After hearing
rave reviews about the kannada movie “ Thithi” which has bagged some
prestigious awards outside the country,
i decided to watch the movie without any pr-expectations and i was in a for a
mild surprise.
This is a first attempt
movie by the writer and the director. They seemed to have got their specs right. The film showcases the village life somewhere
near Mandya. The actors are
all from the village with
no prior experience in movies and they
have portrayed their
actual daily life.
The story spans four generations with
Century Gowda at the top of the pyramid.
Now let us look at how each generation is portrayed.
Century Gowda who is almost 100 years
old is shown only for a few minutes in the beginning but he sets the pace for
the entire movie, with his rustic and caustic brand of humour. He had his flings and dalliances with women in
his younger life.
He is sitting on the village
bench and passing comments on everyone passing by and through him we get a peek
into everyone’s life. He comments on everyone
right from giggling school children passing by to the elders of the village. It is this interest in everyone’s life
that keeps his heart ticking for such long years. He is
interested in what is happening in his surroundings. He dies and the story unfolds.
Century Gowda’s
son Gadappa is also
quite old and he seems
to be always
walking around aimlessly gulping his
tiger brand of alcohol. Slowly
as the movie progresses
we realise he has
faced all sorts
of problems and discharged
his responsibility of looking
after all the near
and far family members. He speaks very little in the movie but when
he speaks he speaks with wisdom culled out
from the experiences of his life.
He tells what
has to happen will
happen and we
have to remain happy always.
As per him what has happened in the past is no more than a movie if we look back.
He also enjoys playing tiger and the goats game
with the children
and through the game
gives them wisdom of life.
Gadappa’s son is the main character
of the movie. He takes the responsibility
of performing the Thithi of his
grandfather Century Gowda. For the
11th day ceremony, he
makes elaborate preparations and
calls people from nearby villages
where Century Gowda was
popular. He wants
to lay his hands on his grandfather’s land nearby
for which he does all sorts
of exercises. He gets a death certificate made for his
father though he is still alive.
He packs of
his father with some money to disappear
from the village for about six
months until he sells
the land.
In the end all his efforts come
to a nought and he is distraught. The director deos not show what happens later. He just shows evil doings does not pay.
Now coming
to the great grandson of
Century Gowda he is of a
typical bindaas type. He
and his
friend do the desilting of sand
nearby the river. Rest of
the time they are
having a gala
time playing bets on cards
and boozing. They do not have any aspirations in life.
The grandson is
watching on his mobile all
forbidden things and he gets
attracted to the next
village girl. He is trying to woo
her with his
own brand of style or no style.
He finally makes her like him.
The film does
not have background
score music, songs or any other props which other movies use. We
can hear the
natural sounds of the
village like the river flowing
sound, cackle sound of hens running
around, bleating sound of goats and the
Baa sound of sheep all of which
adds authenticity to the
village background.
It is
a good effort
by the writer
and the director duo in coming out
with a story around an event
in a village. They seem
to be bold in charting a
new course in the making of a
movie and as per
me that
is the reason for the success of the movie.
