06 March 2007

Its raining cats and dogs!!!

Finally,
Ah! finally, I too got drenched in the MuMgAru maLe!!

No... the monsoon has not yet been set in Bengalooru, but this movie has made everyone get wet in a virtual drain.

After weeks of anticipation and failed planning, finally made it yesterday. It was a second show, so we got tickets easily. We had chosen a theatre close to home so that night traveling is not expensive :)

By the time we settled down on the seats, the movie began. It started with a heavy rainy sound and a flash of distinct lightning.
Impressed with it we continued.

In the first scene, the hero and the heroine meet in a usual way, in front of a shopping mall and they end the meeting in an unsual way.*(If you have watched the movie, U know what Im talking about and if you have not, then better go and watch it ;))
Consequent scenes are a kind of continuation of that un-usual thirst and the scene shifts from Bangalore to Madikeri. It is rainy all over in Madikeri, they meet again....and the repetition...

Coincidence...hero ends up at the heroine's home, accompanying his mother to a marriage...

And the story continues....lo there's the first twist...the hero learns that he was there for the marriage of the heroine whom he was in love with!!
And then he decides to resign and go back... The second twist...the heroine challenges him... And he comes back...

Now...they roam all over Malnad and some other breathtaking locations...and end up cycling to Jog falls...

And the third twist...she declares her love to him amidst this breathtaking locale.....

And the last twist...Her mother discovers half of this just a day before the marriage and approaches the hero to help them by advising her not to break the heart! While his mother asks him to stop playing a villain in her friend's family...

And the dilemma continues... Watch the movie to see what happens on the wedding day.....

I would not recommend you to watch it for its story, not even for its script, not even for its mind-blowing songs, not even for the star cast...I would recommend this movie only for the sheer technical feel of it...

I would recommend you the whole movie only for that one simple scene that stops your heart for a moment...where in the cinematographer Krishna has excelled in shooting the Indian natural wonder Jog falls.

One good thing about the movie is it is completely shot in Karnataka....maximum outdoor scenes are natural masterpieces that were not in sight in other Kannada movies...Take that scene where the heroine is carried by her aging father...or the place where the hero takes his to-be father-in-law on a jog...or take that song "Anisuthide" in the backdrop of the Linganamakki backwaters.....Just amazing...three cheers to the crew for making this movie...

And On the other hand, I would say don't have too many expectations...you might not laugh at those supposedly funny scenes....you might not like the way it ends...or you might not like the way good music has been sidelined by the noise....list grows...

Regarding the cast... Ananth Nag is the real hero. I have no other compliment for him now... other than "Kannadada Amitabh"!! He's getting better and better with his age...Ganesh is tolerable, and so are others...overall a decent cast...

Now....you know, I guess...what to say to this...I mean "He's impressed with the movie...but not as much"....!

Yes, I'm not able to rate this movie either way... It is better that you go and check it yourselves. :D

Picture by oneindia.com

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

best part srik is, it has left me thinking even to this day the kind of ending which would have suited it than the climax it has :) . Watchin g the movie i could refresh all my memories of western ghats and sharavathi valley and jog falls treks and of course romantic moments of my life..

I wondered if the star cast were not leach bitten... i know about them in rainy season :)

good update srik

Usha

Anonymous said...

I will watch this as I love the greenry with water around.

thanks srik.

mouna said...

so, u finally did it :)

i agree with u on all the terms, what steals the show is the breath-taking cinematography. mother and i had gone to the movie and the water, the lush green locales.... i felt submerged in it.

Srik said...

Usha,

Yeah thats a weird ending.. I was waiting for something to happen, but they showed the title cards abruptly. :-(

m o h a n,
Yes, Karnataka's beauty is well captured, at least in some scenes. Mane hatrane yelladroo iratte nodi ee movie.

mouna,
Nice you took ur mother with you for this movie. She must have enjoyed as well. :-)

Sundar said...

yup agreed with you that some of the shots are superb. But then, I felt it somehow did not capture the complete beauty of coorg...having seen it in the monsoon, I felt it failed to capture it completely but still it's better than most movies. My bias might also be from the fact that I saw naiya nerallai which was just fantastic!

Jog...shots are pretty amazing. I have seen Jog when the water was in full flow, so this was sorta a deminished version of the falls :-)

I was wondering about the leech bites too, specially when actors were rolling around in the muck.

Srik said...

Sundar,
Frst of all, thanks for the visit.

Yes, as you said, it has not captured the total beauty of coorg. Some of us who have enjoyed the real coorg in monsoon might feel so, not the crores who have not felt it worth till date.

Lets know more about "naiya nerallai" you are talking about...pls.

Anonymous said...

"Ah! finally I too got drenched in MuMgAru maLe!!"

one quibble: i think the word should be spelt (and pronounced)as mungaaru, not mumgaaru. i noticed this issue on (if i remember right) december stud's blog too. what do you say, kannada pundits? am i wrong?

- s.b.

Srik said...

actual pronounciation is different from what we write in Kannada, I think.

I am not a Kannada pundit, but as far as I know, we pronounce it as muingaaru(Munche + kaaru), but write it as mum(0 in Kannada)gaaru...

So, muMgAru maLe is the "Baraha" version aste :) there's no grammar involved in it :D

Thanks for letting me know that.

Anonymous said...

Nice review
movie ge higi bundashte khushi kodtu
nere raajyadavaLaada nange real treat!!

Anonymous said...

Your review convinced me to see the film.
I went to Hubli recently and saw it there.
I too was drenched in the sheer beauty of the locales,the chatty dialogues and fresh approach to love and sacrifice.

Srik said...

oops neela..

That made me a proud peacock ;)

Pride of convincing some one to watch a Kannada movie :)

Lets watch good Kannada movies and encourage them make better ones.

Anonymous said...

We were in Hubli for about 48 hrs.I saw Arasu and Mun. maley.My hub saw Duniya too.
I liked Meera jasmine in Arasu-not the film though.

Anonymous said...

100 days aagidakke worldspace radio nalli spl. programme ittu.
Next film review yaavdu ?

Srik said...

neela,
I wanted to watch 'The Namesake' last weekend, couldnt succeed though. You know its very hard now a days to think of movies as a last resort in Bangalore now a days. Forget about them if its a weekend, for we need to plan well in advance to get tickets. Or else, pay hefty to some ticket seller in shades and watch it... Its a burden to watch movies.
Looking at all these things, it feels safe and nice to get a DVD and watch it at home :(

Anyways, planning for the same movie this weekend. In any case, u must wait till next week for a movie review ;)

Anonymous said...

Will do.
Reviews are always looked forward to. :)

Anonymous said...

Waiting for review of a new film..

Anonymous said...

ree yaakri srik, ellar talegu istondu emotional aagi mungaaru maLe jaaD hattistheera.. Ganeshannu meerso tara..! aadru yogaraj bhatru adyaak paapa avana tale mele ella bhaaranu bitro naa kaaNe, aa mola na saaysiddu maatra teera anyaaya ree :-)
cinema theatre ninda eddu aache bandre mansinna jothe hechche kooDa bhaara annisutte! ayyo ayyo!!!!!
picture nodok munche ayyo nodbeku bodbeku anno aase kutoohala, nodid mele aayo aage hoytalla anno ondu anubhaava, jeevana andre ishTe alvenri srik ? hmm... ??
ee vaara poorthi jog falls, western ghats pictures haaktheeni nodi nanna blog nalli MM nodida gunginalli!!

Srik said...

Veena,
Gr8 to hear that you eventually ended watching Mungaru maLe... Ah! That nice movie.

Well... yenu fullllll ganesh dialogues yella hoDitaa idira? Even I didnt like the ending... was cribbing that with Prashanth in the hall, after the movie.

Ayyo ashtondu emotional agbedri... read somewhere that aa mola idyalla.. it was a girl mola ante...and after the movie, it gave birth to five cuties ante... and its reciding in te director(or producer)'s farm house ante..!! so...cheer up!!

Neela,

Yav movienooooooo nodakke aglilla :'(

Anonymous said...

On last Friday had jst 5mins to log off that is when I came across your blog
There were two posts I wanted to read SHE and MUNGAARU MALLE

I chose to read Mungaaru Malle as I heard so much about the movie and was planning to watch on sat (2nd June)
I went with my PG mate even she knows very little kannada but thanks to this movie review helped us to understand the movie well 
And ofcourse it was a good watch :)

Neha

Srik said...

This is great!
Hmmm my review helped you understand a Kannada movie? I must soon get some royalty from the producer for this ;)