Kotha Bangaaru Lokam - Call to the teenagers imaginary world
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Vamsi Deepak
Oct 13, 2008, 12:35:02 AM10/13/08
to speakin...@googlegroups.com, koo...@googlegroups.com
After Chintakayala Ravi, I vouched unsuccessfully for the nth time that I would quit watching Telugu movies (that is, except if it's from Shekar Kummula or Chandrasekhar Yeleti). Though I hate to admit it but, Jeevi's 4 rating did buy me into breaking my vow... and I was reassured about Jeevi's influence on desi gult popular culture when I saw the crowds thronging a horribly horrible IMC6 theater in San Jose.
Anyways, on to the movie itself.
"Kotha Bangaaru Lokam" is not yet another love story that Tollywood churns out every Friday - and probably that's the reason I am writing this review. It's a story of two teenagers who fall in love with each other at a time when they should be laying a foundation to their career - their "intermediate" (11th and 12th grade) days, and in the process they go through these deeper questions about life and love, responsibilities and tradeoffs etc.
Though the movie is fundamentally a simple love story, what I loved about the movie is that it has a voice of its own. The screenplay has a certain lyrical quality that makes it more than an ordinary experience.
I especially liked the following themes in the movie:
Free-Will Vs Establishment:
This is an oftly repeated theme in our cinema where the free-will is often in the form of a nice looking love story, pitted against the establishment in the form of parents or societal acceptance. Instead of treading the usual path of telling the story from the point of view of parents or society or children, what is right or wrong, what is good or bad... the movie does a fairly good job at sensitively handling this conflict... by empathizing with both: the free-will, confusing mind of the teenagers, and the matured, logical standpoint of parents...
The steps to discovering oneself are always the longest and the hardest to walk. If leaving parents hands (symbolically shown through the "watch") was so easy, there would have been no question of a struggle of conscience. At every step of your life, you have this going in your mind... how would my family react if they find out what I have done? Will my family support my decision? When will the society realise that I am mature enough to make my own decisions?!....yada...yada.
Nee Prasnalu Neevey Evvaroo Badhulivvragaa
Nee Chikkulu Neeve Evvaroo Vidipincharugaa
Ye Gaalo Ninnu Tharumuthuntey Allarigaa
Aagaalo Ledho Theliyadhantey Chelladhugaa...
Love Vs Attraction
Theory Vs Practice
Wasn't intermediate the heyday of our "mugging"(roting) practices? And, why is it important here? It is important because in those glorious days of teenage, this is one more conflict that every teenager faces... I can't relate or connect to my books... Cut to the Physics class again, the lecturer draws parallels between Physics of real life and Physics of text books... and how the books don't matter if you understand life and its equations. If I can't understand attraction, what did I learn through magnetism.. hehe... Agreed its trivialized in the interest of some humor... but there's a beautiful song resulting from it:
Kalashalalo… Kalashalalo…
kalalu aashalu kalisina placelu navvulu puvvulu virisina facelu..
pustakamannadi terichevelaa
aksharamenaka daakkoni undi
kallato vantena kadutoo unte
daatetanduku mati potunte
kaada manasu oka prayogashaala (isn't heart a laboratory meant for experimentation?)
---------
Yes, the movie does not come without flaws. There are dramatic moments which make you feel out of place. While I soaked into those good old "intermediate" days (principal, warden, office hours, EAMCET roting, homesick holidays, "intermediate" style mooch :) etc.), I talked to myself the same things that I talked about Happy Days: I see the environment... but I can't see myself here, my intermediate days were not anywhere close to this.
But then, the title of the movie said it all to me - "Kotha Bangaaru Lokam" (New Golden World). The movie does not try hard to show life as it is, but instead is a call to this teenager's "imaginary ideal world" which just happens as an accident. For a moment, I even felt that there is no meaningful way to end the movie except for a sad ending. I almost thought it would be another Maro Charitra or Ek Duje Ke Liye. But, I was suprised with a really nice ending (though a tag unrealistic) which leaves the audience with a good message.
If not for anything else, watch the movie for the innocent romance, genuine humor ("Ekkkada", Annayya scene, serious Brahmanandam etc.), classy direction and great music.
VD Rating: 4/5 :)
--
Vamsi Deepak (aka VeeDee)
"To know is the first step towards transformation. To know and not act on what we know is equal to not knowing. So action is the next step."
Run VeeDee Run: http://moourl.com/runvamsirun
Anyways, on to the movie itself.
"Kotha Bangaaru Lokam" is not yet another love story that Tollywood churns out every Friday - and probably that's the reason I am writing this review. It's a story of two teenagers who fall in love with each other at a time when they should be laying a foundation to their career - their "intermediate" (11th and 12th grade) days, and in the process they go through these deeper questions about life and love, responsibilities and tradeoffs etc.
Though the movie is fundamentally a simple love story, what I loved about the movie is that it has a voice of its own. The screenplay has a certain lyrical quality that makes it more than an ordinary experience.
I especially liked the following themes in the movie:
Free-Will Vs Establishment:
This is an oftly repeated theme in our cinema where the free-will is often in the form of a nice looking love story, pitted against the establishment in the form of parents or societal acceptance. Instead of treading the usual path of telling the story from the point of view of parents or society or children, what is right or wrong, what is good or bad... the movie does a fairly good job at sensitively handling this conflict... by empathizing with both: the free-will, confusing mind of the teenagers, and the matured, logical standpoint of parents...
The steps to discovering oneself are always the longest and the hardest to walk. If leaving parents hands (symbolically shown through the "watch") was so easy, there would have been no question of a struggle of conscience. At every step of your life, you have this going in your mind... how would my family react if they find out what I have done? Will my family support my decision? When will the society realise that I am mature enough to make my own decisions?!....yada...yada.
Nee Prasnalu Neevey Evvaroo Badhulivvragaa
Nee Chikkulu Neeve Evvaroo Vidipincharugaa
Ye Gaalo Ninnu Tharumuthuntey Allarigaa
Aagaalo Ledho Theliyadhantey Chelladhugaa...
Love Vs Attraction
The students get inspired by their Physics lecturer's talk about the X, Y, Z axes representing teenage life, 20s life and adult life, and how he believes that life's
all about the decisions you make at different levels in this space. And now, they are
compelled even more to question themselves as to what exactly is the
funny feeling they are enduring. Though the eventual scenes of they
evaluating themselves whether its love or attraction is a good
message, they are not entirely convincing.
Reppa Venakaalaa Swapnam
Eppudedhurayye Sathyam Thelisthe
Addukogalaraa Vegam
Kotha Bangaru Lokam Pilsthe...
Theory Vs Practice
Wasn't intermediate the heyday of our "mugging"(roting) practices? And, why is it important here? It is important because in those glorious days of teenage, this is one more conflict that every teenager faces... I can't relate or connect to my books... Cut to the Physics class again, the lecturer draws parallels between Physics of real life and Physics of text books... and how the books don't matter if you understand life and its equations. If I can't understand attraction, what did I learn through magnetism.. hehe... Agreed its trivialized in the interest of some humor... but there's a beautiful song resulting from it:
Kalashalalo… Kalashalalo…
kalalu aashalu kalisina placelu navvulu puvvulu virisina facelu..
pustakamannadi terichevelaa
aksharamenaka daakkoni undi
kallato vantena kadutoo unte
daatetanduku mati potunte
kaada manasu oka prayogashaala (isn't heart a laboratory meant for experimentation?)
---------
Yes, the movie does not come without flaws. There are dramatic moments which make you feel out of place. While I soaked into those good old "intermediate" days (principal, warden, office hours, EAMCET roting, homesick holidays, "intermediate" style mooch :) etc.), I talked to myself the same things that I talked about Happy Days: I see the environment... but I can't see myself here, my intermediate days were not anywhere close to this.
But then, the title of the movie said it all to me - "Kotha Bangaaru Lokam" (New Golden World). The movie does not try hard to show life as it is, but instead is a call to this teenager's "imaginary ideal world" which just happens as an accident. For a moment, I even felt that there is no meaningful way to end the movie except for a sad ending. I almost thought it would be another Maro Charitra or Ek Duje Ke Liye. But, I was suprised with a really nice ending (though a tag unrealistic) which leaves the audience with a good message.
If not for anything else, watch the movie for the innocent romance, genuine humor ("Ekkkada", Annayya scene, serious Brahmanandam etc.), classy direction and great music.
VD Rating: 4/5 :)
--
Vamsi Deepak (aka VeeDee)
"To know is the first step towards transformation. To know and not act on what we know is equal to not knowing. So action is the next step."
Run VeeDee Run: http://moourl.com/runvamsirun
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