Kshanam movie - what if it had a star
I was impressed by Adivi Sesh's Telugu movie "Kshanam". Telugu audience have been conditioned to expect certain things based on years of formulaic movies. At every turn in the movie, I expected such familiar tropes to show up and liked it when they didn't.
-----------------
Many celebrities and stars are applauding the recently released “Kshanam”. What if a top director was at the helm and an established star with a certain image was the hero? How would this same story look?
The hero's opening shot in San Francisco is just the right place to have the hero introduction song, with the hero showing off his superb dance skills, and a bunch of foreigners (especially girls) showing off cool gymnastic moves. We will get to see beautiful locales in and around San Francisco. While we are there, we may actually get to see all of USA.
When the hero lands in India, there will be a childhood buddy or a taxi driver who shows up at the airport. This character would be there to do comedy, mouth supposedly funny dialogues, help the hero on his mission, get slapped and/or belittled by the hero. We need comedy in the movie.
When the hero and heroine fall in love, instead of roaming around in Vizag (where they live and go to college), they will magically be transported to the Swiss Alps or another pristine foreign location to sing their duet. The heroine wears a transparent sari or a skimpy dress. We need glamour in the movie.
When they decide to get married, of course, a perfect opportunity to have a highly choreographed mass beat song with huge sets, and a lot of junior dancers.
The first time we see Chowdary character, there would be some fancy music. He will have some highly annoying mannerisms, some punchlines, etc. Every time he appears on screen, we will be subject to these antics. The audience needs comedy.
When the hero is looking for Bobby (the bad guy who is into drugs and all), the hero would be going around dingy bars and we will have our mandatory “item song”, with both the hero and the bad guy surrounded by skimpily clad women showing off their curves and jhatkas. How can we not have an item song?
At the moment where Swetha closes her eyes and remembers her daughter, there would be a very melodious, sentimental song showing us how much she really loved her daughter. We need proof of her love, don't we?
Just a lady cop gone bad? That wouldn't do. She can't be that capable. To prove his heroism, the hero needs more adversaries. We will see a politician and his henchmen involved. This politician will pull strings to side-track the hero. We will see police fabricating some story, arresting the hero, the hero involving in police bashing, etc.
In the pre-climax scene where the hero beats up two guys, it won't stop with two guys. There will hordes of them coming and the hero will take off his shirt, flex his muscles, clench his fists, and will beat them up using hands, rods, swords, and all other choice weapons. We will see some slow-motion closeups of a jaw being hit, hear the sound of a bone breaking, etc. What kind of a hero is he if he doesn't dance and fight?
And just how can we have one heroine? There is ample space and scope for a second heroine. We will see a sympathetic journalist who helps the hero, is intrigued by his flashback, sympathizes with him, sees how he's working to keep a promise he made years ago, and falls for him though she doesn't say it to him. Hey, one more dream song. More foreign locales. In the end, this heroine is shown walking hand-in-hand with the hero.
The sister character who is only shown where relevant would have a comedian for a husband. The wedding scene which was only briefly shown would be an extravagant affair (more sets, one more song where the sherwani-dressed hero sings and dances), with many family characters thrown in. A movie needs family sentiment and who wouldn't want more comedy?
Everyone speaks Telugu – even people from Lucknow, Africa. Everyone, period. This is a Telugu movie.
In the absence of all the above, Kshanam is a beautifully made, authentic thriller. It respects the audience's intelligence and believes in itself and its characters. There are songs, romance, comedy, sentiment, fights, good guys, bad guys – everything movies usually have but in a very unusually realistic manner. That's the beauty of it.
Comments
Post a Comment