Bommarillu – Movie Review

Now I’ve heard of the Telugu movie – Bommarillu for quite a while now. So when the Missus came home on Friday and told me that this weekend was reserved for the movie, I pretty much jumped out of the sofa in surprise. considering that She doesn’t understand more than around 10-15% of Telugu, this came as a surprising request to me.

What had happened was that her company bus had played the movie in the morning and she had managed to catch the first 25 odd minutes of the movie (with English subtitles, I might add). She liked it so much that she just had to finish watching the movie. So Bommarillu it was for Saturday Night Special.

The movie itself deals with a father-son relationship (which by the way, is not quite the all time favorite theme in South Indian movies) in a very subtle way. While Siddharth (of Aayutha Ezhuthu fame) plays the role of Siddhu, the son, Prakash Raj (one of my personal all time favorite actors) plays the role of the over-protective (bordering on obsessive) father.

Aravind (Prakash Raj) is the father who is insistent that his son and well, actually the rest of his family always get the best of the world. He always goes that extra mile to ensure that Siddhu always does things ‘his way’ and makes the most of his life. Although Aravind has his heart in the right place, what he doesn’t realize is that because of his over-obsessive behavior, Siddhu feels stifled and hates his father only for that.

What sets the ball rolling, in terms of the story, is the entry of Hasini’s (Genelia d’Souza) entry into Siddhu’s life. Hasini is everything that Siddhu isn’t, but badly wants to be. Carefree, talkative, happy-go-lucky, absolutely no worries in the world, someone who enjoys the smaller things of life, and an infectious talkative nature, to add to all this.

So when Siddhu falls in love with Hasini, he now has the onerous responsibility of getting out of the marriage proposal that his dad has carefully chosen out of him, more importantly, he has to get his dad to like Hasini, and then accept her as his daughter-in-law.

How all this happens forms the rest of the movie. For me to give out any more details wouldn’t be doing justice to the movie.

While the script is probably not too different from any other lovey-dovey mushy love story that we’ve all seen over the course of many years, what sets Bommarillu apart, in my opinion, are three things –

The simplicity with which the story has been told

From the beginning to the end, the director has consciously kept the story and the screenplay very simple, and very down-to-earth. He doesn’t bother to delve too deeply into the psychological make-up of the characters or give them multiple layers. What is on the face of the characters are what they really are. A regular 24 yr old son, a regular father who wants his son to get the best things in life, a regular 18 something girl who loves life to the fullest, a regular mother who loves her son a lot, all simple characters.

Music

Devi Sri Prasad has come up with some eminently hummable tracks in this movie. Plus the background score has also done justice to the screenplay without going overboard.

Siddharth and Prakash Raj

Now maybe I am biased in favor of both these actors, but then they have put in stellar performances in this movie. Prakash Raj, in his subtle, controlled way and Siddharth, as usual, in his absolutely restrained style of acting, where the lines between reality and acting are blurred, are probably the most perfect fits for these characters.

If you are looking at spending a heart-warming 2 hrs. with someone you really love, Bommarillu is a must-watch movie.

Cheers…….Jam