An entertaining new Kannada film pushes the envelope even as it pays homage to the old way of doing things.
An usher at a single-screen cinema hall (Nikhil, played by Sathish Neenasam) pops a pill and begins to dream that he is a film star (also named Nikhil, but let’s call him Nikhil-2 so we can tell them apart). Nikhil’s life revolves around screenings at his theatre (sorry, talkies). Flashlight in hand, he directs ticket holders to their seats, and then he sits back and watches the same movie over and over. Otherwise he’s in the projection booth with Shankranna (Achyuth Kumar), the owner of the theatre. The lives of Nikhil (shown in colour) and Nikhil-2 (black-and-white) are paralleled throughout, but at some point, the lines begin to blur, and we find Nikhil (or is it Nikhil-2?) crouched in a corner, shining a flashlight at the wall. Only, the flashlight isn’t a flashlight – it’s a projector. The wall isn’t a wall – it’s a cinema screen. And the film isn’t one of the usual movies – it’s made of clips from Nikhil’s (or Nikhil-2’s) life. It’s magical.
It’s also head-scrambling, which is part of the fun while watching a Möbius-strip movie like Lucia. It begins at the beginning and ends at the end, like any other film, but then we discover that the end is really the beginning. It’s like a Charlie Kaufman script filtered through the crowd-pleasing sentiments of Cinema Paradiso. The surprise of Lucia is that it isn’t afraid to be an entertainer. This is, in one sense, the very definition of the kind of high-concept movie that would not play in Shankranna’s dilapidated theatre, and yet, the director Pawan Kumar coolly uses elements from the mass movies that are regularly screened in those theatres. Sometimes, these elements (like an item song with the refrain jamma jamma jamma) are used in a winking, self-referential way, as if to say “hey, I have an item number in my film but it’s really about how silly these item numbers are.” A character goes as far as to say that this is “a mass song, not to our taste.”
But at other times, the happenings are strictly “single screen.” Take the stretch where Nikhil, with his family, goes to see a prospective bride. She rejects him eventually, and he does one of those sad-eyed you-deserve-more-than-a-lowly-usher numbers. He hands her an envelope, which, in her haste, she drops. Then she steps on it. (This is the point the violins would have really taken off in a certain kind of movie.) Then she notices the envelope, picks it up and pulls out a photograph that makes her reconsider her feelings for him. (In that certain kind of movie, this photograph would have been one of the two of them as kids, when they were thick as thieves, before cruel fate separated them and she forgot all about him.) And later, there’s a sad song when the lovers quarrel. It’s fascinating to see these old tropes being used in a film so avant-garde.
Even as it pursues a newer style of narrative, Lucia make us question the value of the old ways. Nikhil is shown as a Kannada speaker, who hesitates to talk in English – and his tragedy is that he exists in a Bangalore that has marginalised people like him. (And people like Shankranna, who will screen only Kannada films at his talkies.) Even the newfangled “dream pill” that Nikhil takes is contrasted with the old ways. Why go to a gym and sweat it out and strive to be thin when you can pop this pill and dream that you are thin? (Among the film’s major missteps is that a doctor is roped in to explain what this pill is all about. We don’t need this explanation. The film has a dream logic of its own, and a glimpse of “St Lucia Girl’s Hostel,” for instance, is enough. The fun is in putting it together in your head.)
The film’s most audacious moment is when the screen splits in two, with Nikhil on one side and Nikhil-2 on the other, and the two cross the vertical line separating them (and their black-and-white and colour worlds) and step into the other space, looking around in bewilderment. This hints at the ending (or, as I said, the beginning), with a delicious how-did-I-not-see-this-coming twist. I’ve been recommending Lucia to others, and the first thing they say is something along lines of “A Kannada film. Are you sure?” I don’t get a chance to see mainstream Kannada cinema, which, unlike Lucia, doesn’t come with subtitles – so I don’t share their scepticism. I went in thinking that, if nothing else, I’d have material for a column. That I did get, but in a way I didn’t quite expect. Internet hype is highly suspect because most of the time the hyping is done by people involved with the film. This time, though, the audience can join in.
Lights, Camera, Conversation… is a weekly dose of cud-chewing over what Satyajit Ray called Our Films Their Films. An edited version of this piece can be found here.
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Chandrika Anand
September 20, 2013
Thanks sir ….for watching Lucia…..need to watch it again….as you told from end to start….hoping it ll get selected for Oscar representation
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Praveen
September 20, 2013
I have been waiting for this 🙂 Thank you
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Praveen
September 20, 2013
Btw the doctor who explains what this pill is all about is the director, Pawan Kumar
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Rajesh Mehar
September 20, 2013
Hey BR! Excellent review. Good job!
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Shyama Krishna Kumar
September 20, 2013
I was hoping you’d review this one. Will definitely catch it this week.
And oh, looking forward to your panel at the Bangalore Literature Festival.
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Praveen
September 20, 2013
This blog post started it all. The genesis of Lucia
http://pawantheactor.com/?p=1636
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Hithesh
September 20, 2013
I was reminded quite a bit of Cinema Paradiso as I watched it and I share your enthusiasm for the film. The Kannada films are usually mass films, not that mass films are bad, but they tend to go by formula and are by large, not something we’d prefer sitting through. There is an article on the Outlook which highlights the plight of the industry. I’ll send it across when I get hold of it again 🙂
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vikram
September 20, 2013
BR, good to see your writing on a kannada film…btw, did you know that this film’s funding is via crowd-sourcing…
I would recommend the director Yograj Bhat’s films…most of his films strike a balance between concept and commerce…mungaru male, manasaare, pancharangi, galipata…are some of his works…do try to catch these…most of these films are available on dvd and some do have english subtitles…
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brangan
September 20, 2013
Rajesh Mehar: Sigh! This is not a “review” 🙂 But thanks.
vikram: I’ve heard of his films. You;re saying they have subbed versions? Will try to get hold of them. Also wanted to add that I *have* seen quite a few Kannada films, but those were all from the art-house circuit (Puttanna Kanaga, Kasaravalli, etc.), so I guess those don’t count.
And if one is allowed to have favourites from a mere handful of mainstream Kannada films, then my vote goes to “Kokila,” Balu Mahendra’s first film, his best film, and one of Kamal’s most exquisitely tuned performances.
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Chandrika Anand
September 20, 2013
You shouldn’t miss suri s movies like duniya, junglee. ..
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Madhuri
September 21, 2013
Going to watch Lucia tomorrow! This will be fifth Kannada films I have seen.
First was Bettada Huvvu.
Then three of Girish Kasarvalli’s movies. Watched Deepa and Ghatashraddha, when I was in Mumbai and another one called Kanasemba Kudureyaneri when I shifted to Bangalore in a screening which he himself attended.
And none of my kannada colleagues have seen a single one of his movies. And I have not seen any other kannada movie yet. The posters itself discourage me.
Oh wait, I have seen two more movies in a Bus once. One was (VERY) loosely based on Pagala Kahi Ka of Shammi Kapoor and another was similar to Judai (with a different ending glorifying Sridevi’s character).
Hope tomorrow changes my perception of the kanadda movies.
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shipz
September 21, 2013
it s a misconception tat all Kannada films r bad..its not just Kasaravalli or Puttanna..ter were so many other great fil;mmakers ..few r Shankarnag,Siddalingiah(tamil actor Murali’s father),N.Lakshminarayan,Kashinath,Sunil Kumar Desai,Upendra..all these guys did mainstream movies..Kasaravalli,Karnad,M.S Sathyu made art films..Puttanna ws a mainstream filmmakers nt a art house director…but the problem with Kannada films s their people..Kannadigas hardly take their language,culture,literature or cinema to the out side world instead they just adopt sme other culture,learn anther language and be one among them..that s one of the reason fr the bad state of Kannada films..recently Edegarike,Matte Munaru,Aa Dinagalu,Sidlingu,Manasare,Lifeu Ishtene,Kaddipudi,Duniya,Pancharangi, nd so many awesome movies came in Kannada..but Lucia reached bigger section of people coz of the intelligent promotion, English subtitles nd also coz of crowd funded cinema tag..
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Praveen
September 21, 2013
@Shipz: I wouldn’t agree entirely. Kashinath to the best of my knowledge remade most of K Bhagyaraj’s Tamil films. As an actor, he was more the Pandiarajan of Kannada cinema with comedy and all that, which is why he worked. Strangely, none of Puttana’s proteges went on to do great films, two of them made it big in Tamil, Bharathiraja and actor Vinu Chakravarthy.
And most of Vishnuvardhan’s (Though I like him as an actor) films post 1998 were either remakes of Rajinkanth’s films or Marathi or Malayalam films.
Kannada industry would have been something if only Shankar Nag was alive. Sigh. Sunil Kumar Desai is another filmmaker I like and both got the best out of Ilayaraja :).
@Rangan Sir: If time permits please watch this film :).
Beladingala Bale: Ananth Nag at his best!
Part1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ4Jgq_ygys
Part2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIUHB5A1MfU
I am told Kamal watched this film and was interested in remaking it in Tamil but eventually gave up.
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Mambazha Manidhan 2.0
September 24, 2013
Missed this. Kalayila 9.30 am entha manushan da ezhunthupaan ? 🙂
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brangan
September 25, 2013
Praveen Sir: I will, thanks.
Mambazha Manidhan 2.0: That’s usually what I say for a night show. “Raathrila 9:30 pm entha manushan da muzhichirupaan?” 🙂
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Anoop
September 27, 2013
@Rangan, I so looked forward to your take on Lucia. And you have indeed the caught the drift the way Pawan would have expected. Now that the same producers who had slammed their doors on him want him to make movies for them, there’s a possibility that Pawan’s next may be a tad more dilute, while having a sprinkling of some ‘noir’ or ‘arthouse’ elements for old times sake! But if the ‘industry’ continues to be on one side and he on the other, I’m confident he’ll make tauter ones.
As for suggestions to get you to watch more Kannada flicks, I’m loving it! All over the place!
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Anoop
September 27, 2013
And I don’t believe people are talking about ‘Gaalipata’ and ‘Mungaru Maley’ and ‘Junglee’!!! No offence meant, but please, we’re safer off discussing Kasaravalli and Shankar Nag!
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Mambazha Manidhan 2.0
September 28, 2013
LOL. 🙂
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Kiruba
November 1, 2013
Pawan’s debut ‘Lifeu Ishtene’ is also a must watch. A refreshing take on youth and relationships; its the most interesting coming of age film I’ve watched in some time. And it is avbl on distrify with good subs for about 250 Rs.
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shipz
May 28, 2016
@Praveen sorry just now saw the reply fr my above post…u completely got wrong info on Kashinath…he never directed a remake.As an actor he might have acted in remakes of Bhagyaraj’s film.Many of Kashinath’s films were remade into many other languages..and i didnt speak anything about Vishnuvardhan.And if remaking s a bad thing,then many of Rajini’s films were remakes of Hindi,Telugu,Kannada Malayalam films.
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lakshmi
January 27, 2017
On YouTube with subtitles
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