How long it has been, that after watching a movie, you are sure to get haunted by it for quite some time? No, not because of the horror factor but the content of the movie is so good that you are bound to take certain elements of it to your heart. Long time right? Then yes, ARJUN REDDY is here for you. To speak with you, to question you, to take you into trance. Man, that film is a cult now in Telugu movies. Interestingly it got the cult status even before its release. That too an unconventional love story, breaking through into mainstream stature, which I remember happened before long back with Mani Ratnam’s ‘Geetanjali’.
Though it had the glimpses of ‘Devdas’, this film has a culture of its own. When I first watched the teaser, the title impressed me first because of the template resemblance of yester year cult English film, ‘Pulp Fiction’. The raw style of narration, the textures, the pace, it looked like the director had everything framed prior to the shoot. It was not like, show the glimpses of the character’s story through a song, and increase the pace as every other movie we see in Telugu. The director made sure each minor aspect of the journey had an impact to the story. He took the audience into the depth of the story and emotion, and made sure you feel the conflict. This movie is an experince.That marks his brilliance where he did not compromise and back off from his style. So first hats off to Sandeep Reddy Vanga for giving us this marvelous piece of narration.
Second, the characterization. Each and every actor getting into the skin of the roles. Minimal dialogues, yet the expressions grow on you. Again kudos to the director for the strength each character had in the narration. And speaking of the devil, Vijay Sai Devarakonda a.k.a Arjun Reddy. This man has gone to another zone. Before the release, all the positive and negative hype was just around him. Everyone had a pinch of doubt somewhere but he was confident to the core. Because he knew something exceptionally brilliant outcome is out there and yes we stand by your words whole heartedly now. No one could have pulled this character better than him. Expressions in several places, the conflict of love, lust, heartbreak, realization, empathy, everything was bang on. Next Shalini as Preethi, a damsel in distress yet having a particular clarity on the man she loved. She was perfect for it. Not in one point she was uncomfortable in portraying the role. And supporting characters by Rahul Ramakrishna as hero’s friend Shiva and Kamal kamaraju as hero’s brother. Firstly Rahul, a sensible and sensitive friend we all have. Though he was the comic strength, one particular scene with his father explaining about his friend, just shows the brilliance of the role and the actor. And Kamal Kamaraju in never before role, supporting and fighting with his brother and staying with him in thick and thin, he nailed it. A lot more characters which I cannot reveal, have something to offer to the audience, which they can relate to.
Till now I have tried to explain the over view of the movie. But to be frank, this movie is a thesis. Having mentioning about the important characters, none of them are larger than life. All of them are just you and me, in and around us. We have gone through or will go through the phase. It’s just a role whose life story is what we see and connect to. The director as he mentioned, took a lot of care in detailing. Example letting the characters speak other languages according to the nativity, a doctor behaving as a doctor rather than just standing in a white coat, even the music, which I forgot to give a special mention to. The songs, the music by Radhan, just goes within the narrative than hindering it. Example, the love making scenes are enhanced by a classical fusion song, in which the particular raga is enhancing the mood. And specific use of silence and the sound design as the element of narration needs to have a special mention. Specially the trance Radhan takes you into at the interval, with ample classical touch of the marriage backdrop shows his brilliance. The aura in that scene has never been witnessed before in Telugu movies. I am still not over this excellence and I have had a troubled sleep. And to the people who thought it had excess intense love making and drug/alcohol abuse scenes or a slow movie with no dance numbers, please do not try to take this down, for it is beyond your sensibilities and there are audience who would wish for a parallel movie style, which has a strong sensible storytelling and content.
