Lucia: A New Beginning For Kannada Cinema?

My Rating: 4/5

Warning: While a sincere effort has been made not to present any spoilers in this article, any plot disclosures made ahead were inadvertent.

Over several months in the first half of 2013, the trailer of a certain Kannada movie created quite a stir amongst Kannada movie-watchers. The Internet, being the wonderful distance-crushing medium that it is, meant folks outside Karnataka (including yours truly) got a glimpse at what seemed to be an intriguingly-shot tale about a man from Mandya, his insomnia and a 'dream pill'. Not to mention that the movie claimed to be entirely crowdfunded i.e. produced by the 'audience'.

Now before I start talking about Lucia and the impact that it could have on the Kannada film industry, I will need to talk about the not-so-rosy state of the industry itself. (Being no expert critic & not having watched Kannada movies as frequently as I would've liked in the recent past, I will hopefully be forgiven by friends in the industry for any transgressions when I speak my mind).

Any sensible Kannadiga will not kid themselves with a false sense of pride by claiming that Karnataka churns out the best movies in South India. In my mind, we are behind Tamil and Telugu and perhaps at par with Malayalam, if not below par. Traditional Kannada movies cater to only a certain section of the audience ('Mass filums' as they are aptly known) & movies with any amount of flair are few and far between. It should suffice to say that the movie which supposedly redefined the Kannada film industry a few years ago (i.e. 'Mungaaru Male') was, in my books, a dull, run-of-the-mill entertainer. In this period of doom & gloom, where any measure of class in a Kannada movie is non-existent and even the 'mass filum'-loving Gandhinagar crowd is receding, came a movie that claimed to redefine the very concept of film-making in Karnataka (and spurred me to write a review). Does Lucia live up to the buzz it created? Read on.

Kathe (The Plot):

Nikhil alias 'Nikki' (Sathish Neenasam) is shown to be in a vegetative state in a hospital while there are ongoing debates in the media about the merits & demerits of euthanasia. Sanjay, a detective from the Mumbai crime branch, is asked to assist in the investigation of Nikki's case and the hunt for the criminals begins. In a seeming flashback, Nikki declares that he originally hails from Mandya and that he lives with his friends while working as an usher/torch-shiner at Shankaranna's (Achyuth Kumar) 'taakies'. While he has a fairly comfortable life (going by his own admission), his biggest gripe is that he is unable to sleep. This insomnia affects him enough to seek out a medicine for sleeplessness which turns out to be the miracle 'dream pill' called Lucia.

The rest of the film passes by in a haze as Nikki starts dreaming about life as a famous film star and the lines between reality and dreams start blurring. Nikki, the film-star, has his share of troubles with his co-stars, extortion rackets and a girl called Shwetha (Shruthi Hariharan). Nikki, the usher, meanwhile starts noticing similarities between his dream life and his real life when he receives a proposal for marriage with Shwetha. Of note are Nikki's tumultuous romantic experiences with Shwetha in both lives (with him calling the shots in one and Shwetha making the decisions in the other) balanced delicately by the filmmaker. Meanwhile, the police, with assistance from Sanjay, is making some headway into the investigation and in the final 10 minutes, the film ties up nicely to make sense of the entire saga.

Of course, the plot is not without it's flaws & a song or two seem unnecessary. Yet, I dare say this may be one of the most finely-knit plots in the last decade of Kannada cinema. Pawan Kumar, the writer, must be commended for not submitting to the 'cheese-lovers' & keeping the story taut at all times. Even with the minor flaws that I found with the script, I would not question it's originality (For those of you that may think this is inspired by 'Inception', you have either not seen 'Inception' or more likely, you probably never understood what it was about).

Natane (Acting):

Acting, as a whole, in the film has to be the biggest letdown. Most of the actors surrounding the primary characters are mediocre in their display of emotions and articulation although I believe the filmmakers may have been limited in their choice of actors due to a tight budget. Thankfully, the leading duo, Nikhil (Sathish Neenasam) and Shwetha (Shruthi Hariharan) do a fine job and a certain chemistry between them is there to see. Shankaranna (Achyuth Kumar) deserves a special mention for the manner in which he has smoothly handled both his roles and he is one of the reasons this film manages to rise above par. Again, none of the other actors probably deserve a mention but for Rishab who plays one of the cops.

Mattu Itara Amshagalu (And Everything Else):

Another highlight of the movie has to be the cinematography. Rumored to be shot entirely on a Canon 5D and a GoPro camera, Lucia is a visual treat. The colors are vivid, the vistas are beautiful and without having to visit any exotic locations, the film's crew has painted a picturesque panorama for all to see. Poornachandra Tejaswi's music is adequate and the song 'Thinbedakammi' has a certain earthy feeling to it that is hard not to appreciate. The dialogues, especially the ones in Mandya/Hassan Kannada, are witty and humorous and at multiple instances, I couldn't help but chuckle at the pleasingly non-chalant manner in which Sathish delivers his dialogues ('nan handoorakke jaaga kottavru nan friendsu' for anyone who understands Mandya/Hassan Kannada). Finally, a special mention to Pawan Kumar's marketing approach. Right from sharing trailers on the internet to releasing the movie online for a reasonable cost, Pawan seems to have grasped what few in the South, perhaps even all, of India have managed to. When you make a movie that attempts to break new ground, you have to think beyond posters on city streets to convince the casual movie-goer to watch your film. When you add a way for people to watch the movie in the comfort of their homes without having to pirate, it just makes the deal sweeter. As someone who seldom gets to watch good Kannada movies in HD, Pawan's 'HomeTalkies' is a boon every way I look at it.

As a sum of its parts, Lucia towers over everything else produced in the Kannada film industry in the recent past. After the partly-crude yet heartening 'Eddelu Manjunatha', this is the only memorable Kannada film I have enjoyed watching in the last decade. The emphasis, rather than being on the power of a star, is on the strength of the script. Add some good cinematography, decent performances & an innovative marketing approach and you have a good recipe for a film. But then, Lucia goes beyond being just a good film. It's biggest contribution to Kannada cinema will perhaps be to capture the imagination of budding filmmakers, upcoming script-writers & struggling actors to dream big without having to cast or spend big. And for passionate movie-lovers, well, there may yet be hope for a new beginning.