August 18, 2006

After seeing Jeevi’s rating of 4.5/5 for the movie Bommarillu my husband was compelled to watch this movie. We decided to forego Anushka Shankar’s free concert in Grant Park, Chicago and ended up at Desplaines theater on last Sunday afternoon.

The theater is in dilapidated status and I seriously doubt any amount of renovation would help. For reasons unknown the screen of the theater was at an angle which is unnatural to say the least. The movie goers have to sit with their necks turned a little to the right to get a decent view of the screen. Also the ticket prices are more than that of a regular movie for that time of the day. None of the above deterred our telugu movie lovers.

Before you read further let me make it clear that this is not a review of the movie. Go read Jeevi’s review if you want one. Also for the insight and analysis of the movie, read Srinivas Kanchibotla’s article. They both are favorites of mine and million others. As I said in the title this is just a blabber with some thoughts that crossed my mind after seeing the movie.

Let me first state the good things about the movie. There is absolutely no flesh-showing. The heroine is covered neck to toe and looks ravishing. Mallika Sherawat should watch this movie to realize that there is no need to reveal to look exotic. There is no violence. There are no blood thirsty, sadistic villains. The biggest villain of the movie is a doting father and his greatest flaw is that he micro manages his household. I wish some of my managers watched this movie. They would definitely understand my crankiness at work. Another virtue of the movie is that there is no crude/gross/unnecessary humor.

The heroine is portrayed as very innocent, naïve and highly perky. The hero falls in love with her because she does what she likes. After watching her I kept wondering when did the term innocence become a synonym to dumbness. The heroine is studying engineering and has an IQ of – never mind. She looks like a female who can’t count the fingers on her hands and come up with the same answer twice. She firmly believes that you grow horns if you accidentally bump your head with somebody’s and don’t repeat this action. The source for her belief – a neighbors kid!. This totally illogical senseless belief, makes her do some extreme things even to the extent of sabotaging her relationship with her would be father-in-law. She is overly friendly with any body without thinking of consequences.

To be adamant in things you believe is one thing and to succumb to your weaknesses or sweet tooth is completely different. She goes alone in the middle of the night to eat ice cream on a whim. Maybe she is too “innocent” to know about the prevalent crime?

Don’t we all wish we did what ever came to our mind? Obviously we are not as lucky as the heroine. This reminds me of a slogan on the walls of a colleagues cubicle – “Born to party!. Forced to work!”

Padma Budhavarapu
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Also read Padma article on Hema Chandra