Nenu Prema Puli

Came to know about this film just couple of days before the special show today(11/7/2010) evening. Glad i could make it. The film is romantic...! It will be out on DVD soon.

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For whatever reason, i can't watch a film like any other normal person.So my opinions should be like from 2 or 3 different people ;(

Lemme try that now.

1) Normal Indian (telugu?) Audience.
First thing - i don't fully understand telugu - may be 30% - that too only by being a south indian, i guess. All my love of telugu is coz of people i have worked with in I.T - and of course the films, songs, the filmi people, their culture and - things too many to list. Just like any other society.

It's an unwritten law 67% (just some figure i made up) of the indian films SHOULD have romance...! as the main theme. Indians are romantic people...! Or romance-impoverished-in-real-life(?). Like - the German Idealism. The Romantic Poets. Romanticism. Remember the vintage hindi film songs...?! May be coz we are not used to girls growing up (whoever decided to keep the sexes separate...!) and dream too much. So yeah... romance and fiction built-in (among so many other things) - that's us indians. Of late, there are not many good romantic films - just like any thing else. Or may be the romantic notions too have changed. Now good romantic films => "fresh as mint". Beautiful people. Locations. Songs. Wafer thin story. Ye maya chesave was the last good romantic film i really liked (in tamil version VTV OR Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya. Here is a Review). Gautham Menon is apparently remaking it in Hindi.

Nenu Prema Puli (NPP) is a labor of love. For the filmmakers and probably, audience too ;)

There are four (almost)lead characters. They start the film with specific traits. View of the world. Ok, like or don't like love/romance/girls/marriage. Vikram...who hates female of any species. Prema...who hates to get married. Raju...who hates being an eternal bachelor. Kareena...who hates not being in love yet. I don't know what makes/made them so. Probably just 4 diff characters and how/why they came to be so may be another story altogether - or is irrelevant - or obvious or - i don't know. Imagine you start observing them when they are so ;) And they all(?) kinda change towards the end of the film. At least the lead pair definitely does. Now that is a somewhat beautiful concept.There is also a smart trick around which the film is built.

Don't expect a glossy-funded-to-skies romantic extravaganza. This is a film made by sheer hard work and passion of a few people - their first venture - all of the actors doing it for free. (here i am mixing the person that i'm - not saying this as an audience).

Lemme define: Audience Hat (AH). Me. My Hat (MH). From the filmmaker's perspective (FH). So the above point is... Filmmaker's Hat FH (?!). This is easy instead of trying to do a 1) 2) 3) like i thought.

AH (continued):
The film starts off slowly and till 30 minutes or so - i was like - whatever. I could not bring myself to get involved in the proceedings and the scenes are too dry - couple of guys drinking and talking nonsense and about girls etc., Character building...! As with the current trend - esp in telugu comedies, there is this chakka/ali/9/drag queen character. Nothing against the actor - actually he was pretty good - but i hate such stereotypes as an audience.

The film gets interesting with the introduction of the female lead. Prema is good initially and then... simply sticks to her given role. Her thrashing Raju (in the beginning @ HotBreads, Herndon and in the end with a cricket bat) are just too good. WOW...! Vicious grace...!

Vikram carries the whole film...! The director should be very happy to have found him...! He conveyed it so well that you can feel the director talking to you. What more you can ask of an actor? He can be casual, light, breezy, dance, act, not camera shy. He totally rocks...!

Raju is good. Actually he too does the bulk of carrying the film...! Such a selfless performance...!

Most people will love Kareena the best. Probably the only sensible person in the film ;) But she doesn't have much to do in the film. And her character just has to yield to the female-lead towards the end and... most indian films don't do justice to supporting roles. But the best moments of the film - that great song...! - belong to her. They also mention Beneath a Marble Sky: A Love Story By: John Shors and The Time Traveler's Wife By: Audrey Niffenegger and the film also has something - but a different major theme - like the latter ;)

OK, let me be direct. A girl gets to live within the guy's body and comes to be cool about it after the initial "how the hell this can work/be?". That is the masterstroke. And it's done quite sensitively. The whole film is kinda built around it. And it can't get more romantic than that. IF you BUY that. Is where i find the link with The Time Traveler's Wife. There they say "Chrono Displacement" leading to paradoxes. "Meaningless fantasy premise... BUT if you buy that..!" like so many Hollywood films...! and then it delivers, esp for the Women folks... dreamy, surreal, emotional... a lot of unique situations, unexpected things that can be expected - opens up a huge scope for technical wizardry and an array of interesting things etc.,

At least for me, the two songs and their picturing is the highlight of the film.Which brings us to the music director. Probably he is the #1 talent (next to the director) in the film. Music made up for 70% of the film...!


Song Recoding for the movie nenu..prema..puli

Camera and other things - i'm not competent to make much remarks. Probably done with whatever funding that was available.(FH)

The film is good towards the end but... the accident (in the parking lot?! My Goodness...!), hospital scene etc., were like... watching a film from a previous century.(AH) The director must be a very romantic person. The initial film name "Aathma Raagam" is totally justified. There is a soul in most scenes, even when the characters are wacky. Probably he made so many compromises being a first film et al. but the sincere efforts shows in every frame.

Now My Hat (MH). Films can't please me much. I find too many holes. If someone asks me genuinely, i would give NPP only 3/10*. Towards the end, the director mentioned it may get aired as a telefilm which is where it belongs. Probably too good for a t.v drama/film ;) Also there are too many formula-scenes-and-characters and the film rarely feels fresh though i am being unfair here. I expected something like... lemme think... flavors ?. But even that was so long ago and between looking back and living now (if i see the same film now), i won't like flavors either.

Editing was bad...! Being the first film, don't want to cut & throw away whatever is filmed, huh...? The jokes are long (yawn)drawing type though some tickle too ;) Prema likes Ice Cream...! OK, we get it...! Don't make the poor girl eat some 50 ice creams...! I won't be having another for a couple of months now...!

Can't say much about the writing/dialogues. People can't get that from sub-titles too.

This is my first ever going to a special screening. The director introducing the film, the audience questions after, all the jubilant people - women & children - everywhere... such a lively atmosphere and it was like being in a family....! and i don't even know any of them...! Well, except one person, my friend. Will cherish this forever...! and thank Dharma Donepudi. If film making is a process, the life of the finished product - which it finds of its own - is another magical story/life in itself.

* That was harsh. Why only 3/10?. Well, there is something that bothers me about love in most films. It's love for the sake of love. I liked VTV because the hero wants to become a film director. There should be some central aim - motive - that drives us thro life. Around that we can have other things. But indian films show people in love for example, without going to work or anything else a normal human being is required of in life - (or) some rich girl in love with some rowdy from a slum/cheri (or) some guy will go to U.S/U.K/Australia to work as a CEO/VP the next day etc., Oh, my God, if only love and life are that easy...!

I might have missed many things coz of my limited-to-no telugu knowledge but other than Kareena - a GMU student living in the library? (anytime you want to find her, just go to the library...!) - in NPP too everyone seemed to be there "just" for the film ;(

That and other things...

Lemme make it more clear with my various hats ;)

AH Rating: 6/10
MH: 3/10
FH: 10/10

Talking about the film brought to my mind one of those nifty lil technique i read about sometime ago, the "Six Thinking Hats" method.

Someone asked me "what could have been done to please you and why you are giving 3/10"?
Now that is a difficult question and i don't know the answer. May be i can point to couple of films i really loved.

IMDB Audience Views:
Before Sunrise (1995) | Before Sunset (2004) | (500) Days of Summer (2009)
Trailers:
Before Sunrise (1995) | Before Sunset (2004) | (500) Days of Summer (2009)

Why? Coz they are *real*, indie, truly romantic without fantasies/gimmicks and each have too many good things to rave about. Of course they are one of a kind films but is what i yearn indian films to achieve... esp when we make so many boy-meets-girl-falls-in-love movies.

But i should not compare... But i can't help... But...

Only thing i'm concerned about is - what we different individuals expect/compare in our minds. Can't help being us, right? And coming to terms with a huge media like films... all on the "same page" is not gonna happen... in fact, that's part of the excitement too ;) I like romantic films of the genre - say Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977). That was made in 1977 and still there is no such indian film. Or if i am to make it any less complicated... i liked Waitress (2007) too. Instead we see the current Hollywood films and jump couple of entire eras while current Hollywood itself doesn't make many good movies... Then again - Who likes what - Which is better etc., - Aesthetics, Taste - can't be defined - and is not for anyone to decide/say. Is why that 3/10 is strictly my personal opinion and i don't mean to offend anyone. Just MyHat ;)