MONEY: A GREAT SERVANT, BUT GRISLY MASTER

“A wise person should have money in their head, but not in their heart,” advised the Anglo-Irish writer Jonathan Swift. Caveat: Money often does not stay put in the fool's heart; it goes to his head.

"ದುಡ್ಡೇ ದೊಡ್ಡಪ್ಪ" ['Dudde Doddappa', which literally translates to 'Money only is Big Daddy (Paternal Uncle)'], is a 1966 Kannada film, which was a huge hit commercially. Based on writer M Ramamoorthy's story, the family drama was remade in Tamil ('Namma Veettu Lakshmi') and Telugu ('Lakshmi Nivasam').

Somayya (BR Panthulu) is a wealthy businessman, who has earned his fortune through good ole' hard work in a rags-to-riches story. He values time, labour and money– the secret sauce of his success!

His family though does not share his ideals. His wife, Sharadamma (MV Rajamma); two sons, Chandru (Ramesh) and Raju (Narasimharaju); and, daughter Kalpana (Bharati) are all spendthrifts who not only have lavish, luxurious lifestyles, but also lead lives of laxity and leisure.

In a horrendous twist of fate, the patriarch loses all in wealth in a risky business deal and declares bankruptcy. That opens a Pandorra's Box for his family members, who end up struggling to make both ends meet and to scrape through lives of dignity.

So do Somayya's kith and kin learn their lesson?

Doyen BR Panthulu, a director nonpareil, has pieced together a cute domestic drama to educate and entertain the masses. Dialogues of Kanagal Prabhakara Shastry are splendid, as always. The messages of women's emancipation and untouchability eradication are woven into the script.

The male lead Panthulu's acting is impeccable. So too the renditions of MV Rajamma and the supporting cast of Ramesh, Narasimharaju, Bharati and others. The musical score of genius TG Lingappa is topnotch; but, the narrative has one song too many.

The editing is somewhat slack; the camerawork staid and straitlaced, as most movies of that period. As a result, the pace becomes sluggish in the latter half; and, the story-telling loses its grip.

On the whole, the movie a stark reminder of Ayn Rand, the Russian-American writer's words: “Money is the barometer of a society's virtue.”

I rate this family drama: 7.5 on 10!