Chitra Varga

“ Women love a self-confident bald man,” observed Lawrence Gene David, the American writer, actor, director, comedian and producer, who, along with Jerry Seinfeld created the blockbuster television series “Seinfeld”. The view is obviously predicated upon 'self-confidence' of the bald man. " ಒಂದು ಮೊಟ್ಟೆಯ  ಕಥೆ " ('Ondu  Mo ṭṭ eya  Kathe ' which translates to “ One Egg's  Story ”) is a 2017  Kannada language  romanti c comedy film, which examines the predicament of a bald man low on self-esteem. The plot revolves around Janardhana (Raj B Shetty), a bald Kannada teacher, who's in a race against time to enter into wedlock. The reason: an astrologer has predicted that if he does not get married within a year, then he is likely to remain a bachelor all his life. Keen on romance and desperate to tie the nuptial knot, timid, diffident Janardhana tries innumerable ways to find his soul mate. In the process, he encounters several obstacles, not to mention har...

“ Pop culture is a reflection of social change, not its cause”, said John Podhoretz, an American writer. He was only partially correct, for pop culture can produce' social change. Or rather, it has the 'potential to spread' social change, not just 'reflect' it! " ಜಗಜ್ಯೋತಿ ಬಸವೇಶ್ವರ " ( Jagajyothi Basveshwara, which translates to “Lamp-of-the-world Basaveshwara”) is a 1959 Indian  Kannada biopic based on the life of Sri Basava, a twelfth century CE philosopher and social reformer from Karnataka, who tried to unite people under one God, one religion. Thespian Honnappa Bhagavatar's portrayal of the great reformer is sublime . A giant of the silver screen, Honnappa Bhagavatar pioneered and dominated the arts and culture scene in the 1940's and 1950's as a theater artist, film actor, film producer, musician and singer. The other Goliath of Kannada films, Dr. Rajkumar too is outstanding as King Bijjala. The supporting cast has excelled equa...

The great comedian, Charlie Chaplin once said that all he needs to make a comedy is “ a park, a policeman and a pretty girl .” Well, producer Rakshit Shetty adds “thugs and a treasure” to take his 2019 Kannada comedy " ಅವನೇ ಶ್ರೀಮನ್ನಾರಾಯಣ "– Avane Srimann ā r ā ya ṇ a , which translates to ' He's only Sriman Narayana '– a couple of notches higher on the “Slapstick Index”. The film is cool 'n funny; it is a potboiler with everything but the kitchen sink thrown in. It is perhaps best described as a ' melange comedy ', for it is a comedy wrapped in a fantasy-mystery shrouded in an action-thriller-adventure ...oh, with a dash of romance and intrigue for the garnish! But, when the chaff is separated from the wheat, the flick has little to offer other than pure, rollicking entertainment. The flick features a corrupt cop, Narayana (Rakshit Shetty) as the protagonist, who has a Sancho-Panza-like sidekick, Constable Achyuthanna (Achyut Kumar). Lakshmi ( S...

Sandy Meisner, the great acting instructor and exponent of the “Meisner Technique” (an acting approach), said: “acting is behaving truthfully under imaginary circumstances” . Great advice for budding actors; the saying correlates pithily and eloquently the 'reel' and 'real' worlds. The award-winning Kannada film " ಕೂರ್ಮಾವತಾರ " (' Koorm ā vat ā ra' , Lord Vi ś nu second reincarnation) , released in 2011, delves into what transpires when an actor's 'reel life' encroaches into the realm of his 'real world'. And, in doing so, the movie explores the watering down, to the point of irrelevance, of Gandhian values in modern society. Based on a short story written by Veerabhadrappa Kumbar (popularly known by his pen name, KumVee ), the drama revolves around the life of Anand Rao, a widowed government employee, who is cast to portray Mahatma Gandhi for a television serial. The diligent, mild-mannered public servant grapples with the challe...

Scientists have discovered that love and hate, the most basal and polar opposites of emotions, are intimately and intricately linked within in the human brain. Some of the neural circuits physically triggered by love are also responsible for hate. A fascinating fact to explore on the silver screen! The 1975 award-winning, critically-acclaimed and chart-busting Kannada film, " ಶುಭಮಂಗಳ " (“ ś ubhama ṅ ga ḷ a ” meaning, “good fortune”) is a “ romantic comedy ” that puts you on cloud nine! It is based on the simple and splendid story penned by the renowned novelist, Vani. Hema (Aarathi), a pampered, daddy's girl, has a small-town innocence and vivacity about her. Timma and Mooga are domestic helps and sidekicks, who keep Hema good-humored all the time. Prabhakara (Srinath) returns to the town after many years and bumps into Hema. Prabhakara's affection and attraction for Hema begin to take the undertones of a fairy-tale romance. Hema's father though nips in the bud...

To paraphrase the Hungarian-American actor, singer and entrepreneur, Eva Gabor, love is a game that two can play and both can win. But, what if a third person enters that game? Would the win-lose equations change in any way? " ಪಲ್ಲವಿ ಅನುಪಲ್ಲವಿ " (Pallavi Anupallavi) is a 1983 Kannada-language movie that gained great critical acclaim. Belonging to the sub-genre of “ romantic drama ”, it deals with the theme of love and its impermanence, if not transience. The film attempts to connect the dots between love and romance, on one hand, and lust and attraction, on the other . It explores the impact of carnal indiscretions on not only marital separation, but also on casual friendships within the larger milieu of societal norms and behavioral constructs. Great plot to put on celluloid, for sure! The protagonist, Vijay (Anil Kapoor) pledges his love to Madhu (Kiran Vairale), a college student who wants to pursue studies abroad. However, he gets entangled in a close friendship with ...

“ Poverty is like punishment for a crime you didn't commit ,”  said the insightful English writer, Eli Khamarov. And, when ill-health conjoins and c ompounds poverty, it is perhaps like punishment for a life you didn't want. But, what if unsought publicity is added to the blend? Director P. Sheshadri takes on that theme for his Kannada movie, " ಡಿಸೆಂಬರ್ -1 " (“ December-1 ”) and delivers, as only he can. H e packs quite a punch in the film with his brand of satire– comprising of tongue-in-cheek sarcasm, yet never short of down-to-earth realism. The flick is about a phyically-challenged mill worker, Madevappa, who ekes out a simple, bare-bones existence in Basupura, a tiny, remote village. H is wife, Devakka sells “ roti s (bread)” to supplement the family income. One fine day they get news that the Chief Minister of the State plans to stay overnight with them on December 1. A bolt from the blue for the rural folks, suddenly now in the limelight! The official machi...

Victor Hugo wrote in Les Mis é rables “There is always more misery among the lower classes than there is humanity in the higher.” Poignant words! The  multiple-award-winning Kannada movie, " ತಲ್ಲಣ " ( Thalla ṇ a , which translates to: “ Distraught ”) attempts to give a ' ring-side view' of the miseries the poor, the powerless and the under-privileged fringe endures. It showcases the systemic abuse, apathy, deceit and humiliation meted out to this stratum of society. On a different note, the flick also examines the functioning of human relationships within a community– amorphous and informal equations often trump where formal and crystallized definitions fail . The film features the travails of Jaya, a domestic help, whose young daughter, Sushma goes missing. Jaya practically runs pillar-to-post and moves heaven-and-earth in her search with little help from the police authorities, callous and negligent as often. Sadananda, the good Samaritan in whose house...

“ In time of test, family is best ”, so a Burmese proverb goes. It is the “family", or rather, “extended family” that provides the backdrop for the awards-sweeping 1968 Kannada flick, " ಹಣ್ಣೆಲೆ ಚಿಗುರಿದಾಗ " ( Hannele Chiguridaga , which translates to: “ When (an) old leaf springs forth ”). The movie, a ' cult classic ', deals with widow marriage and women emancipation– both themes are socially relevant even today. And boy, what a feast of a feature film, it is! In short, the experience was: “ethereal”, nay, “sublimely ethereal”! The black-and-white film, released in 1968, is based on a novel penned by Triveni– the pseudonym of Anasuya Shankar, a prolific writer who authored about twenty novels in her short life of just 35 years– and impeccably scripted by RN Jayagopal, both veritable doyens of the Kannada literary landscape. An orthodox patriarch gets agitated about one of his sons' romance with a threatre actress. He disapproves too of his w...

The Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist, George Bernard Shaw had apparently said: “ First love is only a little foolishness and a lot of curiosity .”  Perhaps he got it wrong, for some may argue it is all about “ a little curiosity and a lot of foolishness ”. " ಗಂಟುಮೂಟೆ " (Gantumoote - meaning “Baggage” ), a critically acclaimed and award-winning Kannada film, explores the theme of innocent “puppy love” and its ramifications. Set in the last decade of the previous millennium, the movie boldly, yet subtly deals with the relationships of a teenaged high school student, Meera, who finds a resemblance between Salman Khan and Madhu, her classmate. That “basal attraction” leads to romantic involvement between the two. But wait! It is no eye-candy, romance, but a tale of hormonal rush and pubescent crush at school– replete with an amalgam of coy glances, awkward kisses, sheepish guilt, boorish bullies and much more...exam blues and burning of midn...