Aapta Mitra

Just saw that movie. Refreshingly, a good kannada movie. one of those rare movies which will appeal to even the “balcony class”.

kinda spooky stuff. a few illogical things in the plot (such as a 17th century court dancer haunting a 21st century house – forms the basis of the plot) but still the director (forget his name) has made a pretty good effort in piecing it all together. and for a change, the screenplay is excellent (a prereq for a spooky movie such as this) and the music by Gurukiran (who seems to be going the anu malik way – only thing is he doesn’t lift entire songs, just pieces from different songs in a “collage”) isn’t very inspiring. but hte background score is amazing and adds to the plot.

and of course, there’s the customary vishnuvardhan-dwarakish song (this movie has been produced by dwarakish) and the acting is also pretty good. and with “sahasasimha” vishnuvardhan, “chocolate hero” ramesh, soundarya, “gatti haalu” (tough milk) prema, dwarakish, shivaram, etc. it is only expected.

this film also happened to be soundarya’s swansong before she passed away in a helicopter crash during last year’s election campaign. god, she did look good! the homely type though. definitely lived up to her name (which i heard she acquired upon entry into films).

the movie completed a year at Santosh Theater sometime mid-august and was shortly taken off. that it caters to all kinds of audience (and not just to the gandhi class unlike most other kannada movies) did help. critics may argue that the reason for this movie doing so well was teh ban on other language films which was on when this was released.

however, that (and the fact that it’s “inspired” by a mallu movie) must not take away any credit from this. easily among the 10 best kannada movies i’ve seen.

PS: no wonder the tam movie “inspired” by this Chandramukhi didn’t do too well. Rajni played the role played by vishnu in this one and one simply can’t imagine rajni as a top-notch psychiatrist. he’s fit only for the conductor-auto driver-type “gandhi class level” roles.

Put Comment