Douglas DB
Monday 28 January, 2013
?A?
Review
The film has an unusual title. It is a very unusual film. It could well be called Surya and Chandini (Sun and Moon). It has both Upendra and Chandini in their first starring roles, playing a film director and an actress It is the first film with music by Gurukiran. It broke all box office opening records in Karnataka. It was highly praised by Bollywood stars, Amitabh Bachchan and Anil Kapoor. It was difficult for the audience to understand, and had to watch the film several times to understand the story. Upendra won the Udaya Film Award for Best Male Actor (1998) and Gurukiran won the Udaya Film Award for Best Music Director (1998).
In my Synopsis, I have tried to tell the story clearly, so that everyone could understand the film, and appreciate the creative talent of Upendra, the writer, director and star. If you want to try to understand it yourself, don?t read my Synopsis until after you have watched the film. But if you want the easy option, read on. However, I do not reveal the re-shot climax.
The reverse screenplay that is talked about in this film refers to the first song, in which the couple come together, then go away from each other in reverse sequence. The song is about an accident taking place, using the analogy of vehicle-breaks failing, and saying the heart?s breaks fail. In summary Surya tells Chandini that there is no such thing as love, because of his experiences in life. Chandini wins him over, he falls in love with her. But then, because of all her experiences, she remembers what Surya told her, and she concludes that Surya was right, that there is no such thing as love?. And so the story goes on from there. The first song is a love song, with peculiar dialogues, which express what the film is about. The other songs are a continuation of the story. The music is lovely, particularly in the first song.
It is a film that is perhaps not to the taste of everyone, certainly not to those who want a ?Masala Entertainer?, or a ?Time-Pass film?. It is likely to appeal to the more intelligent viewer: the viewer who likes to think.
5 stars
?A?
Starring: Intro. Upendra, Intro. Chandini, Archana, B.G. Manjunath
Director: Upendra
Producer: H.L. Venu
Music Dir: Intro. Gurukiran
Lyricist: Upendra, G.P. Rajarathnam
Singers: Rajesh Krishnan, Pratima Rao, L.N. Sastry, S.P. Balasubrahmanyam
Distributor:
Genre: Drama
Remade as Adavadiin Tamil
Synopsis
The film opens with a scene of a dead body in a mental hospital, then another on the road. Then we see Soorya armed with a gun, going to the temple of Sri Ganesh, berating Ganesh for all the wrongs in the world. ?Good people are suffering, bad people are having fun,? he says. Eventually he drops the idol in a well. He then goes about, like a madman, with a gun, trying to right all the wrongs he sees around, and saying ?I am God. God is great.? Finally there is a scene where he hugs a girl who is tied up with a rope, in a burning building. Then we see ?The End ? A Film by Soorya?, and we realise we have been watching a film. There is an audience of four. One of them, a woman, says this is a great film, and it is made by a great director, and she would like to buy the film to show in a Chicago International Film Festival ? but she does not understand the climax, and she wants the director to re-shoot the climax. Then we see the first song, a love song with strange words, sung by Surya to Chandini, ?Sum Sumno Nagtale?
She simply smiles,
She simply brightens.
This youth is like a vehicle,
Where the heart
Has a brake fail,
So the accident has taken place.
In the song, there are several scenes where the two lovers come together, then the action is reversed, so that they seem backing away from each other.
The camera cuts to a despairing Surya, (sitting and talking with a little girl) who does not know if his lover loves him, and uses Russian Roulette to find out: he does not shoot himself, so he thinks his lover must love him. We then see scenes of him as a drunkard, and Chandini as a successful, but unpleasant and egotistical film star. He tries unsuccessfully to gatecrash her party. We also see, by her side at this party, and looking as if she is the same age as Chandini, a very attractive and smiling girl, whose name, we learn later, is Archana. He is thrown out of the party. He comes back to her house, and says he will prove his love for her. She tells him to jump in the well, and later to jump from a height. He does both, and miraculously survives.
Then we see a sober Surya directing a scene from a film. He goes off into his caravan, and is followed by what looks like a young schoolgirl, with her hair in bunches, who is hiding from her friends, Ramu and Deepu. However, this is his first meeting with Chandini. She has played this scene to impress him with her acting talent, and to enable her to make the first step on the road to stardom. Song 2 - ?Idu One Day Match kano? shows her first steps on that road. In what is ostensibly the shooting of a scene from her first film he is making with her, she then tells him that she loves him, but he says that he does not believe in love. When a woman says she loves a man, it is not the man that she needs, it is his wealth. Love and affection are the toys created by people for their own selfish cause. A human being can never love anyone else other than himself. He says, ?I hate you, I hate you. Get out from here.? Her reply is, ?I feel like laughing when I hear an inexperienced person like you talking about it.? Although it is the scene from a film, she is actually telling the truth, she loves him in real life. But he does not believe in love. He tells her that a wife will only love a husband as long as he is providing for her, but will dislike him if he is no longer able to provide for her. He asks her to prove her love for him in two horrendous ways, which she does. He is overcome by her love, his life changes, and he wants to make everyone happy. Song 3 - ?Sanje Kempu Andagai? is a celebration of that love, but with the words, ?Chandini went away.? After a month?s absence for the making of a film, Surya returns to find her living in a large mansion, behaving improperly with men. Some film financiers want her to make an English film, but she will have to do a kissing scene, and appear in a bikini at a swimming pool ? she indicates she will do anything if the money is right! She tells him that because of things that had happened to her in her own life, and things she had seen, that she had realised that what he had said about love were true. In the beginning, she loved, he hated: now he loves, and she hates. She throws him out of her house.
He becomes the drunk we saw him as, the despairing Surya, with the little girl and the revolver. Song 4 - ?Yelkolikke Vando Nooruu? is his lament for what he has lost. The girl who wants his film for Chicago offers herself to him sexually, but he says he only wants Chandini, he only loves Chandini. He tells her she does not know about Indian Culture. He says ?India is great. Indian culture is great. Indian tradition is great. Indian heritage is great. Indian soil is great. But Indians are not great.? during this dialogue, a girl is being chased by some rowdies, obviously with no good intentions. The girl is Archana. He puts his jacket round her, and fights off the rowdies to rescue her. But they are not rowdies, they are men who work for Chandini. She tells him that Chandini is not a goddess, she is a bitch. Chandini had invited her to her party, to satisfy the lust of men. She reminds Surya that he had been trying to make a film about the illegal business of corrupt politicians, and had been prevented by Chandini, who was in league with the corrupt politicians. Surya decides to continue making his film exposing corruption. He re-shoots the dramatic climax, to a background of the ?Flower Duet? from the Opera ?Lakshmi? by Delibes. But what is that dramatic climax?
Songs:
1. Sum Sumno Nagtale
2. Idu One Day Match kano
3. Sanje Kempu Andagai
4. Yelkolikke Vando Nooruu
5. Maari Kannu Kurinyago
Released Year: 1998
Running Time: 148 minutes/Colour/Kannada
Divya Jain
Thursday 11 January, 2007
One of the best movies of Upendra...
His Narration, Story Telling is differnt
Plus points are music by gurukiran, dailouges by upendra...
Please watch this movie, if you are looking for a differnt type of movie in kannada
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