For those familiar with Guruprasad’s films, Eradane Sala will not seem very different from his other works, especially in terms of the kind of experiments he attempts with the narration. The question is whether the experiment is successful or not.
The opening of Eradane Sala , for instance, is quite similar to Director’s Special , his last film, where he invited a bunch of random characters to pretend to be one family and then proceeded to tell the story through them.
In Eradane Sala , he invites a bunch of characters to pretend to be the audience for the story he wants to tell. And as the lead character, Dhananjaya (again as in Director’s Specia l), tells his story, this ‘random’ congregation of an audience gets involved and even attempts to influence the conclusion of the plot.
The plot itself is not something unique. It is a love story between ‘Sir’ (Dhananjaya) and ‘Miss’ (Sangeetha Bhat). Sir’s mother (Lakshmi) embodies the ‘conflict’ in the story. Seen from one perspective, this plot is almost unimportant to Guruprasad; he seems to be more interested in telling us that he is ultimately telling us a story. He does this by punctuating the story with ample scenes wherein his audience asks Dhananjaya questions about the story. When did Sir meet Miss? What was the equation between the mother and Miss?
Eradane Sala is a film that is self-referential at every step. When Dhananjaya begins his story, his audience asks him to wait and insists that a Kannada film audience cannot begin a film without a fight sequence. So, a template fight sequence is constructed, the motivation for it is silly, but the satire evident. And the fact that Guruprasad goes to the extent of casting his audience shows the self-reflexive nature of his film. There is nods to the cinematic medium and its history at regular junctures — from song and dialogue snippets to mimicry of iconic characters from Kannada cinema.
But to what end? Finally, when the lead-up to the conflict is complete, his audience decides to step in to influence the conclusion. It is here that Guruprasad introduces a twist and this audience that thought it could contribute to the plot is in for a surprise. But again, to what end? Is the filmmaker’s only intention to lay bare the different narrative devices?
At the end of the closing credits, Guruprasad also gives a one-line social message which seems like an afterthought, given the irreverent nature of his film throughout. Therefore, especially towards the climax, Eradane Sala seems to flounder in trying to give its plot experiment an honourable conclusion. ‘Take two’ of Guruprasad’s experiments (with Director’s Special the first) appears to have been done for the sake of doing something different. The fans of his oeuvre will surely enjoy the experiment but one wishes there was a deeper enquiry at its heart.
The film is laced with irreverent humour. While some of the jokes border vulgarity, others manage to actually elicit a laugh. Guruprasad also adds a number of his trademark quirks. Dhananjaya as the filmy, self-absorbed ‘hero’ is seen wearing coloured sunglasses in all the scenes. The poignancy of a scene of death is turned on its head.
The performances of the two female actors — Lakshmi and Sangeetha — stand out. Dhananjaya too tries his best to match up to them.
