Review of "Lucia", the Kannada movie

Review of "Lucia", the Kannada movie

    It has been a long time since my wife and I watched a movie in the theatre. On 22-Sep-13 afternoon, she, her parents and I watched "Lucia", a Kannada movie. After Mathaad Mathaad Mallige (my review is available http://fewidlethoughts.blogspot.in/2007/09/review-of-mathaad-mathaad-mallige.html for my blog on it. For some reason, the first hyperlink in my blog does not work when I see the preview. If it does not work, please don't bother clicking on it !), this is a Kannada movie that made me think. The movie is the first crowd funded Kannada movie as specified in the website http://www.hometalkies.com/lucia/.

    "Lucia" is directed by Pawan Kumar, who deserves credit not just for the direction of the movie but also the excellent screenplay. I looked up Pawan's website which is http://pawantheactor.com/ . It shows that he has been an actor and a screenwriter among his other talents, which include being an active person in the theatre arena as well. It is clear that he has honed his strengths in directing and acting skills in theatre. He is also a prodigiously talented scriptwriter, going by his work in "Lucia" at least !

    "Lucia" begins with lines by Kanakadasa that capture the gist of the movie. Pawan's blog indicates that it is his father who suggested the poem when Pawan discussed the script with him. The poem is apt for the movie. It is available in Kannada along with its English transliteration at http://bhakthigeetha.blogspot.in/2010/06/nee-mayeyolago.html. The English translation is available at http://www.poetseers.org/spiritual-and-devotional-poets/india/kanakadasa/nee-mayayolago/.

    The poet Kanakadasa questions about perception and hence the concept of illusion in the poem. The object of our senses like taste may be sugar and sweetness, but what is the causative principle ? Is it sugar that leads to the sensation of sweetness or is sweetness a part of sugar - or are both aspects only related to the tongue and the perception of taste ?! The poet poses such questions in this insightful poem and finally concludes that all these aspects are manifested in Krishna. The poem is spiritual, discussing the illusory world of sensation according to the Hindu concept of maya.

    Where the movie takes off from the lines in the poem is in exploring the ambiguity and even the illusion of perception - and the director does so in a superb way in the movie. On on one hand, the movie is about a tablet that leads to lucid dreaming. The website http://www.lucidity.com/  has an interesting FAQ on lucid dreaming. On the other the movie also portrays two different lives. In the beginning of the movie, an insomniac usher in a theatre dreams that he is a star. The usher's life and the star's life progress in parallel.The movie is an engaging mix of reality and fantasy. I would not want to reveal all details about the story, since that is the crux of the movie. It suffices to say that there are two major strands in the movie as it progresses : first, an usher who takes a tablet that enables lucid dreaming ; second, his fantasy of being a glamorous and successful star in the movies which includes characters from the usher's life. The usher has a paternal guardian in the owner of a theatre (the usher calls it "talkies") and falls in love with a girl who works in a pizza parlour. In his fantasy, the girl becomes an aspiring star who is also his ardent fan. Similar to his guardian, in the fantasy, the star has a manager who cares for him. Thus, characters from the usher's life are transposed into a glamorous setting in his lucid dreams.

    Reality and fantasy mingle as the love story between the usher (the actor, in the fantasy !) and the pizza parlour girl (the aspiring star, in the fantasy!) progresses. Incidents and characters in the usher's life are reflected in his fantasy. The complexity emerges due to the usher (actor !) being shot and the mystery behind his shooting. The movie unravels to a climax that surprises and then concludes dramatically.

    In my earlier blog on Leonardo Da Vinci (please read http://fewidlethoughts.blogspot.in/2013/04/a-tribute-to-leonardo-da-vinci-month.html), I have said how much I loved the ambiguity of the X-files. Perhaps, aliens visited Roswell ; perhaps, they did not ! "Lucia" lends itself to similar, delicious ambiguity. I am a huge fan of Batman comics. I like the movies also, but not as much as the comics. One of Batman's enemies is the villain named "Two-Face", a man who uses a coin to decide his next course of action ! Two-Faces exaggerates the split personality that is present in everybody, to some extent. I suppose he is the "comic book" equivalent of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Movies like Face-Off and Aks (Hindi) also explore this duality well. The fundamental question (s) is (are) : What is reality ? What is fantasy ? "Lucia" takes up this theme also and Pawan Kumar earns my kudos for the way in which he has brought out the duality of reality and fantasy.

   The fantasy aspect is not just in the usher's dream. Apart from him being involved in the movie theatre (talkies !) and the star being an actor in movies, there is also a third connection that looks at fantasy: the usher puts on a suit of a Mickey mouse like elephant in the pizza parlour where the girl works. The girl does not know that the boy in the elephant costume is him and he also does not disclose his identity. Perhaps, the director wants to say that we put on masks and play roles knowingly or unwillingly in our lives !

    When the credits scroll in the beginning of the movie, there is an acknowledgement to Sigmund Freud and also to the completion of 100 years of movies in India. In a sense, the movie also is a tribute to both. Freud is the author of "The Interpretation of Dreams", available at http://www.psywww.com/books/interp/toc.htm. The movie explores how the sub-conscious and unexpressed desires in our waking hours play themselves out as dreams in our sleeping hours. The movie also pays a tribute to Indian cinema. In the usher's dream, there is a rich Telugu producer and a fight sequence that looks similar to the fights in Tamil movies. In my view, this is a commentary on the huge budgets of few mainstream movies and on the typical mainstream "masala" movie. Perhaps, it is also a comment on how Kannada movies are being sidelined. I could see parallels of the script with "The Inception" of course. Then, there is a song that mocks the English language with wit that begins with Amitabh Bachchan's famous dialogue in "Namak Halaal" (watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgu1mpUexdw to view the video). 

    Above all, there is the usher's guardian. He is a senior citizen who has spent his life spooling and unspooling reels in a theatre (talkies!) which has few customers. He refuses to show movies of other languages or soft porn movies and struggles to eke out a livelihood with his dilapidated theatre (talkies!). As audiences in cities, we are now used to multiplexes and 3-D surround sound. In the year that is the centenary of movies in India, one also needs to acknowledge the single theatre (talkies!) owners, who screen movies for people who can afford to pay little and for whom the movie screen is a means of forgetting their daily struggles and drudgery. "Lucia" also acknowledges these forgotten people who make up a vital part of the movie industry in India : the poor theatre owners who face the threat of marginalization in cities, the "invisible" ushers in these theatres (talkies!) who lead people in the dark to their seats unerringly and the bit role players in the movies who are ignored by fame and worse, by the directors too !

    For all these reasons, "Lucia" is a wonderful watch. In my view, the script and screenplay are superb. In addition, the way the movie pays tribute to cinema and the power of dreams and fantasy make it a "must watch". I am glad I spent my money on this movie ! It has made my week !