Saturday 16 June 2018

సమ్మోహనం సినిమాపై కొన్ని ఆలోచనలు- Some Thoughts On Sammohanam


This is not a movie review at all. These are just my incipient understanding/observation of the film as such.


There is a faintish kind of embarrassing smile on Sameera’s face when Vijay asks her to “go away” from his home and eventually from his life too in front of his mother. We see her uncontrollable affection towards Vijay in her eyes and there is also an “internal emotional turmoil” inside her which kind of reflected in her demeanour and yet she doesn’t want to pour her heart to Vijay to explain what was actually happened. She holds back her emotions so gracefully that one would feel Vijay’s mother words about “accepting rejection” are metamorphosed into the Sameera’s faint smile.

Perhaps, this fraction of seconds of the frame defines the soul of the Sammohanam. There is a complex emotion behind this tiny smile yet the way in which it played out is so harmonic that one would feel it is as natural as a kid “longing” for a star in the faraway sky. And this marks Indraganti not only as a good writer but also as someone who can present the complex emotions in a simpler manner. This is evident in his most of the films given the fact that his films only have linear narratives. One of the difficult jobs of any artist is to present her art as simple as possible. Perhaps, to “be simple” is too complex. And to present these multitudinous mysterious emotions of a person in such a minimalistic manner (in that faint smile) is the biggest achievement for Indraganti as an artist.

సమీరా మోముపై లీలగా తచ్చాడూతూ క్షణభంగురంలో మాయమయ్యే ఆ నవ్వులో, తన ఊసులు, ఆకాంక్షలు మరియు తన అంతరంగిక మనసుని ఎరిగిన విజయ్ కి తన ప్రేమను వ్యక్తపరచాలనే ఉబలాటం, అదే క్షణంలో తన అంతః సంఘర్షణల వెగటు గాడ్పుల తీవ్రతని తన దరికి  చేర్చాలా వద్దా అనే ఊగిసలాట, ఇక ముందు విజయ్ తన జీవితంలో ఉండబోడేమోననే అనే తలంపు తెచ్చిన తానూ మునుపెన్నడూ భరించలేని బాధను లో లోపల దాచాలనే ఆత్రం ఉంది. వీటినన్నింటిని మించి విజయ్ వెళ్లిపొమ్మన్న మాటకు, లోపలనుండి ఉబికివస్తున్న కన్నీళ్ల విరహ ప్రవాహం, ఎక్కడ తన ఆత్మ గౌరవాన్ని నవ్వుల పాలేయ్యాలా చేస్తుందో అని ఎంత సావధానంగా ఆ నవ్వులో తన అర్ధతని దాచుకున్నా తీరు ఎంత సమ్మోహనంగా ఉందో. ఇంతటి హావభావాలను ఒక నటిలో కనిపించేలా చేశాడు  అంటే అది ఆ దర్శకుడి ప్రతిభకి ఒక నిదర్శనం.



In addition, I was wondered by the way in which the director has used costume colour to represent the inner anxieties/attributes of a character. In the balcony scene, where a heartfelt conversation happens between Vijay and Sameera, Vijay was seen wearing a white kurta-pyjama, reflecting his serene and idealistic attitude, whereas Sameera was seen wearing a black dress printed with a lot of colourful flowers, reflecting her complex yet mature understanding. When she says “no” to him, then he was seen wearing more of dark colours in the rest of scenes like dark red (represents turbulence in his mind), black (represents as if his life is gazing at a meaningless abyss) and towards the pre-climax where he went to see Sameera in the hospital, he was wearing a darkish blue shirt (a sense of reconciliation with the reality, a sense of acceptance). In the climax, there is this blue suit, which kind of explain that he found the love of his life and joy.

Interestingly, Sameera character has always had colourful dresses which kind of makes her a mysterious person yet a complex human being. Sameera’s ethereal beautiful face was shown in such a way that I felt her vulnerability and belongingness for a beloved one was thrusting forth from her face.
In general, our Telugu cinema has this habit of giving “messages” out of nowhere. This preaching business might earn some brownie points to the appreciation of the film. However, most of the times these messages sound as giving “public lectures”.
Now, look at how beautifully the scene was played out between Vijay and his mother about “accepting rejections” in life. It doesn’t come off as a lecturing audience, but it comes as a part of her character (she narrates how she was rejected by his senior in her college days) and it makes the audience to feel more for her character.

చివర్లో వచ్చిన ఆ నక్షత్రం metaphor కూడా కథలో ఎంతో ఆకర్షణీయంగా  అబ్బింది. నిష్కల్మషమైన ఆ లేత ప్రాయంలో ఎవరుంటారు చెప్పండి ఆ చుక్కలని ఇష్టపడని వారు. అంతే ఇదిగా, అంతే తీవ్రంగా, ఒకరిని ఒకరు ఇష్టపడటం అంటే ఒకరి ఇష్టాలను ఇంకొకరు గౌరవించడం. ఇది వదిలిపెట్టి ప్రేమంటే, ఒకరు ఇంకొకరికోసం తమ ఇష్టాలను, కోరికలను, తమ జీవితాలనే త్యాగాలు  చేయాలనే ఒక వెర్రి ప్రేమ కథ ఇది కాదు. ఇద్దరి భావాల మధ్యనున్న భేదాలను హుందాగా ఒప్పుకొని, ఒకరి పర్సనల్ space ని మరొకరు హరించకపోవడమే ప్రేమ అని ఈ కథ తెలుపుతుంది.


I liked the music very much and I felt like mouthing the lyrics for the very first time while watching a Telugu film. I liked the background music too and how it was edited in the final cut. There is a particular scene where Vijay’s friend talking about how he always wanted to create a gossip website. In this scene, the moment the visual is cut to the hero’s home, his friend's voice is also smoothly dissolved into the newer frame as if we are hearing the echo of his voice in Vijay’s home. It seems Vivek Sagar has made a special music theme for Naresh’s character, which was in perfect sync with his hilarious punch lines. But, I felt the same theme music has downplayed the Naresh’s emotion in some scenes especially in the scene where he realises how he was being cheated by the movie makers. What he says in that particular scene was coming from his experience and the dialogue and the emotion have something significant to say. However, instead of lending a sympathetic ear to the character, the audience were seen burst into laughter even in this scene because of the theme music.

I felt the tiff between Vijay and his sister is a bit staged and the emotions that are carried out in this scene seems somewhat forceful. In addition, the sister’s dialogue comes off not as a part of the character itself, unlike the mother’s one. డైరెక్టర్ తనకు చెప్పాలనుకున్న భావాలను ఇలా ఈ పాత్ర నోటితో అసంబద్ధంగా చెప్పించడానికే, ఈ సన్నివేశాన్ని stage చేశాడేమో అనిపించింది. ఆ చెల్లెలి చెప్పిన పెద్ద పెద్ద మాటలు తన జీవిత అనుభవంనుండి కాక వెనక నుండి ఎవరో గొంతునులిమి ఇబ్బందిగా చెప్పించినట్టుగా అనిపించాయి. The director could have done this scene in a nuanced way.

And interestingly the movie talks about what is “being a man” or what is manliness as such. The mother character says “ To be a man is to accept the rejections gracefully”. In the films like “Bharat Anu Nenu”, the same subject matter was discussed. Interestingly, in both the films, it was the mother's character, who defines this notion of manliness. While in “Bharat…”, the notion of manliness still hinges onto the patriarchal overtones, whereas in this movie, the director seems to infuse this notion if not with effeminate characteristics but with some humane emotions. However, just like the earlier film, this film also seems to believe that there is something called ‘manliness’, which is natural to human beings. Instead of deconstructing this very notion of socially constructed phenomena, Indraganti takes a route to affirm this existence cultural myth but with a slight modification. Perhaps, he might be thought that the Telugu culture is not open enough to receive this radical idea so that he is merely redefining/refashioning it to serve to the commoners.

ఆ మేడ మీద విజయ్ చెప్పిన సంభాషణలు  బాగున్నాయి. ముఖ్యంగా తన దృష్టిలొ ప్రేమ అంటే ఏమిటో చెప్పడానికి తన తాత జీవితం ఉదహరించడం వలన, తన కోరుకుంటున్న  ప్రేమ కేవలం ఊహాజనితం కాదు అని (There by saying he is not an idealist), తన తాత నానమ్మల ప్రేమ అలాంటిదే అని చెప్పి, తాను కూడా ఎదో ఒక రోజు  అలాంటి ప్రేమని పొందుతాడని చెప్తాడు (There by he marks himself as a realist).

ఇంతవరకు నాకు బాగానే నచ్చింది. కానీ, నాకు ఈ సన్నివేశం అంతరార్ధం నాకు ఏమనిపించింది అంటే, ఈ విజయ్ అనే మనిషి, చాలా సినిమాలో కనిపించే మనుషులకి మల్లే  ఒక “నిజమైన ప్రేమ” (True Love )అనే బ్రహ్మ పదార్థం ఒకటంటూ ఈ లోకంలో ఉందని, అది దొరికే వరకు చెట్లు, పుట్టలు వెతుక్కుంటూ ఉండాలని (ఇంకా నయం ఈ విజయ్ కూడా అలాంటి పనులు ఎక్కడ చేస్తాడేమోనని హడలి చచ్చానునుకోండి) నమ్మినట్టు కనిపించాడు నాకు.

This idea of “True Love” is one of the “tropes” that keeps repeating on the silver screen in form or in another. I feel this very conception of true love (One soul-mate) is a chimaera and this in a way has worked as an oppressive tool to restrict women body and their sexuality in the history. This one-to-one relation places more restrictions on women because this very conception was defined by men and it has patriarchal overtones associated with it.

However, these small things can be overlooked given things that this film has achieved.



And lastly a funny observation- In the trailer, Nandu says “ఈ టైపు అమ్మాయిలు అంత dependable  కాదు బాస్ (Hey boss, these heroines are not dependable at all)”. I thought this dialogue can accentuate the conflict between Vijay and Sameera. But, this scene didn’t make it to the final cut.

No comments:

Post a Comment