Art & Entertainment

Nayi Neralu

Just because it deals with the Hindu idea of rebirth, it need not be damned as another bid for honours or just more Indian exotica for foreign film festivals.

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Nayi Neralu
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Starring:
Directed by

Rating: ****

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Just because this is a Kasaravalli film and it deals with the Hindu idea of rebirth, it need not be damned as another bid for honours or just more Indian exotica for foreign film festivals. It has great potential to endear itself to the masses too.

Nayi Neralu is a period film that sensitively captures the reaction of three generations of women living under one roof to the sudden discovery of a faraway ‘rebirth’ of their son/husband/father. The aged and ailing mother, steeped in tradition, accepts the reborn as her son Rammanna; the middle-aged daughter-in-law, Venku, accustomed to the rituals of widowhood, is in an awkward dilemma about her boy-husband and the young daughter, Raji, initiated to modern education, rejects her age-mate as her father with rational force and British law.

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As a sober linkage between these three women is the character of Achchannaiah, the traditional father-in-law. He is the one who finds the reborn, who has become an eccentric legend in his natal village. After the initial euphoria of the return of the ‘son’, practical questions haunt the family. The moral burden of wrongdoing and a sense of responsibility that Achchannaiah’s character carries throughout the film is simply brilliant. He steps out of his Brahmin beliefs most often to respond with large doses of kindness. This becomes most apparent in the second half after the daughter-in-law becomes pregnant with the boy-husband’s child. The blooming romance between the widow and her ‘husband’ (there is an unforgettable scene where the big-framed lady protects him from bee stings in a valley of champaks); the disinterest and straying of the boy-husband in the island they have inhabited to escape opprobrium and initially, the full-bodied lust that often tries to escape the bland wrap around the widow are all poignantly framed.

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The gorges, greenery, Havyak dialect, misty haze of the areca country is perfect for the mental landscape of the characters. The triumphs lies in Kasaravalli’s fairness—he gives every character moral victories (the boy-husband’s testimony in court is proof) and justification. This creates a meaningful gulf between black and white portrayals.

High Fives

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1. Lage Raho Munnabhai
2. Pyaar ke Side Effects
3. Dor
4. Khosla ka Ghosla
5. Rocky

Hollywood
1. Jackass Number Two
2. Huo Yuan Jia
3. Gridiron Gang
4. Flyboys
5. Everyone’s Hero

Reggae
1. Short Circuit (Ally Sheedy)
2. A Girl Like Me (Rihanna)
3. Radiodread (Easy Stars All Stars)
4. Dub Side of the Moon (Easy Stars)
5. Welcome to Jamrock (Damian Marley)

Courtesy: Film Information

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