Review of Eega (2012) by Ali A — 27 Dec 2012

Eega (Telugu).

Movies are all about imagination but not necessarily all the time. Kudos to the mindset of telugu people we neither need experiments nor imagination given the masala entertainment quotient we derogatorily demand in every walk of our life. By virtue of this horrendous demand supply chagrin we rarely see some miracle flairs rise up to being "noticeable". But now the dice are starting to roll, well flamboyant enough, when one man with his gritty mind has started breaking his mold (not "the mold") to give us something to boast about with absolute pride.

S S Rajamouli - The name has two S's in it and they kinda metamorphosized in to Success square and nothing else. Of course none of this is coming to him as a throw away given his stringent and unbending passion towards cinema and the tireless efforts he puts in to his projects.

Plot:

It's a very simple, cliched, beaten to death revenge based love story. There is a guy (Nani), there is a girl Bindu (Samantha) and then there's another guy Sudeep (Sudeep). Nani is head over heals for Bindu and so is Sudeep but in a quirky way. Bindu shares the same feelings for Nani but never confesses.

Sudeep being the baddie kills Nani (yes the leading lad is pushing daisies with in 30 mins of run time) and Bindu feels her confession nerve exactly at the same moment. Rest of the story is - Bindu learning about Nani's death, the truth behind it and helping Nani exact their revenge over Sudeep.

Analysis:

Wait a minute - Nani is a dead guy. How can he exact any form of revenge? Well, he comes back as a fly! Holy bonkers - a fly? Yes, that's the key stone to this seemingly cliched plot line. The film starts off with some cute but lilting moments between the lead pair - Nani and Bindu. The director wastes no time in setting a motto for the anti hero to go for the kill. The film progresses till this point with no absolute lax in any of the departments.

The film starts booming when Nani reincarnates as a fly and is doped up with one thing - revenge for his death and protecting his love interest. CGI animation used for depicting a fly and the environment created around it, seemingly through it's eyes, is not top notch and glossy but is more than enough for it's operating budget thresholds. The adrenaline graph goes down a bit through the pre-climax and climax episodes but all that's hazy given the whirlwind tour you go through till that point.

The film has just one name written all over it - the director. If there was no Rajamouli then there's no vision, execution and impact to this film. He is famed enough for his success, hard work and dedication towards his movies but post Magadheera it's been a totally different ball game for the star director.

This film, no questions asked, is his best creative and crucial work ever and the man strikes gold yet again. Movie's directors cut sheds a lot of light on the research that went to making the film. The crew had to learn skeletal & muscular structures of a housefly, it's anatomy as a whole, various emotional antics that would help create a CGI housefly and model it very much closer to reality. Special camerawork has been used to capture these details as they are exquisitely presented on screen and cinematographer Senthil Kumar deserves special commendation for the same. Background music by Keeravani is a great asset not only to the entire plot but to each and every frame. Abundant research down to the musical annals is clearly noticeable.

Performances:

Nani as a leading hero blessed with short life and screen span is ok for his character. Samantha as the main leading lady couldn't emote a whole lot when it's needed but she just passes off with her innocent and chirpy facade.

Sudeep - baddie boy - is the performance meat for this film. Except for his lip sync everything is picture perfect about the man - looks, character behavior and antics he just aces everything on his plate. Through most of the second half he had to emote with and in imagination. There is no real fly around him but reacting to situations with a figment of imagination wrapped around him is outright demanding and the man delivers his best.

Eega - main lead hero as the film progresses touches your emotional strings with everything it does. Right from it's birth Mr. Rajamouli's imaginary character flies, laughs, feels, fights and behaves just like another real character (if any) in the film. As a tail piece it even grooves to some peppy music at the fag end of the film.

Notable pieces:

--> Initial lovable episodes between Nani and Samantha.

--> Sudeep's characterization as he reels through ego and jealousy.

--> Nani's death episode.

--> Eega's birth and it's first flight (more colorful of all it's flights).

--> Eega's first failed tussle with the villain - tea pot episode and the fly trying to hit on Sudeep with full force.

--> Eega heckling Sudeep - car accident episode with "I will kill you" warning.

--> Eega revealing it's true identity to Bindu - carving "I am Nani" through her tears.

--> Graphical work and cinematography through out the film especially those scenes involving the "fly".

--> Appropriate background score accompanying all key scenes and.

--> Eega's view of the world around it - scared by running shows in a park, enamored by water bubbles, swayed by air, threatened by mosquito repellent, rekindled by garden hoses etc.

Tail Piece:

Eega is most probably the highest imaginative piece of work in telugu films and just like any imagination it sans logic and must do so just to be more definitive and abstract at the same time.