Kannada cinema is
today on a roll. The success of several films
over the last two years (Jogi, Duniya
etc) has brought the faith back to the audiences.
It’s the same old theory again. A good story
even if it has been told earlier, works as well
as ever if done with hummable songs, a good mix
of humour and emotions and most importantly an
honest director. It’s a formula that cannot
fail. This is reaffirmed more than ever with Mungaaru
Male, the most successful film in the history
of Kannada Cinema. The figures are staggering...175
days and counting... Still running at more than
100 screens. The most downloaded ringtones in
Bangalore. What more can you ask for, when one
Hindi speaking non-Kannadiga techie in Bangalore
is asking another whether he has seen 'MM'?
The film opens quietly without a fuss, with a
story that is most predictable. Boy sees girl.
Boy loves girl. Girl getting married in a week.
Boy’s charm steals the girl’s heart.
Boy and girl are all set to elope. But…This
is where a charmer of a film takes off. With brilliant
writing, director Yograj Bhat (Mani,
Ranga SSLC (2004)) takes you on a cinematic
journey with the pre-monsoon showers in the hills
as a backdrop. Director Bhat is in complete control
from frame one. With masterly skill in plotting
the twists and turns of a rain drenched love story
that pits true love against family honour, he
draws the audience in with simplicity and passion.
Wonderfully written lines, with humour and emotion
taking turns to outbeat one another, take dialogue
writing to new enjoyable heights. The creation
of a mythical sequence where the hero carries
the heroine up the temple steps for her to be
his forever is a highlight. Rarely does one see
such a cinematic conversion of a non existent
temple ritual into an emotional conflict. The
creation of an alter ego character in the form
of a rabbit, is a master stroke. The hero risking
his life by jumping in front of a moving train
to save the rabbit is moving. It reflects the
director’s control over a wide audience
of all age groups.
 The
characters are well etched out to be timeless.
Ganesh, as a vulnerable young spoilt brat comes
alive with his casualness and sense of humour.
He has earned cult status after this movie with
his effortless performance, nuanced and controlled
body language, and heart warming smile. He meanders
through the ups and downs of the story, with a
rarely seen honesty that actors in mainstream
cinema otherwise lack. The last scene with the
girl getting married on one side and Ganesh burying
his dead rabbit in the rain at Jog falls on the
other, is poignant, numbs your defences to bring
a tear in your eye, and brings pure cinematic
pleasure. Sanjana Gandhi as the bride to be, underplays
her dilemma silently. Anant Nag as a retired colonel
with a hearing impediment, draws a chuckle a minute.
And last but not least mention must be made of
the rabbit that has stolen childrens’ hearts.
Music Director Manomurthy, a computer science
graduate from Stanford, and a multi-million dollar
entrepreneur in the US, has composed brilliant
music responsible in a big, big way for the film's
success. Kunidu Kunidu Baare and Anisuthide
are a rage all over Karnataka. It is estimated
that more than 15 lakh pirated CDs of these songs
have already been sold!
Cameraman Krishna’s no-fuss camera paints
a poetic picture of the grey-blue romantic rain
drenched hills of Western Ghats. With not a single
frame filmed outside Karnataka, the locales boast
of what splendour the Western Ghat landscape here
has to offer. A scene and a song on the edge of
a roaring Jog falls take you on a roller coaster
ride with the camera free falling dangerously
over the gigantic and majestic waterfall. Unlike
most Indian mainstream cinema, here we actually
see a cameraman enabling the director unobstrusively
with his camera letting the story be told in the
most effective way possible. The use of close-ups
is extensive and helps one get closer to the characters
and emotions of the story.
Director Bhat is undoubtedly the man of the moment.
He has an enormous responsibility on his shoulders
being regarded as the man who brought Kannada
film audiences back to the theatres. Today thanks
to him, Kannada cinema’s future has never
looked brighter.
Anand Subramanian is an alumnus of the
Film and Television Institute of India (FTII),
Pune with specialization in Film Direction, 1993.
He has made several corporate films and television
commercials and as acted in films like Mysore
Mallige (1991). He has just completed making
his first feature film in Hindi, Doosra.
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