Title: Allide nammane, illi bande summane (Kannada 2011)
Story, screen play and dialogues: Sourav Babu
Direction: Gopi Peenya
Music: Gurukiran
Editing: Kempraj
Photography: PKH DOss
Produced by: Sorav Babu
Verdict: It is a beautifully crafted movie about aspiring software engineers who come from rural India to the USA. It wonderfully narrates the awkwardness of fresh NRIs, their challenges and triumphs. It also juxtaposes this with the hard truths of life in US. Very heartfelt and realistic script, written by an NRI brings authenticity to the movie. Sharp editing allows for a lot more story to be told within 2 hours. The movie shines with very natural acting and mature direction. For me, the the movie scores a 9 out of 10.
This is the story of typical Non-resisdent Indians (NRIs). Even though there have been earlier Kannada movies on the subject of NRIs and their issues, this movie is unique in that it is a story written by an NRI. It is narrated from the NRIs' point of view. It is for this reason that I think the makers of this movie have very much succeeded in presenting an authentic story. Another highlight of this movie is that it is very realistic while not ignoring the entertainment aspects.
I heard quite many people during and after the movie say "this looks so much like our story". This fact that an audience identifies itself with a movie is possible only when the movie has at its core a very real and authentic expression. I felt the writer Gourav and the director Gopi Peenya have tried to give an honest and heart felt expression and they have succeeded. All the more notable becuase it is a maiden venture for each of them.
The story is that of a typical Indian who ends up being an NRI. Kenchappa Babu is from a village in Karnataka, India. He is the son of a farmer. He comes over to US on an H1 visa and in search of contract jobs. He comes across Sudarshan another software engineer with similar background and they soon develop a strong friendship. These story revolves around the lives of these two characters.
What impressed me most was that the writer and the director have shown excellent restraint in how they want to tell the story. The first half of the movie shows the struggles and triumphs of a newly arrived NRI. Here there was a big risk of turning it into cliched jokes and crude display of the material comforts of NRIs. Instead the movie has some genuinely funny moments and goes about briskly showing the initial excitement of an American life. As many NRIs can attest to, this is just one part of American life. The second half brings up the serious and difficult parts of life which NRIs have to face in America. Here too the film very consciously avoids sentimentality. In its place we see real heartfelt emotions.
The editing is so brisk that it would not be an exaggeration to say that not a single frame exists that should not have been there. Just when you start fearing you are in for some sequences which will spoon feed what is obvious, the movie spares you that misery. Instead the story goes far ahead trusting that the audience are intelligent enough to fill in the unseen parts. For example when Kenchappa Babu gets married, I was so relieved that I did not have to live through a movie wedding scene. Instead we get to see the more important life of the newly married couple in US. Similarly, we see this in the later half too . Without revealing too much of the story, I liked the way the concluding scenes were briskly shown without pulling the audience through cliched sequences.
The dialogues are appropriately funny and touching. Many acting talents in this movie have fresh faces and their performances are equally fresh. Sourav Babu, Sri Raj, Dattanna, Padma Kumta and Yajna Shetty have performed so well that it does not look like acting at all. The expression that go through Yajna Shetty and Sri Raj's faces, when they do text-chat for the first time is arresting. The scenes towards the end involving Dattanna, Padma Kumta and Yajna is stunning to say the least. And to top it of all, do not miss Jaggesh and Komal dancing through the streets of downtown Chicago.
This movie brings in a freshness to Kannada films that is very welcome. Not only that, it shows that life is both sweet and bitter and the movie ends with a very powerful message.
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