Bittaaku

Dheemaku Movie Review By Raju Shanbhag

Aspiring movie actor Naveen Krishna urgently needs a hair stylist and a new director. But watching him struggling to balance a lifeless script and a tasteless mustache, it’s difficult to say which one of these two are needed more urgently. The story and the direction are as tasteless as Naveen’s irritating mustache and the mustache is as unnecessarily long as this excuse of a film.

The movie is all about arrogance. It’s the arrogance of a rich woman pitted against the audacity of a man with who is conceited enough to grow a long mustache, which nobody likes. Both exchange animated, melodramatic dialogues as if people sitting on a blanket in a village drama are clapping and yelling “once more, once more.” Naveen Krishna challenges Flora Saini (whom I incidentally mistook for the heroine of the film for a long time) that he will marry her daughter (for god’s sake, why? Flora is single too, and she is better looking than her daughter!) Saini returns fire with fire and shoots her own hot stuff at Naveen (now don’t get me mistaken; it’s just the dialogues). As the bewildered daughter gapes dazedly at these two people having heated conversations at her expense, matash, cut to interval.

You see, the film is all about Dheemaku, the fire ignited on screen has spread to the audience as well. They are down, but not out. They return arrogantly after interval, not giving a damn about the story or the sequence, or even their own mental well being, just to see how much they can take. The situation is tense, and Naveen is breathing fire. Some ill fated songs serve as just the excuse for some cowards in the audience who run for a moment of sanity outside the theatre, only to return with more determination in their eyes. More songs follow, coupled with more fights, where the stunt master shows his Dheemaku by making Naveen fight barehanded with some 16 armed men. Naveen laughs wickedly at the camera, and audience gasp in horror as they know what that could indicate. Their worst fears are confirmed when Naveen, who doesn’t have time to trim his mustache, beats up tons of rowdies in the villain’s den and marries the heroine as he promised (well, I still think her mother Flora, was a far better choice!)

Jaggesh makes a guest appearance in the film; and so do many of the witty dialogues. Both of them are funny and manage some laughs in between them.

It seems the makers of this film have been arrogantly advertising their intentions by its very name; but it’s only us who did not know otherwise. It’s the Dheemaku of the director, who talks about Alfred Hitchcock and Akira Kurosawa and turns out such outlandish stories. It’s the Dheemaku of writers who hid all their talents behind Naveen’s long grown mustache and decided that Kannada audience deserves only this much.

Naveen Krishna was handsome enough before he got too busy to visit barber’s shop. He is a good actor, but will do well if he chooses better stories and sensible directors. New heroine Pavani looks pale in comparison to Flora Saini. Rangayana Raghu and Sudha Belawadi perform their roles dutifully.

We would have suggested you to watch Dheemaku for its sheer audacity of taking the audience for granted; but hell, it’s sad to see good actors like Naveen being wasted this way. For that simple reason, you may not be even able to laugh at it.