Laali Haadu

Starring: Darshan, Abhirami, Ruthika, V. Manohar, Rajesh Ramanath, Umashree, Srinath, Ramesh Bhat,
Sadhu Kokila, Doddanna, Kishan Shrikanth, Amoolya, Bank Janardhan, Chitra Shenoy, Padma Vasanthi,
Baby Moulya, Master Kishan
Director: H. Vasu
Producer: Sa Ra Govindu
Music Dir: Sadhu Kokila
Lyricist: K. Kalyan
Singers: K.S. Chitra, Hariharan, Srinivas, Hemanth, Nanditha, Shamita Malnad, Udit Narayan, Shankar Mahadevan,
Kavita Krishnamurthy, Rajesh Krishnan
Distributor: Sri Ganesh
Genre: Romance, Drama

Synopsis

The film opens with his mother (Umashree) singing a lullaby, “Jo Jo Laali Jo Jo”, to a little baby, born in a village. As she continues the song, we see scenes of village life, with that little baby growing into a toddler, then into a boy. The scene then cuts to Bangalore, to the boss becoming angry when he arrives to see the office empty. Everyone has gone to a concert to hear the renowned singer, Anand – he was that little baby. He is introduced by his P.A., Tippe Swamy, known as T.S. (Sadhu Kokila). He waits till his mother arrives, then comes on stage and sings “Preetige Vandu Bengaluru”. When they go home, she refers to him as what he will always be to her, her “little puppet”. His guru, the man who taught him to sing is Manohar (played by V. Manohar, himself, a music director lyricist and actor), who has a little son, Kishan, and a little daughter, Pooja – both of whom adore Anand, and he adores them. T.S. gets very irritated by, and is rude to Anand’s fans, when they call him on the phone. One of them has sent a present with a card saying “I dash You”.
Anand has to appear on a TV show, and answer listener’s questions. The first caller is the girl who sent the card saying “I dashYou”. She tells Anand that she love him and wants to marry him. This annoys Anand. She then phones him at home, and says that she will come to the temple next day, to give him a special wish for his birthday. At the temple, his mother trips, and is saved from falling by Geeta (Ruthika). His mother likes the girl. Anand is delighted at the next meal-time, as his mother serves one of his favourite dishes, Pongal (a South Indian mixture of rice, dal, cashew nuts and spices). But she didn’t make it, it was made by Geeta, the girl who told Anand that she loves him and will marry him. His mother has decided that Geeta will become her daughter-in-law, and they become engaged. She tells Anand that she is an orphan, and that she will love his mother as she would have loved her own mother. They sing a love song, “Magle Magle Mavin Totige”. However, she is not an orphan as she claims, but has parents and two young sisters. She is just after Anand for his money and fame, and for the prospect of foreign travel. She starts to interfere with his career, arranging to have him sing for makers of pirate audio-cassettes. He sings “Yaava Haava Yaava”, in which he tells Geeta how he learned to sing, then he tells her how Manohar took him from the village to a Recording Studio, to give him his first big chance. Geeta gradually reveals herself, to the viewer at first, as a thoroughly reprehensible character, but eventually to Anand and his family. She walks out of their lives, leaving Anand and his mother broken-hearted. Anand shuts himself in his room all day, and refuses to eat.
Then one rainy night, T.S. goes to the door to find out why the dog is barking so loudly. There he discovers a girl, who is completely drenched in the rain. She introduces herself as Sangeeta (Abhirami) from Hubli. Mother tells her to come in, and change into dry clothes. Sangeeta tells them that her father is dead, and her mother has heart trouble and needs an operation to cure her – that’s why she came to Bangalore.
Mother says she will pay for Sangeeta’s mother’s operation – Rs. 1.5 lakhs. Sangeeta says she will work as a servant to Mother, to try to repay her debt. Who is this mysterious stranger? Why does Anand’s mother give her the money to pay for her mother’s operation? Will she be able to do anything to help Anand? Will she even try? The answers to all these questions are revealed in the second half of the film, with quite a few surprises before the end.

Songs:
1. Jo Jo Laali Jo Jo
2. Preetige Vandu Bengaluru
3. Magle Magle Mavin Totige
4. Yaava Haava Yaava
5. Jo Jo Laali Jo Jo
6. Koti Koti Huvugalige
7. Nanna Hrudaya
8. Olave Olave Nanna
9. O Ushe O Ushe


Released Year: 2003
Running Time: 157 minutes/Colour/Kannada

Review

I am reminded of the trailer of the Hindi film, Lage Raho Muuna Bhai which stated, “This film contains non-violence”! The many Darshan fans who love seeing him as an excellent Action Hero, will no doubt be surprised by this film, where he plays an excellent Romantic Hero, with no violence. I really enjoyed seeing a film concentrating on this side of his talent as an actor. He plays a well-known singer, who is thankful to his mother and his teacher for all they have taught him. He has a very lovely and close relationship with his mother, and Umashree, as his mother plays the role of the sort of mother that everyone would like to have. It was good to see V. Manohar, the famous film director playing himself in the film. The two children (Baby Moulya, Master Kishan) were excellent.
Sadhu Kokila completes the “little family”, as the P.A., and friend. There is a lovely scene at the beginning of the film when he talks about love, and uses several Hindi film titles as part of the sentences, “Dil To Pagal Hai”, “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai”, “Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat”, “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge”, and “Premi No. 1” (an 2005 Oriya film which was dubbed in Bengali).
In my synopsis, I have given a lot, but by no means all, of the details of the first half of the film, but said little after the arrival of Sangeeta on the scene. Both Ruthika and Abhirami are excellent in their roles, and Dodanna is excellent as a blustery character in the film. Songs – lyrics and music – are very pleasing. When I listened to the song “Magle Magle Mavin Totige”, I almost thought I was listening to a song from my native Scotland.

5 stars

Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]