A Phony Debut

Chaitrada Chandrama Movie Review By Raju Shanbhag

The first scene was already rolling when I reached the theatre. So, I had to prod an elderly gentleman who was sitting next to me to make sure I hadn’t missed much of the excitement. The gentleman was nice and polite. But he kept shaking his head disapprovingly throughout the first half of Chaitrada Chandrama. Things changed somewhat in the second half as the gentleman quietly slipped away from the torture that was being thrust on him in the name of the entertainment. Seems like he didn’t want to take more than he could at his old age.

Chaitrada Chandrama is a comedy of errors for more than one reason. Narayan has a one point agenda in the film; building up the scene for his son (That’s the Tapori language used in the film!). Everything else, including Narayan’s hereto respectable skills as a director takes a backseat as Narayan pushes (gee, he almost shoves) his son on the screen. All the formula of a typical commercial potboiler such as two songs in Kashmir, never ending fight sequences where Pankaj flies in air till you start doubting that he will ever come down to earth, the mother-son sentiment, which made the elderly person in my next seat run for cover, so on and so forth.

S. Narayan has made his son a cricketer in the movie, who is about to get selected to the national team. (Mind you, our star has never been out in any of the club matches he has played till now and has an average that would make Don Bradman blush in shame! Dhoni, are you reading this?). He is a nice bowler too. He looks like Shree Santh and bangs his fists on the pitch when he gets a batsman out, just like his infamous inspiration.

One of the major reasons of the film’s banality could be S. Narayan’s surprising lack of ability to make the newcomers act. Pankaj has three or four stock expressions in his acting repertoire and those expressions are repeated like TV9 news telecast every ten minutes. The boy does a manageable job when it comes to customary fight and dance sequences. But when it comes to emoting, not even his allegedly legendary father could help the matters very much. Surprisingly, even Amulya, who did a reasonably good job in Cheluvina Chittara, fails miserably in this film. Her dialogue delivery looks fake and acting looks ordinary.

Narayan says this is the most expensive film ever made in his career, but the superimposed shots on foreign locations tell a whole other story. Some of the sequences in Kashmir look good enough. But in many other song sequences, it just appears as if Narayan has just superimposed Pankaj and Amulya on scenic locations and taken the Kannada audience for granted.

But the phoniest part of the movie is reserved for the climax, when a match between India and Australia is taking place and our hero is making a debut. He is beaten up by the rowdies but he doesn’t give a damn because his mummy wants him to play. So he goes out, fields, balls and gets a century against the Aussies and guides his team to victory. But the surprising factor about this whole match is it clearly appears that it was played in Basavanagudi National College grounds or Jayanagar ground! In India Vs. Australia match in Basavanagudi National College Ground? Boy, Narayan has some imagination! None of Aussie team members look anything remotely like Australian or their forefathers were the early inhabitants of Australia who migrated to India in the 15^th century A.D.

Kala Samrat S. Narayan has taken up the responsibility of music and lyrics for this film and he does surprisingly well in both the departments. Some of the songs are hummable and lyrics look good too.

Much cannot be said about the future of Pankaj as a hero as he is still a kid. He only needs to escape his doting father who is hell bent upon doing everything for his son and spoils the show in the process. Amulya disappoints and other actors are just ok.

Before S. Narayan got this rather embarrassing tag of Kala Samrat, he made his directorial debut with a somewhat appealing Chaitrada Premanjali. 39 films later, S. Narayan now looks to make the debut of his son, Pankaj with Chaitrada Chandrama, and unfortunately, it just appears as if Narayan was a far better director in his debut!