Monthly Archives: October 2010

Avakai Biryani

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Avakai Biryani is not only a boy meets girl romance; it is also a romance of a filmmaker and the country he clearly loves. Written and directed by Anish Kuruvilla, a protégé of Sekhar Kammula, it is a simple story that relies on a strong script, excellent characterisation and deft execution to lift it above the clichés.

Akbar Kalam is a Muslim, an auto driver, a student and an orphan. He is caught between worlds and striving to make his way. He lives in a charity cottage, works for Master-ji the local big-wig, and dreams of getting his B.Comm despite failing his exams several times. His exam record is a running joke in Devarakonda.

Spirited graduate Lakshmi (Bindhu Madhavi) and her Brahmin family arrive in Devarakonda needing to start over after losing their fortune. Lakshmi starts making and selling her signature avakai and tries to get her father motivated to get back on his feet.

They both belong and yet they don’t, both making the best of what they have, and so a friendship grows. Lakshmi agrees to tutor Akbar and he helps her fend off unwanted attention from Babar – a leader in the Muslim community and a man with a predilection for satin pajamas. I seriously doubt Akbar was failing only because of his English skills, but Lakshmi doesn’t give up on him as quickly as I would have!

The handling of diversity in the Devarakonda population seemed to me to be very well done. I don’t have the expertise to comment on the reality of this portrayal but can say that as a narrative device it works extremely well. While religion does draw a line through the community, it is depicted as one among many divisions in this village. There are lines of caste, creed, financial status, education and of relationships. Characters cross these lines and back again as the business of making a living and getting the chores done is uppermost and there are few moments of speechifying. The lines of division become much sharper when marriage is in question, and that underpins much of the story.

We see where this is heading a long time before Lakshmi and particularly Akbar seem to. I have my doubts as to how long a boy and girl can hide any “friendship” in a small community, but their roaming around does give Kuruvilla the chance to show the beauty of rural Andhra Pradesh. The growing relationship seems natural and unforced and is not based on any love-at-first-sight or stalking. He calls her Avakai (or as my subtitles have it, Pickles), referring to her identity but also to her hopes for building a future. Their love grows from knowing and valuing each other.

The obligatory spanner in the works comes from the ongoing tension with Babar which is fuelled by testosterone, religion and politics. Babar tries to use religion as a lever to force Akbar to back down but fails as the hero decides to do what’s right for the whole village in a scene with shades of SRK in Swades.

Threats are made, scuffles take place and things boil over between the two men. There is only one way for honour to be satisfied. By an auto race around the village! I know some people rolled their eyes at this episode but it rang true to me. I just rolled my eyes at the sheer stupidity and very boyish behaviour.  Oh and it allowed Kamal Kamaraju to get his shirt off, which I suspect is a legal obligation for any Telugu film hero.  And there was an explosion, which may also be a compulsory element as well as a machete flourish.

Having established his right to stay in the village, managed a scheme to bring mains water to Devarakonda and finally passed his exams, Akbar has one last obstacle – getting Lakshmi. Despite acknowledging his help and decency towards them all, her family refuse to consider him as a suitor because of his religion and because of his limited prospects. Akbar and Lakshmi simply go their separate ways. Her family pressure is too much to withstand, and he has no family to offer them shelter or support.

This is a total spoiler so stop now if you don’t want to know how it all ends.

Akbar throws himself into work, builds on his success in politics and becomes a respected member of the local council. Two years on, Lakshmi’s father hears him speak at a political meeting and apparently undergoes a change of heart on hearing successful Akbar still speak of Lakshmi with feeling. She sends Akbar a jar of pickles with a note asking him to meet her. He looks radiant with joy as he realises the note is from Lakshmi and she is doing well.

They meet, she pretends not to mind his dodgy moustache, and then hands him a wedding card. There are tears on both sides before he sees the card is for their own wedding and that’s it. Happy ever after time. I expected a bit of anger from Akbar at this cruel trick but I think it’s already clear who really wears the pants in this relationship.

Surprisingly I don’t think this ending was either a cop out or disgraceful behaviour by her dad. Neither Akbar nor Lakshmi had the resources to throw family aside and go it alone. I can imagine it would be hard to marry off an opinionated educated girl especially if people began to talk about her relationship with the Muslim boy. She may not have had many takers after all. And why wouldn’t career success influence a father who has experienced losing everything and seeing his family suffer? Anyway I liked the resolution. No fireworks, just happiness and relief. I really liked that the girl was fully involved in choosing her own path and went in with eyes wide open.

The cinematography is beautiful. The colours are lush and welcoming; the village is dilapidated and picturesque. Kuruvilla paces the story well and doesn’t resort to the predictable speeches and characters. Both leads look good but not too glamorous. Their dancing is not brilliant but it seems entirely suited to the characters so their emotions were the real focus, not fancy footwork.  The music blends with the story and the songs are used well, with matching choreography from Prem Rakshith

All the support cast are effective and resist descending into total caricatures. The actors who play Akbar’s best friends are great fun, particularly Praneeth as Sondu who is the embodiment of the fiery spirited party boy that loves his booze, good times and his mates.

I have said before that romance is my least favourite genre. Often I find the plots too silly and the characters poorly acted or insufficiently interesting for me to care about how they are going to navigate the ridiculous story. Avakai Biryani is a successful film for me. It has substance and some thoughtful commentary in addition to charm and pretty visuals. The leads give good solid performances, and the supporting performers are excellent. I give this 4 stars! Temple (Heather will post a film review soon. Don’t panic!)

Khaaleja

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Friday night and time for another expedition to India Talkies for the latest Telugu release.  Mahesh time!  Even though we’ve only been watching Telugu movies for 8 months, we were caught up in the excitement around his long-awaited return to the big screen .  We had with us a true Mahesh fan – someone who had been there for him right from the start – and despite her concern over the lack of subtitles, came along with us for our first look at Mahesh on the cinema screen.  So how did it go?

Although the plot was surprisingly easy to follow for the most, we won’t get too detailed or reveal too many spoilers in this review. We thought this appeared to be two separate films in one.  It starts out with a very funny story about Raju, a taxi driver who is jinxed by the stunningly beautiful and walking disaster Subbhasini, played by Anushka.   It detours into buddy film territory as Raju meets up with a documentary director, played by the very funny Sunil. And then becomes a story about corruption and environmental politics all tied together by Mahesh as the saviour of a village in Rajasthan. And we should probably mention that Raju somehow becomes identified as an incarnation of Shiva. Our friend the Mahesh fan spotted his godliness as soon as she saw his snake wrangling skills. It was very exciting!

Our hero starts off as the taxi driver who has a disaster every time he meets up with Subbhasini.  There are many excellent and very funny scenes set around the numerous ways in which it is possible to destroy a taxi. These are nicely illustrated by Mahesh in later discussions with his boss by the use of model cars – a technique which really should be used by all insurance agencies. The romance is played well by both leads. They are worlds apart, don’t speak the same language (he is pure street, she is more the college girl) and of course, she seems to be an omen of doom for Raju. Their meetings are usually capped off with Raju’s taxi being totalled so it was always going to be a rocky relationship.

Anushka plays the daughter of a wealthy businessman who has some very undesirable associates, and an eye for marrying her off to his own advantage. She is smart, well off, a really bad driver but seems to be a decent human being. She does have terrible taste in get well gifts though (and Mahesh would seem to agree with us).  Her father is involved in some dealings with GK – the evil Prakash Raj. We were perturbed by the wardrobe chosen for the multi-billionaire GK as some of his suits looked to have been designed for a schoolboy not a magnate.

Through a series of typically filmi coincidences, arguments and relationships (no really you don’t need subtitles to work this bit out), our hero and heroine find themselves in Rajasthan and on the run. Raju is delivering or demanding an insurance payment relating to a deceased friend or colleague or the guy who died and landed on the cab  (we don’t know and it didn’t matter so much why he went). Subbhasini is running from her intended fiancee who turned up for a romantic dinner in the desert and in a fine public health announcement, dropped a packet of condoms. So she ran to her almost certain death rather than deal with an over eager boyfriend who planned to practice safe sex. Hmmmm.

Once Raju and Subbhu are together in the desert, the plot takes a turn.  Siddha (played by Shafi) has been searching for the saviour of his village, a man he will recognise by certain signs. Guess who? Yes. Raju was indeed the man. Anushka was then sidelined for the remainder of the film as it became the more familiar Mahesh style of action adventure.

The ending was both predictable and exciting in it’s epic scale and the grandeur of Trivikram’s vision. Mahesh fans will be delighted to see their hero in full flight, and dominating the action.  Prakash Raj was in total villain mode, and made the most of every second of his gore-splattered finale.

The songs were well filmed and the choreography suited the performers. They were also well placed in the story so actually helped enhance our understanding of the plot and the developing relationships. And the songs gave the costume designers the chance to see how many layers of clothes they could make Mahesh wear and still allow him to dance.  We did enjoy the occasional daring flash of an elbow or even a collarbone whenever the three shirts and a scarf permitted. The modesty singlet made several appearances too. Mahesh keeps himself well under wraps. It just adds to the allure according to our resident Mahesh fan.

None of us expected Mahesh Babu to have the comic flair and style to carry this off. We know the dialogues must have been hysterical as we could hear the crowd laughing and the boys sniggering like naughty kids at some of the colourful language. But to perform this role , and still keep us fully engaged, laughing and cheering along really takes something special  from an actor. Mahesh delivered that. In fact we found him funnier than comedy stalwarts Ali and Brahmi and he certainly kept up with Sunil who is one of our favourites. Khaaleja really is hilarious! We were never bored, it seemed to make sense despite our lack of language, and the time just flew by. We would have to give this 5 stars!

Sawan Bhadon

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From the kaleidoscope opening credits to the beehive hairstyles and groovy costumes, Sawan Bhadon has a very sixties vibe.  It is usually described as Rekha’s  debut Hindi film and was a box office hit for her. We originally watched this on the strength of the description on the DVD cover which read “This is a fun Bollywood flick full of beehive hairdos, lots of mascara, and some great dance numbers! The music is tops too!”

Let’s get the plot out of the way now. Spoilers galore to follow!

The film opens with prodigal son and all round wet blanket Vikram (Navin Nischol) returning from five years abroad. He immediately sets about telling his stepmother and sister how to dress, accessorise and generally live their lives, demanding his inheritance and insisting on some social justice in the village. Before Vikram turned up stepmother Sulochana (the shamelessly over the top Shyama) was busily squandering the family fortune on booze and wigs.  They host extravagant entertainments, and despite their reluctance to welcome Vikram home, it provides an excellent excuse for another party, fab new outfits, hairdos and a great dance number.

So Sulochana has him killed (the old time bomb in the car trick). You can imagine her surprise when he returns from the dead to once again claim his inheritance and thwart Shyama’s goal of owning more wigs than Dolly Parton and and Rajnikanth combined.

Naturally, she has him killed (the old thermos full of poisoned milk trick).

But does he die? By this time it is no surprise at all to find out Vikram is alive and well (unlike his stepmother!). So that’s it really. All’s well that ends well. The fun, as usual, is in how we get to the clifftop denouement and what people wore along the way.

Rekha looks so young and almost unrecognisable in this film. She is Chanda, who enters the film rescuing Vikram from local thugs, a gang including her brother played by a subdued Ranjeet. Chanda is essentially a good girl who knows what society expects of her and her class, but she is no pushover. She is feisty, opinionated and brash. And of course she falls for Vikram, the wealthy landlord. Their romance is sweet, clandestine, a bit silly and never sleazy. Her mother supports Chanda in refusing a proposal from seedy drunk Dabarilal (Vikram’s uncle) and Chanda knows she will not be sold to the highest bidder. Unlike so many of her later roles, Rekha is very much the good bad girl. She has an outrageous beehive and emphatic eyeliner, but her colourful saris remain firmly in place.

Jayshree plays Dolly – the bad bad girl. Or is she? She is young, beautiful, wealthy and indulged and pretty much does as her mother wants her to do. Just as Chanda is feisty yet essentially conventional, Dolly is glitzy and cheap yet still a little girl at heart. She is being romanced by creepy Madan, who claims to have a cultural dance centre and sponsors touring dance groups. This is all a front of course for his plan to corrupt and ruin as many young ladies as he can, and Dolly’s mother seems perfectly happy with her prospective son-in-law. Their affair is seedy, dishonest and potentially destructive for Dolly as she evades his attempts at seduction.

Sulochana approves of the lounge lizard Madan and his flashy lifestyle and doesn’t see the sleaze under the surface. Vikram can’t see anything good in the spoiled little sister he has neglected for years and just wants her to be a biddable child. She is surrounded by people who don’t really value her, and seems to be attracted to anyone who compliments her. Dolly is selfish but not as malicious as her mother and uncle, and seems to have a revelation towards the end of the film when she wears a much more conservative sari and matching good girl hairdo.

The girls provide much of the interest and colour in the film, and their performances are so enjoyable. Their roles remain opposites until the very end of the film. At one stage Rekha and her mum move into the ancestral home and Dolly and her mum are treated like unwanted guests. Their stories seem to be parallel versions of the same girl meets boy tale, and as one character ascends her counterpart faces adversity.

Navin Nischol looks like he modelled for Thunderbirds. He essentially has to play the straight man to all the mad masala spiced characters around him, and he does an adequate job.

He is not a flashy dancer, a dashing heart-throb, or a convincing fighter. But he is game for a drag number, and for that we give him massive cheers!

Iftekhar is wasted in the support cast. He has nothing to do other than look like a crook, but he does that very well. All the support cast are fine for what little they have to do in this romping murder mystery musical romance.

This is a film celebrating sixties fashion, make-up and hairstyles.  Dolly and her mother look amazing in their selection of groovy salwars, saris and frocks.  The village girls are pure filmi delights with their immaculate grooming and stylish makeup. The party scenes give a chance for the wardrobe team to go all out on the bling, and makeup obviously had a field day with the actresses. Its fun looking at this film after seeing Endhiran as it really makes Rajni’s wig collection look very restrained indeed. For an excellent review and a wonderful gallery of screencaps, check out Memsaab’s post.

The plot is very silly but it did hold our interest mostly due to the likeable cast. The final fight scene just went on and on and on and on….and then it went on again. It was a bit too much to have Vikram pop out of a coffin shaped box and start chasing the bad guys, especially when wearing a powder blue polyester suit. There is only so much disbelief we can suspend. The songs are fun and the overall visual design is great.

Heather says: Having bought this film solely because of the description on the back of the DVD, I was delighted to find out it was such a fun movie to watch.  The fashions and hairstyles are fab and make the film a real visual treat.  It certainly lived up to the promise on the cover! Dolly’s antics are hilarious and Vikram seems to be as unstoppable as Cher.  The plot makes no sense whatsoever, and yet it’s somehow enthralling – if only to see just how many attempts on his life Vikram can survive.  Madan is quite determined in his dedication to Dolly, or rather to her supposed fortune and provides a nice air of sleaze.  The film really does belong to the girls though – all play very strong characters which is a lovely change from the more usual hero-centric films of the time.  Shyama is fantastic as the women who will let nothing stop her in her quest to own more artificial hair than anyone else.  Rekha shines as the village girl, and proves right from the beginning of her career that she sure can act.  I love the soundtrack by Sonik Omi and the whole sixties vibe to the film.  Such a fun movie – I give this 4 stars.

Temple says: I also bought this DVD purely on the strength of the cover and the blurb. It’s so nice to find truth in advertising! Its a very stylish effort, and always a pleasure to watch. The performances are mostly fun, although Navin Nischol will never be the hero of my dreams. Wooden is a kind description. Rekha was lovely and charming in this sympathetic role. I really enjoyed seeing her in such a girly avatar for a change. Shyama was impressively insane in her role and really made an impression. I do like an evil stepmother on film and she was one of the best! This is the film that taught me the very useful phrase “Yeh Vikram nahin hai!” so it will always be special to me! It’s fun, but ultimately not a stellar example. I give it 3 stars.