‘Different’ and ‘message’ are the words directors never fail to utter when a mike is thrust in their face. Does the public really pay to huddle in a dark auditorium and learn life’s lessons from films? Are we so demented that people who’re just out to make a fast buck have to tell us how to lead our lives? Cinema is just a convex mirror that reflects a slightly distorted and exaggerated image of life. Critics however seldom fail to mention that most films have a message for the masses in an impersonal manner with a condescending attitude probably because they rarely pay to watch. ‘1st Rank Raju’ was a film that would have made Kashinath cringe. A soothsayer predicts the hero will never shine academically so his father vows to prove him wrong. Such characters are stereotypes so he promptly sports glasses and combs his hair with a parting. The director’s idea of establishing the hero’s ignorance was to make him mouth innuendo about ‘missing periods’ and not knowing the difference between ‘falling in love’ and ‘making love’. Sample this. The father suddenly decides to transform his son into a Lothario and tells him he has to learn to impress girls. “Press what?” asks 1st rank Raju and the theatre erupted in laughter. People obviously get the films they deserve sometimes. The film was a hit.
Two years have passed and the team is back with ‘Raju Kannada Medium’. The director’s anxiety of debuting is not there but the pressure of repeating the success peeps in. Here the hero again dons school uniform and falls for the first girl he bumps into, literally. He’s lost his father early but the old man thoughtfully leaves a scroll which the hero has to fill in different stages of his eventful life. His girlfriend leaves him with nary a goodbye and there’s no effort to trace her or keep in touch. Life again teaches him more than in a classroom. There is the whistle inducing lines about friendship being more sacred than blood. He hops on to a bus, lands in Bangalore, bumps into his chum instantly, ogles at scantily clad girls and easily gets a job. There are the frequent lines about Kannada pride. The quality of dialogues has not improved but the level of vulgarity has. The premise is cliché ridden like the serial dater challenging her pal that she’d make the village bumpkin fall for her in a few weeks. Of course the reverse happens after remorse but now hero has no time for her. He wants to make piles of cash and live the good life. There’s Sudeep who looms over the lead pair in the posters because he was paid a small fortune to appear in a few stray scenes and drop words of wisdom in English! While heroine yearns for a few moments of togetherness Raju climbs the ladder of success.
He deals only in cash. He takes bundles of Indian currency while travelling to the USA and after striking a deal there asks for an advance again in Indian currency which is promptly handed over.
He triumphantly takes a flight back but it crashes. He’s presumed dead but finds himself awash on a small island. He gets up and voila, he’s still clutching the case with cash, intact and dry. It’s ‘Castaway’ time as he roams around mumbling to himself. He realises currency is useful even if it’s to be burnt to keep himself warm. An unruly beard shows time has passed but we feel we’ve been marooned in the theatre forever. Well now it’s ‘Blue Lagoon’ time when he finds a blonde who’s been surviving on the island since childhood starts stalking him.
Ennui envelops you as the devastated heroine reluctantly agrees to marry a stranger while hero is busy telling blonde he’s in love and will not be seduced. The director simply doesn’t know how to take the rudderless plot forward. Hero finally builds a rickety raft. A ship is sighted but blonde refuses to accompany him.
She sacrifices her life by slitting her wrists and attracting a shark which would have attacked hero. Your patience is at a tether as hero lands up in the big bad city and promptly gatecrashes a wedding and yes it’s his lady love. He watches heroine reluctant but ready to make another man’s life miserable. Unrecognised, hero decides to kill himself. If you’re tired reading this imagine my plight. Anyway that’s not the end because the ‘message’ has to be positive.
‘RKM’ only proves that the director Naresh Kumar is still a backbencher in the cinema medium.
sshivu@yahoo.com
