As in ‘Uma Maheswara Ugra Roopasya’, we are in a Malayalam movie-flavoured Telugu movie. The film feels like a warm embrace.
Spoilers ahead…
The opening stretch of Vinod Ananthoju’s Middle Class Melodies sets the narrative up like a dream. Over a black screen (the credits are on), we sense that we are in some sort of traditional gathering. (It turns out to be a house-warming ceremony.) The problem is the cow, which refuses to drop dung and sanctify the home. Holy shit! What now? Someone suggests that inserting a stick might help. But no matter. The black screen vanishes, and we get the film’s first image: a healthy splat of cow poop. A sigh of relief reverberates around the gathering, after which we get the borderline-surreal visual of the cow descending the stairs. (The function was on the upper floor of the building.) Meanwhile, we see people moving appliances and furniture into the house. Why the hurry? Because there’s free manpower available. Otherwise, you’ll have to shell out money to the movers, no?
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dechaitanya
November 26, 2020
You would actually think that Vijay has dubbed for his brother. I was wondering about it every time Anand was on screen. Nice movie though.
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krishna prasad
November 26, 2020
I for one, doubt if I would have watched it in a theatre. Finding the right theatre and a right time would have been a ordeal. Plus these type of movies rarely play for more than a couple of weeks. It was perfect to watch it on the small screen. One can always revisit it even if the story doesn’t appeal to you in the first few mins. Sort of reminded me of 96 though totally unrelated to that one. Maybe it was the Varsha bollama effect
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Anu Warrier
November 27, 2020
I’m making a list of movies that I have to catch up on – adding this to the list. 🙂
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Karthik
November 28, 2020
I think movies like this and Varane Avashyamundu belong to a new genre of escapist cinema called the pandemic playlist— for those who feel like they’re on the Titanic in turbulent waters, they’re a portal to someplace with a paper boat floating on a shallow pond, and people whose greatest problems are solved by adding raw mango to a chutney.
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shaviswa
November 29, 2020
I loved this film. Very earthy, very clean and laced with good humour throughout. And I agree that it kind of felt like watching a new age Malayalam movie along the lines of Maheshinte Prathikaram or Njaan Prakashan.
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Shiv
November 30, 2020
The pacing was my main problem with this movie– it’s not even the beginning portion, but it’s more so the middle 1 hour that dragged a bit too much for me.
Usually, I like Telugu indie movies because of their great pacing (and pacing is usually my only qualm with good Malayalam movies).
I always wondered what others thought of pacing in Malayalam movies (like Maheshinte Prathikaram). IMO, sometimes it becomes too much “world building” to the point where it distracts from the story itself. Would love to hear others’ thoughts.
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shaviswa
November 30, 2020
@shiv I liked the pacing and that was the reason why I felt it was similar to Malayalam movies. I loved Maheshinte Prathikaram. Kumbalangi Nights was mind blowing. I found no issues with the pacing of those films. To suck the viewer into the world that the film showcases, you need to give that time.
Middle Class Melodies wasn’t as good as Kumbalangi Nights definitely. The hero’s conviction was kind of loose IMO. But once you buy into that conviction, the rest of the film went well.
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