Director: Sandeep Reddy Vanga
The first thing that struck me deeply about AR (Arjun Reddy) is how the love between AR and Preethi develops. She is a fresher with innocence written all over her face, carrying a pair of eyes filled with a mix of fear and sadness. As a result, her gaze towards AR is filled with helplessness. She is helpless because AR, bitten by love bug at the first sight, surrounds her teenage world in every manner possible. In essence, she is his princess-prisoner. This Stockholm Syndrome-ish relationship isn't punctuated with morality, ethics or etiquette that which one sees in star-crossed love stories that occupy Indian screens. The status-quo of the relationship changes only after she believes he is the one and willing surrenders herself to him. Not just that, her gaze too changes from fear/helplessness to unadulterated love.
In this character driven film, from the plot perspective, there isn't anything new Sandeep has done that one hasn't seen in Devdas/ Dev D or Rockstar. Frankly, so many character traits, conflicts, and even scenes are borrowed from these films. I sense he realises that too. That is why I could see on screen that he isn't just after creating a Devdas-like character who doesn't want to be answerable to the society, its rules and expectations. His interest seems to be more in exploring how such a character that featured in many path-breaking films (and possibly personally close to heart) can still be fresh and engaging. A testament to this is the way in which the scene where AR goes to Preethi's house after her marriage is conceived. While the motive of the scene is to evoke tragedy, Sandeep tweaks it a bit with black humor and surprises the audience. He succeeds in gripping the audience like this throughout the film by taking a (now) templated scene or plot point and elevating it to another level through his transgressions. Ultimately, these transgressions make the movie what it is - pathbreaking.
One another possible reason for conceiving the film could be the happy ending this film goes for, unlike its references. Here too, Sandeep doesn't cop out and force his characters to a happy ending like how Mani Ratnam is doing nowadays (Ok Kanmani, Kaatru Veliyidai). There is an amount of intelligence involved in resolving AR's conflicts with himself, his father and Preethi while still keeping everyone involved in-character. This organically paves way for the ending the movie aimed for. But what really struck me the most was why Sandeep opted for a minimalistic background score. Considering how Rockstar and Dev D were treating similar scenes as musical, AR is happy to be quiet. Maybe the bgm of Rockstar has created such an impact on me that I couldn't move past that.
Beyond treating this as a film, and looking at it from cultural point of view of a telugu / Indian film audience, I am spellbound by how path breaking the film is and how shrewd Sandeep is. Sandeep knows his male dominated audience will expect 'machoism'. His hero with anger management issues is thus packaged in a certain way to keep the target audience whistling and be engaged throughout. Yet, Sandeep doesn't compromise. He doesn't keep his hero in a high pedestal. He drops ample amount of information to let the keen audience know that this is a guy with issues (according to norms of the society) who has certain way of functioning. AR himself confesses that the only thing positive about him is his honesty towards his profession. Meanwhile, Preethi is a victim turned lover whose life revolves around AR whether he is there or not. That is why she stay in character when she tells AR that her husband hasn't touched him. The best bit of in-character mode for me though was how AR's brother reacts when he sees Preethi pregnant. Only when AR signals that it is his baby he looks relieved.
Beyond treating this as a film, and looking at it from cultural point of view of a telugu / Indian film audience, I am spellbound by how path breaking the film is and how shrewd Sandeep is. Sandeep knows his male dominated audience will expect 'machoism'. His hero with anger management issues is thus packaged in a certain way to keep the target audience whistling and be engaged throughout. Yet, Sandeep doesn't compromise. He doesn't keep his hero in a high pedestal. He drops ample amount of information to let the keen audience know that this is a guy with issues (according to norms of the society) who has certain way of functioning. AR himself confesses that the only thing positive about him is his honesty towards his profession. Meanwhile, Preethi is a victim turned lover whose life revolves around AR whether he is there or not. That is why she stay in character when she tells AR that her husband hasn't touched him. The best bit of in-character mode for me though was how AR's brother reacts when he sees Preethi pregnant. Only when AR signals that it is his baby he looks relieved.
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