DECCAN HERALD

Sunday, September 20, 1998

Flush with the super success of Mungaarina Minchu which also bagged the coveted national award in the regional film category, Director S V Rajendra Singh Babu did have to make do with a disastrous opening for Dhoni Saagali. However, he seems to have been inspired by two events that have been jelled well and woven together - the recent spate of farmers` suicides in North Karnataka due to crop failure and secondly, veteran poet late Da Ra Bendre`s poem with the same title as that of the film.

Two inseparable prankster friends Karna (Shiva Rajkumar) and Bharat Kumar (Ramesh) studying in college find themselves in good company with Sapna Sagar (Vijayalakshmi) to form the romantic trio, though we do not have a love triangle as is seen in other films. On a visit to his native village, Bharathipura (Bellary district), to nurse his ailing father, Karna chances upon a social worker Neelambika (Shilpa).

As she insists that he would take his feudal father Channabasappa (Sabisachi) out for the festivities, the tussle reaches a flashpoint when Karna refuses to allow his father to take part because of his ill-health. Karna feels humiliated as he is made to apologise for his brash behaviour towards Neela. He feels offended and seeks revenge. Bharat sympathises with him and moves to the village in the guise of a teacher along with Sapna. Bharat hoodwinks all the villagers into believing him that he can run errands for him and get things moving in the village. One such pet project for the village buried in the government dungeons is the dam project which is scuttled by the rich landlord Channabasappa as he fears that his land would get submerged if the dam project did take off. Overnight, a temple springs up to prevent the dam from being constructed. Religious sentiments, this, rightly depicted!

Bharat takes cudgels against the feudal establishment and contests elections against Neela. When he realises that he cannot make inroads and break Neela`s popularity, he fools the villagers and gains sympathy. He eventually gets elected. When the time of reckoning comes, the two friends part ways. Obviously, Neela makes her way into his heart and makes all the difference. Though Karna realises the seriousness of Bharat`s purpose as a politician after listening to his fiery outburst in the Assembly, it is too late, as he eventually gets killed. It is Karna`s turn to take the establishment head-on. Whether he succeeds in his attempts or does he succumb to his father`s evil machinations, forms the remaining part of the story.

Shiva Rajkumar sparkles throughout the film. This film seems to his best film to date, thanks to Rajendra Singh Babu`s direction. Shivanna is restrained and collected and delivers his dialogues effectively. Ramesh is superb. Vijayalakshmi as the new, chirpy young thing has performed well in the small and meaty role. Shilpa is good as usual. Veteran Bengali actor Sabi Sachi steals the show. V Manohar`s music is average with two good tunes in Nesara... and Dr Rajkumar`s soulful rendering of Bendre`s title song. This song evokes a lot of sympathy while delving into the plight of the farmers overburdened by huge debts besides struggling for their daily existence.

Though the film calls for tighter editing and trimming by at least 15- 20 minutes it provides good entertainment fare for the viewer. It is only hoped that other directors don`t follow suit and take up the same subject again to successfully upset the cinematic trend.

Good entertainment value for the family!

What a blast to walk into a theatre and hear English the way you speak it - colloquial Indian English - and meet characters like you on screen: this, after years and years of hearing and seeing only Hollywood or desi movies. Hyderabad Blues, a slight, funny, enjoyable, charming little film is a welcome addition to the small but growing number of Indian English films. Early efforts like Victor Banerjee`s August Requiem, Aparna Sen`s 36 Chowringhee Lane and the more recent botched attempt, Praying with Anger by M Night Shyamalan, seemed stilted and self-conscious.

Since then nobody has bothered to make Indian films in English - that is, till Dev Benegal`s astute adaptation of Upamanyu Chatterjee`s English August came along. Assured, unselfconscious, bold, the film seemed to know that there was an audience for it: they were, like its hero, August, slightly alienated, confused, urban, convent-educated Western sensibilities who not only talked in English but thought in English as well. Namely people like... us, me, you. What a kick to see someone like yourself in a movie. English August struck a chord with urban Indian audiences wherever it was shown.

Nagesh Kukunoor`s Hyderabad Blues isn`t as stylish and pointed as English August but this film also entertainingly dramatises the dilemma of its hero, Varun, a young Indian who returns home from America after twelve years, to find that he doesn`t know what 'home` is, anymore. He defines home as what`s comfortable, but he isn`t 'comfortable` in either America or India. He may talk and think in English but he 'feels` in Telugu - intellectually Western, emotionally Indian.

After 12 years in the States, Varun (played by Nagesh himself) returns, complete with accent and a Georgia Tech T-shirt, for a vacation to Hyderabad. At first he`s amused by his parents, relatives, friends and the way things generally go in India - he`d forgotten. Amusement turns to tolerance and finally, exasperation. When he complains he`s accused of having become a phoney, a wannabe American. He can ignore all that but it begins to matter when the girl he`s fallen in love with, refuses to see things his way. Varun is confused: who is he really, where does he belong and what has become of him?

Kukunoor who produced, wrote and directed this romantic comedy in 17 days with a small budget and amateur actors (mostly friends and relatives) narrates the story slickly. He isn`t (like English August was), concerned so much with nailing the hero`s dislocation as much as he is with wanting to capture a simple, recognisable, slice-of-life romance on screen. He succeeds largely, except for the botched end and the unconvincing arguments Varun and Ashwini have - their differences with each other didn`t seem serious enough to make them even think of marrying someone else.

The surreal end which tries for absurd comedy doesn`t work, because the film never prepares us for it, having taken care to treat the story realistically up to that point.

Interestingly, Kukunoor has better success with the more difficult subject in the film: the culture clash. The hero`s growing difference with his own culture, tradition, family, and friends is sketched humorously, tellingly. There isn`t the introspection and critique English August furnishes - as in a throwaway line like: ''August. Ha! Just another name for a generation that doesn`t oil its hair`` - but then Dev Benegal had a whole book behind him. Author Chatterjee has already done the thinking for the film. The problem with this 'Varun versus the rest of India` is that a persuasive case is never made out for India. The only defence dealt out to Varun is something to the tune of: ''this is India and we`ve always done it this way``. While Varun persuasively argues that he just wants to take the best from both cultures and what`s wrong with that, the film never tells us what it is that he has come to value in Indian culture.

The people in this film are more types than characters and that is as it should be: they stand in for all the mothers, fathers, relatives, and friends that we are familiar with. Varun`s friends Sanjeev and Harish leave a lot to be desired - with their singular-minded, mindless preoccupation with girls, booze and sex - but some of us were thrown together with characters like that when we were growing up. These two appear to be modern, free-thinking, non-traditional, but are shocked that Varun kissed Ashwini and demand that he apologise to her. This is hilarious and the film itself doesn`t see this contradiction, but we do - we keep running into such double-think all the time. The actors who play the bit parts come across awkwardly, but considering that most of them are acting for the first time, they aren`t bad at all.

Kukunoor himself is competent, as are Vikram Inamdhar and Elahe Hiptoola. And Rajshri Nair makes for a very watchable heroine. The music score by Aashirvad and Bunty is pretty good - particularly the opening credits. But however competently made, audiences always have a problem with hearing colloquial Indian English spoken in these films. It seems to jar, seems affected. ''Come on, man``, ''what yaar``, and so on, which we use everyday, sound suddenly unnatural, even embarrassing when heard on screen.

Part of the problem is that actors - professional or non-professional - don`t know how to intone, deliver lines in Indian English, since the opportunities to do so are rare to non-existent: The occasional original play in English (as in the Mahesh Dattani plays) and the handful of Indian English films. Our actors need to experiment and practise speaking Indian English, otherwise the lines sound either flat or the other extreme - artificial.

The other part of the problem is that because we`ve seen so few of these, we, in the audience, haven`t had an opportunity to hear colloquial English spoken often enough on screen to get used to it. This entire genre is just being born and needs time to grow up. After all, what was Indo-Anglian writing just three decades ago - R K Narayan, Mulkraj Anand and Raja Rao - and the purists were saying that they sounded affected, false, but look how far Indian writing in English has come now. English August, Hyderabad Blues, and now Leslie Carvalo`s The Outhouse have made a positive, encouraging, competent beginning. It is just possible that if Indian English films come of age, eventually they may well replace our ailing parallel cinema, if not in the regional languages, at least Hindi. More power to them.

I can hear a groan go up that this kind of cinema is going to be shallow, lightweight. ''But,`` went a few people, Hyderabad Blues is so light - only a romantic comedy``. So are most good Hollywood movies. When are we going to learn from Hollywood that a film does not always have to be about 'Something`. It`s enough if, as in Hollywood, films are slick and give you a good time. Hyderabad Blues deserves a wider audience: how long it`ll play depends on how many turn up to see it. So do turn up - it is, as any characË ter in this film would say, good fun, man.

The best of the sci-fi disaster flicks and the mother of them all: not just an erupting volcano or a burning building or a sinking ship, but a comet the size of New York City threatening to wipe out the planet. Watchable, at times even moving and spectacular, Deep Impact zeroes in on the human drama that this apocalypse sets off. It stars Morgan Freeman (terrific as usual even in a formulaic role like this) as the President of the United States and Vanessa Redgrave and Maximillian Schell as the parents of Tea Leony, the reporter who breaks the story. Writers Michael Tolkin and Bruce Joel Robinson pose the question: what if we all lived as though we were going to die tomorrow? Wouldn`t we live right and do the right thing always? Directed by Mimi Leder, one of a handful of women directors that Hollywood has begun to trust with a big budget. The climax - the tidal wave sweeping over New York city - is awesome.

Exsqueeze me, but where do films like this come from? Dudsville, that`s where. The flat, deadpan humour, the bad lines, the campy cuteness, the awful characters played by awful actors is, God help us all, entirely intended. Its supposed to be a flashback to the 80`s hairstyle, clothes, social codes, Billy Idol (who makes a cameo) a new thing called a CD player, 80s music and yuppiedom. Adam Sandler is a wedding singer who falls in love with Drew Barrymore who is in love with a rich, obnoxious yuppie. The few amusing moments come from Steve Bucemi but this film is not to be believed. Its desperate campiness tries to ape Muriel`s Wedding - which neatly evoked middlebrow, pop sensibility and fails. Sandler and Barrymore are unappealing. What a comedown for Drew to get back to this ET cuteness - go back to doing those steamy roles Ms Barrymore, even if it has to be Poison Ivy-IV.

PS