Sunday, October 31, 2021

Family Drama and ENNANGA SIR UNGA SATTAM - One a Dud- other ok (on Sony LIV)

Family Drama is a Telugu film which claims to be a crime thriller. ENNANGA SIR UNGA SATTAM is a duplex film ( means a film with two halves and same set of actors and director) and though the making is not great , it does put forth a issue in quite a quirky way  Cant say it is a total time waste.

Family Drama is like the film Tabbar where a series of murders are committed by the family members to save one of them and the coverups and moral dilemmas that surround it. Here murders take place by two sons in a plot to usurp the property of their father whom they have paralyzed.  The murders takes place but there is not even one guy who comes in search of the dead victims and no neighbours are around. The whole absurd drama that takes place in an urban area and in a middle class family reaches a ridiculous climax

Only best part is actor Suhas who plays the psychopath . He is top class. For creating this character , director Meher Tej needs to be commended. The use of classical background music and the way Suhas dances to it and his smile and expressions are a treat to watch. 

ENNANGA SIR UNGA SATTAM has it's  own moments of comedy and satire. The first portion is about a guy who wants to bump around without working and  living off his father who boasts of his caste links.  The director says that like any jobless youth in Chennai , he too tries his hand at direction and gives up as he realizes that his USP of taking a film with a message - highlight the plight of farmers , would bring him social recognition, is an over used subject. There are four films on the same subject that is released every week !.

Second half has a jobseeker from the lower caste for the post of archakar ( priest) in a Govt aided temple as he had completed a course in it. A Brahmin boy with all qualifications applying for a Govt job.  

Though the priest aspirant is called Ranjith Dasan ( a jibe at film director Pa Ranjith) and technically fit , the believers 9 non- Brahmins) are not willing to have him. A Brahmin by birth and a aide already working in the temple will lose his job if the other guy gets the job. Decision is in hands of the senior Priest - a Brahmin. Here fair play and justice takes place and the lower caste guy gets the job. At the interview where a Brahmin boy is appearing before a woman who heads the selection board, he loses out as other board members are heavily influenced by the connections of the candidates. The boy later gets through  with the woman machinations hting for him.

The message that comes through is that a Brahmin who has the power to decide is very broad and overcomes caste prejudices of even the non Brahmin believers. Some comments are just superb-  Are u not the people who started learning Japanese as soon as you heard Japan is going to bomb Madras ? Two bulls died in the bombing and you all deserted Madras and came running to Kumbakonam. The film also shows the untouchability with Brahmins - the priests who do funeral rites being well in demand are shunned by the others inside the community.

The whole subject is part of a script narrated to a producer and we have another guy who claims that the script  is his. The producer at first dismisses it saying that there is no positive thinking and then a good ending comes through. It sort of says that for cinema, the ending was positive but in real life it is not so.

The film does make a pitch for reservation based on economic status and also stresses that such a job opening should be free from influences and open to only merit. In the end despite this rightful message, you get the feeling that Brahmins of toady's generation are being deprived of many things for the wrongs done decades ago by the ancestors. . Like the Chief temple trustee says as the priests jobs were made a domain of Brahmins then , the wrong is being set right now.

One thing I liked was the role of film Producer . He is not bothered about the overtones etc and is  clear that a good ending will only click .Produced by Passion Studios ENNANGA SIR UNGA SATTAM is written and directed by debutant Prabhu Jeyaram.



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