Ondu Motteya Kathe : Rakshith Ponnathpur

Ondu Motteya Kathe is that kind of a film where your cheekbones start to pain by the time interval arrives, since you cannot but watch it with a wide grin on your face throughout, for the sheer sweetness and charm in its screenplay, the pain subsiding every time you burst into a hearty laughter by relieving your cheekbones. While the first half is all about grins and giggles, the second half provides a more inclusive, emotional package- an emotional sequence stops you every time you laugh too much, a situational joke stops you every time you frown too much

While the first half makes you empathize with the protagonist so much so that your empathy borders on sympathy even while laughing at his misfortune, the second half shows how even the victims of one stereotype/stigma can be active perpetrators of/contributors to another, and reiterates how we are all about different shades of grey and never fully black/white. The film on a whole is a feel good entertainer with the right dose of situational comedy. You will fall in love with the touch of freshness and innocence this young film team has successfully managed to bring to its debut film.

The opening credits dedicates the film to Dr. Rajkumar who it says is a character by himself throughout the film with his songs and snippets. It is then that you realize even the film’s title may be taken as a tribute to one of Annavru’s most popular movies. His songs are included at the most appropriate of situations, making the whole theater giggle for a moment and hum along immediately after. This was such a subtle and beautiful way of paying tribute to him, rather than the loud symbolic gestures which we routinely see in other flicks. Such goosebumps! I think this alone makes OMK worth watching for us veteran Kannada audience, even though there is much more to the film.

The background score by Midhun is slick and smooth. There are a couple of song sequences which blend into the narration seamlessly without standing out as pointless irritants, of which I loved Neenillade the most. Director Raj B Shetty as Janardhan and peon Srinivasa have given fantastic performances as actors. The Mangaluru Kannada dialect used throughout the movie is very natural as the cast is mostly native, and therefore so surreal and seductive for the rest of us. Even as a true blue Bengaluriga, I felt tempted to say ‘chenda untu’ and betray our own ‘chindi’s and ‘sakkath’s when asked how I felt about the film. And I am sure that is what you will say as well. So go watch Ondu Motteya Kathe at the earliest! Let your cheekbones pain, laugh your hearts out and have a great feel good experience. Let’s keep calm, break bald and all such other stereotypes!