April 05, 2007

Bommarillu - Same old. Thank god.

Is it good if one gets exactly what one expects, bad or is it slightly disappointing? Can I love a movie that doesn´t do anything new - without feeling guilty?










What´s even more - a film that uses the very same formula that has been done before successfully. With only slight variations? Does my loving it wreck havoc to my "street-cred"?

But then. Who cares? *Sigh*

The director took all the incrediences and pieces that made the last two Siddarth movies so cute, and mixed them up. But only a slight bit. We wouldn´t want to risk too much. Hain naa?

So everything we need is here.
Schnuffel* in Pink.
Schnuffel wet.










Schnuffel fooling around.
Even a double Schnuffel.










The thing with Bommarillu is that it really is very close to NVNV and Chandrudu. Not too much storywise, especially if you ignore the fact that there is the obvious "boy looks for girl to marry that he truly loves and somebody is not too happy with it" main storyline. But from the feel and some other factors. One being a very familiar Siddu-film cast. Prakash Raj as dad for example, or Suneel, this time as servant. Nice songs that are pretty similar to NVNV (No dancing cows though).
The main thing that changed is a new even sweeter heroine - Risky move, but worth it. Genelia is perfect.










This time Siddu has a problem that at the first look seems pretty petty. His dad is too nice and careing. Spoilt brat, one is tempted to think. But as Freedy Mercury already said "Too much love can kill you" or in the case of Siddu suffocate you. So to escape Super-Dad he builds up an image of the good obedient son at home and tries to live the life he always wanted outside. Not really the perfect solution but it works. At least until Daddy decides it is time for chota Siddu to get married.
Full stop. No way that can happen. We need a love marriage here. And there even would be the perfect candidate.










But being engaged to one girl and loving another one can only lead to trouble. And a lot of songs and nice shots of Frankfurt/Main and the Tyrol Salzkammergut/Salzburg county/Upper Austria/Styria aka the place close to where I grew up.

Two more points. Loved this (especially in regard to this topic) and two: Siddhu´s friend´s t-shirt. what were they thinking?

*Schnuffel. If you still don´t know what that means. Go here. Beth researched it for all non-native German speakers.

12 comments:

Indianoguy said...

Watched this movie 3 times while I was in India last summer. Sure its a fun film, but the father-son conflict is very Indian. As far as I know most Indian parents are pretty much like Prakash Raj's Character.

There are numorous cases of teens/young people commiting suicide due to the pressure from parents wanting to control their children. Infact South India has world's highest suicide rate. here is the link
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4846

I saw people crying after watching this movie and I was one of them.

babasko said...

I´m way through my third sitting right now. And still shed some tears.

I don´t want to spoiler any reader here yet. But what makes the story so heartwrenching is the so comprehensible dilemma that Siddhu finds himself in. His dad IS a great dad. And there is a lot of love. Which makes it so difficult to go against his wishes.

I never experienced too much to the amount of pressure an "average indian child" has to go through. And that my indian friends keep talking about.
Apart from, now increasing, the regular "You´re getting older and older? When will you finally get me a grandchild/great-grandchild/
nephew?" my "typical" austrian familiy never meddled too much in my life. And I´m very thankful for it :-D

xoussef said...

wow! Siddharth Narayan and Freedy Mercury in the same post! i think that was never done before; bravo ;)






hmm ok stupid comment, i apologize -_-

Beth Loves Bollywood said...

Remind me to rip one of those FBI shirts off the back of a frat boy at a campus bar and mail it to you for the FPMEMA to wear.

So is the movie timepass - or more? What's the final verdict?

babasko said...

It is actually more. Especially after viewing it more then once and taking indanoguys comment into concideration.

The first viewing was for "schuffel"-reasons only and there he is as sweet as in NVNV or Chandrudu. But below that surface it is also a good movie about teenagers/tweens in urban india and even universal in its aproach to parent/children relationships.

Anonymous said...

Dammit, Baba. And here's me in my journal going on about the originality of the story in Bommarillu. But even after agreeing with your points about "just another cutesy Siddharth film", I stand by it. It's a well-written film and while it's fluff, I don't think there's been a heroine as fun as Genelia's in this, and I love the way the main characters match - not just because they're both cute but because their romance is wonderful and understandable.

Also, the daddy isn't villainized at all and there's hardly any melodrama even when the most Indian way to do it is melodrama and evil fathers.

babasko said...

hehe, after getting over the "disappointment" i do have to say it really is a cool film, storywise and especially for the great cast and characters

Anonymous said...

The overhype surrounding it was a bit too much, yeah, I can understand your initial disappointment - I had it too but then I paused the film, and let it lie around until I finally finished the film last weekend - and enjoyed it a lot.

The songs are still a crime. That German city song had the worst choreography ever! Poor Sidd. And Schnuffel is the greatest German word ever. Will make sure to start using it.

Anonymous said...

Hey, How do you understand telugu?
I am just curious !!

Anonymous said...

I too saw "Bommarillu" on my last visit to India on holiday.

It is very much relevant to modern urban life in India.

Notwithstanding the songs being picturised elsewhere in the world, the movie was really good. I guess Indians will appreciate this movie more than others coz of the cultural context and the changing times.

Prkasah Raj was awesome and so were the lead pair Siddarth and Genelia.

Also Hyderabad city fits in very well into the story and the way it has been picturised

Unknown said...

Guess you were little off by the Hype creating the Film ....

I saw this film on the Second day and without any expectations ...i enjoyed the movie.

The characters are the best thing..though the Story was normal nothin special...

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed your review and linked it to my blog. Thanks. :)
Sita-ji