The Kannada film industry is its own worst enemy. Blaming other language films is a ruse and an excuse. The quality of most films churned has killed the basic curiosity of even diehard film fans. It’s not because they dislike the language that they watch films from neighbouring States. It reflects the paucity of talent and the pathetic fare that’s being churned out. Have you seen filmmakers in any other State use the language card to beg avid filmgoers for support? One ‘Raju Kannada Medium’ can make you wary of the next few releases with little known names. I wouldn’t venture to watch ‘Kanaka’ because I know the cinematic track record of the hero and director. That makes sifting and selecting easy.
Kannada film fans are easy to please but their levels of patience has been tested to the maximum. No amount of persuasion will make them pay to have their intelligence belittled and their senses assaulted. There seems to be a realisation that if you pay just to pass time, life passes you by. You might as well sit on a stone bench in Lal Bagh munching ground nuts! It’s cheaper and healthier, mentally and physically. Even avid film fans have stopped watching a film for a lark before passing a verdict. It takes the endorsement of many reliable sources for them just to plan a trip to the neighbouring theatre. Sadly, the victim of this understandable attitude is films like ‘Choori Katte’.
Good news spreads slowly especially about a film with no recognisable names. Having heard some encouraging things about ‘Choori Katte’ I was surprised to see a sparsely occupied hall. That just reiterates the acute reluctance. Anyway, the camera focuses on the framed picture of a beaming married couple and pans to a cot occupied by the woman and a stranger. The incessantly vibrating mobile is answered by the paramour. He informs the barely surprised woman that the cuckold has been arrested. It’s been a long time since I watched characters being introduced with such dispassionate swiftness. There’s the sandalwood smuggler paramour works for and the upright police officer. The way police check posts are identified and avoided is interesting. It’s surprising that the director who handles these portions assuredly decides to give his hero an introduction befitting a star. A game of Kabbadi is reduced to a choreographed fight sequence.
There’s his love interest who also happens to be paramour’s niece. It’s with paramour’s arrest and the cops pistol getting stolen that the narration gets a twist and gathers momentum. There was an interesting Tamil film, ‘8 Thotakkal’ last year about a cops stolen gun. That film again was inspired by one of Kurosawa’s earlier creations, ‘Stray Dog’. To be fair the only similarity is the premise about the stolen gun. The director of ‘Choori Katte’ has a mind of his own though the reason for the gun being stolen is rather weak and unconvincing. He compensates by making the repercussions interesting.
You can see that director Raghu Shivmogga started shooting only after he was confident about what he had penned which is rare in Kannada cinema especially amongst the established names. Young directors today realise the importance of a convincing, complete script. Crucial scenes are handled with care and control like the confrontation between paramour and cuckold. There’s one in the police station where the heroine feels her seemingly honest uncle has been wrongfully arrested. He appears not in control only when he has to accommodate his hero by inserting a dance and some prolonged fight sequences probably because Pravin Tej has been struggling to get a foothold in the industry for long. Like the villain waiting for all his henchmen to get beaten to pulp before drawing his gun. I’m not grumbling because key scenes are handled with assurance and to be fair Pravin Tej does not go overboard.
You realise the director knows what he wants when you watch Achyuth Kumar, a fine actor no doubt, but prone to being occasionally loud. Balaji Manohar as the smugglers underling is a casting masterstroke. He’s riveting with his cold eyes and emotionless monotone.
The A certificate is a deterrent but I do hope people start filling the halls showing the film before it’s unceremoniously removed. An intelligent crime caper is rare in Kannada cinema. Raghu Shivammoga’s intentions are honest and only with success and encouragement will it remain so. ‘Choori Katte’ is a film that is good in parts but could have been better on the whole which is not something you can say about most Kannada films in recent times.
sshivu@yahoo.com
