Mrugashira (Kannada)
Director: Srivatsa
Cast: Prajwal Devaraj, Manasa Himavarsha, Ananth Nag, Avinash, Sadhu Kokila, Tabla Nani
Mrugashira is a case study on how to write an awful heist. It is almost as if the director was bored with the tale of myth and faith that he had begun with and suddenly decided to make it all about a robbery. Even without this whimsical departure in the story, the film has a disjointed plot, aggressive acting, terrible humour (crass jokes about alcoholism and sex with a transgender) and an obsession with low-angle shots.
Mrugashira is a village in a forest. Residents launch a search for a temple belonging to their ancestors. But for some reason, they kill any person who strays into their village. Into this village comes a godman and promises to help them find the temple. Cut to a city boy, Prajwal, who drives an auto. Now, cut to a man who is on his way to cremate his dead father. This man meets an insurance agent on the way. The son of the dead father and the insurance agent meet the auto driver and then they all randomly go on a holiday after cremating the dead man (apparently to sell some land, but it really does not make sense). On the way to their holiday, there is an accident which ensures that all three men land in Mrugashira . For the most part of the film thereafter, these men are hostages in the village. Except, in the last 20 minutes, it is revealed that Prajwal, along with the godman had planned the whole thing so that they could find the temple and steal two pots of gold hidden in it. The villagers, of course, do not know about the gold and are easily duped. They also give their daughter away to Prajwal.
Evidently, Mrugashira suffers from a bout of poor writing. There is no reason why the characters are where they are or how they know each other at all. It is also full of action sequences that seem to be inserted only to exaggerate ‘Dynamite Prince’ Prajwal’s masculinity. To make matters worse, the director manages to squeeze in a romantic song shot on a beach that is unrelated to the story. The love story itself is entirely contrived and unnecessary. Ananth Nag plays the role of an ancestral priest featuring predominantly in a cameo song at the beginning of the film. However, the song too is rather ludicrous for its use of background dancers dressed as several Hanumans. Sadhu Kokila is introduced in the film apparently for comic relief, but his jokes about how he got a transgender pregnant are cringe-worthy and offensive.
Mrugashira is bizarre to say the least.
