A movie title that came to my mind while writing this blog
LOST IN TRANSLATION
It has nothing to do with the movie perse but the title sums up what happens when a gem of a Kannada movie ONDU MOTTEYA KATHE was remade as UJDA CHAMAN.
It is really hard to believe that the Kannada movie Ondu Motteya Kathe was made by a debutant director Raj B Shetty. The movie is a breath of fresh air not only in Kannada cinema but in overall Indian cinema. Although having my roots in Karnataka, I never liked the mainstream Kannada movies as they are nothing but cheaper version of Telugu mass movies. But every now and then they do come up with really good movies.
Some of my favorites are: Lucia, Rangitaranga, Ulidawaru Kandante, Godi Banna Sadharana Maikattu, etc
Ondu Motteya Kathe is one such gem. Surprisingly it does have any ingredient that a traditional Kannada cinema has which are
- An established Superstar
- Beautiful Heroine
- Item song
- Action
- Villian
- Mass scene
Instead, what it has are real looking characters. I mean look at the lead Raj Shetty. Apart from a very well known lover boy’s name, there is nothing lovely about him. Real bald head, below average look and build. And that’s exactly what this character requires hence its a beautiful match. If you compare this with the lead of Bala and Ujda Chaman, they have taken a good looking actors and have made them go bald through prosthetics. While I understand the need for a good actor but I don’t think this role required a good looking actor. What that did was although the leads Ayushmann & Sunny try their best to get into the role, the authenticity that Raj Shetty managed to show in the movie was lost in these movies.
Also, the general awkwardness of a 28 something man going bald, his continuous self-doubt due to it and the constant erosion of self-confidence is beautifully shown by Raj Shetty. I think he himself is bald in real life helped him tap the reservoir of experiences he generally had in his life. But if you compare Sunny Singh from Ujda Chaman, you just can’t see that. Whatever he does looks superficial and due to Bollywood’s overemphasis and showing things in your face, they make the lead look horny and desperate rather than genuine and helpless as Raj showed in the Kannada movie. A scene where the lead looks at the housemaid cleavage just botched the entire essence of the character ( I was cringing when I saw the scene )
Even the female leads in the Ondu Motteya Kathe look natural and relatable while in Ujda Chaman they look superficial barring Manvi Gagroo who does a good job. In Bala they even made Bhumi Pednekar put black makeup that looks so horrendous and downright insulting to anyone with a darker complexion.
What both Bala and Udja Chaman missed was the entertainment was not in just the baldness but in the subtlety of that character. For example, Janardhan played by Raj is a Kannada language teacher and is super proud about the fact. A lot of comedy from this fact. Also being Dr. Rajkumar’s hardcore fan, every situation he goes through is beautifully intertwined with some of Dr. Rajkumar’s legendary songs. Ujda Chaman just didn’t get this and went ahead twisting the story and character arc in ways that just strangled the interesting concept.
So I would strongly recommend anyone who was intrigued by the concept of a bald guy looking for his life partner and the journey he takes, you must watch ONDU MOTTEYA KATHE.
It is now available on Netflix and I guarantee that it would satisfy your appetite for a simple authentic romantic comedy movie.
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http://www.gurushetty.com/i-watched-the-wizard-of-oz-in-2019-for-the-first-time/
References:
https://www.filmcompanion.in/ondu-motteya-kathe-movie-review/
