July 8, 2006

I liked the movie ‘Godavari’ because of the points highlighted/explained below:

Simple luv story packaged with common characters, situations, and emotions of everyday life – It’s a feel-good soft romantic comedy set up on a cruise over ‘Godavari’, the river with so many ‘close-to-life’ characters taking up a comforting journey on a ‘lAnchi’(cruiser) named ‘Godavari’ again. This ‘desi boat ride’ is all about how these ‘reel-cum-real’ characters learn to know more about themselves through this journey of human interactions & emotions. As you travel along with the characters amidst ‘Godavari’ on this boat that moves as fast as the water itself, you wish you could be one among them at some point or the other. By the end of this slow-paced soothing ride, all that matters is – choosing between the one you love or the one who loves you!!! In other words, our hero gets tossed up between - ‘being loved with conviction’ and ‘been in love with compromise’, and u know what wins @climax!

Native flavor all along: A flavor of pure nativity is the one that impressed most of the audience, especially of overseas who often miss the very same to identify themselves with – in these days of globalization. It portrays typical telugu cultural essence in the most appealing & aesthetic manner possible for about 3 hrs alongside the scenic riverside beauty of Godavari, passing through the fascinating ‘pApikondalu’ over a voyage from ‘rAjamahEndravaraM to bhadrAchalaM’. Some of the tiny telugu things most of us would tend to ignore in pursuit of the materialistic needs that are revisited here are: supraBhAtaM AlApanalu, SastrIya saMgItha nrutya gItAlu, gOdAri sudUra tIra prAMtAlu, prajalu, vAri kattubATlu, baMdhAlu, BaMdhutwAlu, BAdhalu, bAgOgulu etc.

Sensible characterization, correct character fitness & plausible performances: The way reel-characters etched out to resemble real life makes sense and appeals to the audience – especially in the wake of ‘larger-than-life’ fictious personalities hitting the silver screen so often. And one sees the characters, not the individuals as the performers enacted those roles fitted appropriately in to the groove - be it Ms. Kamalinee as ‘SitaMahalakshmi’ - a sensitive but stubborn, self-decisive budding entrepreneur of 21st century with ‘konchem moMdi, konchem allari, konchem ego, mari konchem possessiveness; Kamalinee gives her best natural shot, be it fun, frustration, screaming or shouting; But u know what, though ‘not-so-bad’ in modern dresses, she appealed to the audience mostly in ‘sarees’, especially while oozing sensuality & teasing our shy Sumanth in the song ‘aMdaMgA lEnA, the pink punjabi dress in the rain song(not much skin show though:) too needs a mention. Mr. Sumanth as ‘SriRam’ - an US returned engineering grad without any definite agenda as any of today’s typical youth, but a selfless service-minded guy with a broken heart; Mr.Sumanth’s unexplored acting-depth, soft nature, and honest looks matched the role to T, and he showed with sincere commitment that he could enliven the role, not the other way round. Above all, it is the latest Mumbai import Ms. Neetu Chandra as hero’s muddulolike ‘maradalu’ resembling a girl next to ur door, always with two minds - be it choosing a sweet(laddu or jangry) or a life partner(idealistic ‘bava’ or ‘papa-arranged’ practical police guy) who steals the show, like Satya in ‘Anand’, with her innocent face & expressive eyes. All others did their roles well - heroine’s concerned parents, hero’s typical ‘mama’, caring ‘bAmma’, Chintamani(Bharani) as the captain-cum-tour guide of the boat ride, a special mention goes to ‘ballons babu - aka chinnA’, a straight lift from the roads of Rajamundry, is so natural in action & diction too, and lastly it is the hollywood’s style of ‘real/graphical talking dog – a local vEdi Kukka’, with ‘single-line satires’ of Sekhar that put the audience in splits, saving producer’s money on routine over-dramatic comedians.

Compact, casual yet witty dialogues: It has some heart-touching real-life scenarios coupled with natural interactions among the natural characters in the natural back drop - for eg, heroine conversations with her parents on her career/personal choices in life; hero’s encounters with the political party leaders; tea shop and boat ride encounters with maradalu/heroine; bAmma’s ‘curious but natural’ one-line-enquiries with the heroine, and thought-provoking satires of Sekhar through his pet dog - it is in this part the movie scores maximum.

All family-viewable content: It can be viewed with the entire family members–spouse/gf/bf, siblings, kids, parents, grand parents or even grand kids, as it has no embarrassing scenes; no scary villains, hence no sumos & no violence; No dream songs, and hence no exotic foreign locales, no flesh exposures; No separate comedy tracks; No superstars, and hence no lengthy dialogues; and above all, no confusing flashbacks & no item songs too.

Refreshing presentation with skillful screenplay and deft direction: When u don't have crowd-pulling commercial gimmicks with mass-masala ingredients, it is engrossing treatment & presentation that matters, and this movie has got it just right on majority of the scenes till the boat reaches bhadragiri, rather slowly. ‘A simple thought of a couple falling in love leisurely on a Lanchi in Godavari’ is executed even more simply onto the celluloid with a lot of significance to the script, screenplay, and dialogues to portray natural emotions in the most natural way possible. Laudable scenes are: introductory heroine/hero character build-up scenes, hero-heroine/maradalu love-hate devleopment on the boat ride, communication gap-oriented chips comedy scene, treasure hunt scene where psycho-analysis of the lead pairs is deftly handled, and finally philosophical yet satirical dog episodes all along. On the whole, it is the writer side of Sekhar who received most of the audience applause.

Significant others: Veteran Veturi’s ‘simple yet enduring’ lyrics made all the difference in echoing the feel of the characters, elevating the mood of the scenes, and conveying a lot of stuff to all the souls through soothing words in situational songs such as 'rAmachakkani siTaki...’, ‘ manasa vAcha..’, ‘andamgA lEna..’ & ‘uppongele’ with the singers doing their bit well. Mr. K.M.Radhakrishnan’s classical-flavored tunes yet again, reflecting the hangover of Anand though, please ears, if heard independently without ‘Anand’ in mind, and would give a feel of fresh breeze from the run-of the-mill raps & remixes, especially to the classical music lovers. Cinematographer Mr. Vijay C Kumar captured the picturesque locales of Godavari and fascinating Papikondalu as much possible as he could in those 90 days of shooting in & around Godavari. To mention a few, the introductory Godavari bridge scene in the night light, the natural backdrops in the ‘uppOngele’, ‘manasA vAchA’ songs, and superb lighting schemes & color gradations with lot of terachaApalu during the song of the movie ‘andaMgA lEna’, highlight being the rainbow capture shot in the inundated rain sequence of ‘Tippalu’ song. Godavari, the boat looks so natural without any extravagant settings and the credit goes to Mr. Kishore Chowski for his apt artwork. Editor Mr. Marthand K Venkatesh needs a mention too, though ‘Anand’ is still his classic, and a special mention to the sensuous song picturaization of ‘aMdaMgA lEnA..’. Kudos to all the film-crew, along with the direction team of Mr. Sekhar, who put up an equally dedicated effort behind the screen for bringing up the beauty of Godavari onto the screen yet again.

Sekhar’s movies are different from other regular ones bcoz his films:

Portray nativity with an emphasis on originality: Nativity, a rarity in today’s movies, is the one that stands out as Sekhar’s ability. Be it ‘Anand’ or ‘Godavari’, one witnesses an almost forgotten typical telugu flavor, that was often implanted in golden oldies. As mentioned earlier, some such tiny telugu things are - supraBhatam AlApanas, classical/traditional music & dance bits, bhOgi maMtalu, kAla krityAlu, vAkitlo kallApi water, raMguraMgula muggulu, gOrintAku, kAlla pArAni; natural flow of scenes like sun rise, day-to-day nuances, rain sequences w/o skin show, sun set; desi natural beauty like gOdAri rEvugaTTulu, isuka tinnelu, terachApalu gOdAri lO Itaku dUkE chinnArulu; good human values, relationships, bondings, interactions, and emotions etc.

Depict real-life characters rather than ‘larger-than-life reel-characters’, with an emphasis on heroine characterization (hero being down to the earth/submissive) – the lead lady represents 21st century’s urban middle class girl with loads of self-confidence, individuality, independent attitude, and progressiveness along with ‘a golden heart of devadasu’s paru kind’ in order to survive in this male-dominated materialistic world, without limiting herself to songs & dances as she does in most of the so-called star-centric flicks. Characterization, casting, and compact dialogues with natural interactions/emotions played pivotal role in both of the Sekhar’s movies so far. Represent a ‘non-rated’ family genre targeting mainly the family crowds and working class segment, a segment that stopped going to the theatres in the wake of excessive faction-cum-action revenge dramas, love-cum-lust remakes or free-makes of non-local flavor hitting the silver screen Friday after Friday.

Convey that commercialism and art can go together as long as the audience gets an entertaining end product on the silver screen, a screen that is often plagued with the so-called superstar-syndrome and image trap. The sensational success of ‘Anand’ and audience appreciation of ‘Godavari’ vindicate this point, a point that most of today’s film-makers either tend to disregard or disagree. Reflect the dedicated team effort (apparently put up for good film-making art-sake, not just for money-sake): With a bounded script, and a clear-cut thought on the expected output, his film-crew seems to be as passionate and committed as Sekhar himself towards giving their best shot with an intent to deliver something afresh on each frame, and all those honest energetic efforts are there for all to see on the screen - be it ‘Anand’ of 2004 or ‘Godavari’ of 2006. It is the team effort of all the 24 crafts of film-making behind the screen that a makes a film successful on the silver screen, and if that team is as passionate as Sekhar’s team, then it would certainly result into a good product and receive audience admiration.

Finally, as a kid, even by growing up in the heart of ‘telugugadda’, I was not that fortunate enough to be able to watch a ‘Bapu/Balachander/Viswanath’ kind of movies so often amidst innumerous mass-masala flicks, but now I feel fortunate enough for being able to watch myself and even suggest my kids in future those kind of telugu flavor flicks even sitting on the other side of the globe. That is where this passionate film maker Shekhar’s skills standout among the crowded commercial flicks and hence the ever-admiring audience needs to encourage this kind of genre so as to pave way for more such clean & neat movies of native flavor.

Ramesh Babu Manyam : Atlanta , GA
[email protected]