LANGUAGE: AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE ETHOS AND PRIDE OF ANY PEOPLE

The South Korean poet, Kim Hyesoon once said the rhythm of his body is the same as his mother tongue. “Sarkari Hi. Pra. Shale, Kasaragodu, Koduge: Ramanna Rai” is a 2018 Kannada language socio-political comedy, which depicts the value of mother tongue to linguistic minorities.

And, what a peach of a movie it is! It won the National Award for the Best Children's Film too!

The film revolves around Pradeepa (Ranjan), the young protagonist, who has difficulty passing out of middle school, courtesy: several distractions including his infatuation for his classmate, Pallavi (Saptha Pavoor). But, the school is in Kerala's Kasargod district, just across the border from Karnataka. It is a real struggle for the headmaster to keep the school running with limited finances.

The school is targeted for closure by a corrupt, parochial and antagonistic local administrator, who wants to shut it down and move the poor, middle-class students therein to a Malayalam-medium school. He even obtains a closure order, which sets the stage for the children to seek the help of Ananta Padmanabha P (Anant Nag), a self-anointed social activist.

But, is the intervention of the social activist timely enough to save the school?

While the core theme of the film is refreshingly distinct, the story and screenplay lend it an undesirable 'one-size-fits-all' dimension. What starts off as a children's film, morphs into a bit of a romantic comedy and ends as a court-room drama. This 'blended genre' and 'multi-modal themes', take some sheen off an otherwise excellent movie. The intertwined plots burden the narrative excessively.

Rishab Shetty's direction is very good; the climax though is heavy on melodrama– the “KISS Principle” ('Keep it Short and Simple') is something that, I hope, he adheres to in the future.

The entire cast, in particular the child artistes, have put up commendable performances. The veterans, Anant Nag, Ramesh Bhat and Pramod Shetty, steal the show though. The singsong coastal dialect– Kannada embellished with Tulu and Malayalam words– of the script is adorable. Cinematography of A Venkatesh is breath-taking; it is a treat for sore eyes. Vasuki Vaibhav's music compositions are sublimely surreal. The editing could have been a bit tighter though.

The film is most certainly a good watch!

I rate it: 7 on 10!


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