HUMAN DREAMS AND DIGNITY MATURE IN SMALL FAMILIES

Opinion leaders have oft repeated that the goal of population stabilization is to “reduce or minimize misery.” The great science writer, Isaac Asimov even decreed: “Democracy cannot survive over-population.” There is enough empirical evidence and academic research to support those views.

“ಬೋರೇಗೌಡ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿಗೆ ಬಂದ” (‘Boregowda Bengaloorige Banda’, which means: ‘Boregowda Came to Bengaloor’) is a 1970 Kannada film that has the link between poverty and population for a theme. With its chartbusting tracks, the movie was a musical megahit.

A poor villager, Boregowda, also Boranna (Rajesh), moves to Bangalore in search of a better life. In tow are his wife, Gowravva (Leelavathi) and five children. Destitute and distressed, the naïve folks have a difficult time adjusting to the fast-paced, dog-eat-dog life in their city of dreams.

Boranna gets acquainted in time with Rajanna (Srinath), a Robin-Hood-like do-gooder, who has Lakshmi (B Vijayalakshmi), a street vendor, as his love interest. Boranna manages to keep his head above water in the daily battle for survival. Eventually he too begins to earn a decent livelihood.

Yet, in a quirky twist of destiny, Boranna gets arrested on the suspicion of being a counterfeiter. Rajanna comes to his rescue and that sets the stage for the hunky-dory climax, but not before there is the usual rough and tumble of fisticuffs between the good and the bad, not to mention affairs of the heart.

Director BA Arasa Kumar has gone overboard with a surfeit of dramatic content. Despite the potpourri of commercial elements, the convoluted screenplay makes for an entertaining watch. Given a subpar script, he has amateurishly added Chaplin-like street fights and tomfoolery for cheap laughs― all stuffed in for mass appeal.

Arasa Kumar deserves appreciation though for using the big screen, a powerful medium, to take his message on the relevance of family planning to the average man on the street. So what if the script has gaping voids in it! He emphatically conveys that smaller families can afford a better lifestyle.  Music of the masters, Rajan-Nagendra, set to intoxicating lyrics of Chi. Udaya Shankar, is sublime.

Rajesh as the male protagonist has portrayed rustic exuberance and bucolic innocence well― zesty spring in his step adds to that vignette. Leelavathi is at her usual dramatic best. Srinath is fine in his macho-man-of-action role. The rest of the cast comprising of Shakti Prasad, B Vijayalakshmi and others has fared well.

I rate…liberally this drama, a pot-boiler on the loosely-linked theme of population control: 7.0 on 10!