original
AND have contributed to the movie's feel
- When
Mahesh meets Nazar for the first time, the director chose
a smart way to make Mahesh bend down. With Nazar's neck
hurt and being unable to view Mahesh above his nose ( the
camera lingers for a while here) Mahesh has to bend down
to offer his complete visage to Nazar. That bending down
before elders marks respect in our culture is also subtly
put into the scene. Nice.
- The
whole scene of Siva Reddy's stage hungama right from showing
the preparations to the assassination to the eventual melee
are wonderfully handled by Trivikram. Handling crowd scenes
while still making sense of what the viewer sees is an art
in itself and the director and editor need to be given full
credit for that scene.
- The
background music though heavily inspired from the cowboy
Westerns was superb to set up the mood of the movie. The
sepia tone coupled with some pure guitar strumming was very
very cool in the beginning of the movie but I thought the
BGM started getting weaker as the movie inched towards the
climax. Full marks to both TS and Mani Sarma for the work
though.
Now
for some of the ideas that I think are a result of a lot of
DVD borrowing. These may not be explicit sources of inspiration
but I think at a subconscious level, these ring very close.
- The
idea of trying to show the time and place of important events
in the movie. Actually not much is being conveyed using
these other than giving a perspective to the viewer but
still, it adds a certain element of interest to the proceedings.
Influence counter #1: Significantly seen in Roja.
- The
protagonist's background and origin are never mentioned
or talked about. This is a classic tool often used to create
a mystique around the character. Instantly, we get curious
about the character. Counter#2: Very well used in Satya
by RGV which itself was inspired from Godfather-I. Don Corleone's
background is not discussed and the movie starts with a
bang telling us he is the DON. That Godfather-II undoes
this mystique is another matter altogether and again a probable
reason why GF-I stands tall in all the movies
- The
rewind idea where Mahesh stabs a thug in the old city. Now,
this was cool if there ever was a cool idea. What this does
is establish the killer as an efficient and super fast machine.
Only when the reel rewinds do we see how fast and clean
the whole operation was done. Counter#3: no idea but yes
the way Mahesh drags his knife across the thug's body is
clearly taken from the way Robert De Niro kills the Don
in Sicily from Godfather-II
- Many
of the fight scenes like the polam fight and the bujji fight
are very well picturized and help in elevating Mahesh's
character. It would have been that much more fulfilling
if John Woo and the Wachowski brothers were not paid an
honorable mention in the climax. Only adds to the roster
of influences that Trivikram had for this movie. Yes, I
am ignoring the US Marshals inspired jump here because it
is all too well known by now.
Besides
the above points, the movie prods along with occasional comedy
but the undercurrent tension in the plot is maintained through
out by Trivikram. Now, this is where the most striking and
the most ironic influence comes out. Most striking because
the plot of a political assassination gone wrong ( including
the attempted sniper shot), the hero being trapped by a shady
entity, a CBI officer ( FBI in the original, ofcourse ) rationally
unraveling the incident pointing out that it was a setup all
along, a side kick of the law officer hand-in-gloves with
the villain - all of these are conveniently borrowed from
a Hollywood movie but smartly changed to suit the Telugu audiences
as is Trivikram's wont. I also say the most ironic influence
because the said English movie, a Jon Voight starrer is named
'Most Wanted' - the tag line for Athadu( I wonder if this
is official though). Ofcourse, as an end product Athadu is
better than the original simply because the original has some
of the worst lines and ridiculous scenes ever written in cinema
while Athadu more than makes up for it. Conjuring such a hotch
potch movie from varied sources while still maintaining the
desired flow is a tribute to Trivikram's talent and Mahesh
Babu's presence.
Before
I end, a final word about Mahesh Babu. Though not the best
in comedy and definitely in need of some improvement in the
dialogue delivery department ( how I wish he stops that 'looking-into-vacuum'
thing before he delivers his key lines - has become too predictable)
, Mahesh is easily the most talented in the present crop of
young actors with an elastic face that can convey complex
emotions. He doesn't really get to go full blast in this movie
except for maintaining a studied seriousness through out depicting
the internal struggle his character goes through as he finds
love from unexpected quarters. But his good looks coupled
with the sartorial elegance ( chuckle ) and some awesome camera
work lend considerably to the coolness factor. I still think
his 30 minute pre-interval explosive performance in 'Nijam'
is his best. What I am concerned with is his purported statement
that he is going to keep off experiments in his search for
commercial success. That is worrying simply because he should
not end up as another post 90's Chiranjeevi who sacrificed
his talent at the altar of commercial success. In these changing
times where audiences all over are hopefully growing tolerant
to newer ideas, Mahesh has the freedom to try movies that
should satisfy the actor in him and give us viewers some nice
moments of inspired acting. I think once in two years, he
should try movies with directors like Vishal Bharadwaj, Sudheer
Mishra and Bala ( tamil) - directors who spend considerable
time in building their main characters and imbue them with
varied shades of emotion. All the best to him.
Comments
welcome to [email protected]
Other
articles written by Bhrigu:
Anukokunda Oka Roju - a Chronicle
-
Bhrigu
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