Antharyudh (Awe) Movie Review - An Experimental Almost In The Right Direction
Five stories unfold simultaneously in this Prasanth Varma directed film which is a cross breed of several genres trying to tell everything at once.
Cast - Kajal Aggarwal, Nithya Menen, Eesha Rebba, Priyadarshi Pullikonda, Nani, Ravi Teja, Srinivas Avasarala, Devadarshini, Kaitlyn D'mello, Pragathi, Murali Sharma, Regina Cassandra
Directed By - Prasanth Varma
Genre - Sci-Fi, Thriller, Drama
Movies hailing from the South when dubbed in Hindi always become too comical or cringy to watch. The names become memes, and the dialogues translate into some of the most embarrassing lines. Director Prasanth Varma's Awe becomes Antharyudh (which could give away a spoiler for the film) in Hindi. Surprisingly the dialogues were well translated, but there were exceptions sometimes. I didn't like the change in the title, and I think they should have retained the original one for the dubbed version too. So, I would like to refer it as Awe for the rest of my review.
Awe is about five disconnected different stories. A girl wants to introduce the love of her life to her parents which comes with a surprise twist, a person in search of employment pretends to be a chef where a fish starts talking to him, a watchman working at a library wants to become a scientist so that he could meet his parents someday by building a time machine, an egocentric magician indulges in a fight with a little girl, a drug addict waitress with her boyfriend plans to rob a rich man. In between all this is the story of Kali (Kajal Aggarwal) who we first see in the opening shot trying to decide whether she should "Do it" or "Don't". The answer, in the end, comes as "Do it" which becomes an important plot point later in the film. All the stories produce an "awe" effect from the audience.
The story involving Eesha Rebba and Nithya Menen was forcefully stretched as it becomes evident that the approach it takes was not necessary and could have come out easily for the characters if it was tweaked a bit. But then you have to make a 2-hour long film, so maybe that's the reason for this approach.
Awe is like a Rubik's Cube which is solved by the director in the end for us in case you were unable to figure it out. It doesn't stick to any one genre or story and tries to say everything at once. I believe this is the first Tollywood film to deal with issues like homosexuality and sex reassignment surgery. I liked when these societal issues were played with the story but the effect ruined when it tried to sum it up with a monologue towards the end. Perhaps, the filmmakers were worried that the general audience would not be able to catch the message behind this mind fuck of a movie, and I can understand that, but it didn't work for me.
But let's not start getting hard or cynical towards it as the film took risks to deliver this product. I genuinely applaud every member of this film for making it possible and putting it out there. Some aspects should be highly praised like the plot, some special effects and its acknowledgement of changing societal norms. I am not sure if everything makes sense, but it's interesting to look back at it after the initial viewing. Reportedly the script was so much loved by Nani that he decided to produce it himself.
As is the case with many South Indian films, Awe too falls under those weird camera tricks involving a comic scene with high FPS, bizarre dialogue deliveries (maybe because I watched the dubbed version) and a cringy scene which takes you out of the experience. The one for me here was during a sequence involving chants of a mantra. It is during these moments that the film becomes "Antharyudh" and not "Awe" for me. If only it had taken the risk of directing some scenes differently, this could have been better than it is. In spite of all this, I would prefer to watch an experimental film which pushes the boundaries of cinema rather than those old-school cliched romantics with big faces. Do check it out if possible.
Rating - 3.5/5
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Cast - Kajal Aggarwal, Nithya Menen, Eesha Rebba, Priyadarshi Pullikonda, Nani, Ravi Teja, Srinivas Avasarala, Devadarshini, Kaitlyn D'mello, Pragathi, Murali Sharma, Regina Cassandra
Directed By - Prasanth Varma
Genre - Sci-Fi, Thriller, Drama
Movies hailing from the South when dubbed in Hindi always become too comical or cringy to watch. The names become memes, and the dialogues translate into some of the most embarrassing lines. Director Prasanth Varma's Awe becomes Antharyudh (which could give away a spoiler for the film) in Hindi. Surprisingly the dialogues were well translated, but there were exceptions sometimes. I didn't like the change in the title, and I think they should have retained the original one for the dubbed version too. So, I would like to refer it as Awe for the rest of my review.
Awe is about five disconnected different stories. A girl wants to introduce the love of her life to her parents which comes with a surprise twist, a person in search of employment pretends to be a chef where a fish starts talking to him, a watchman working at a library wants to become a scientist so that he could meet his parents someday by building a time machine, an egocentric magician indulges in a fight with a little girl, a drug addict waitress with her boyfriend plans to rob a rich man. In between all this is the story of Kali (Kajal Aggarwal) who we first see in the opening shot trying to decide whether she should "Do it" or "Don't". The answer, in the end, comes as "Do it" which becomes an important plot point later in the film. All the stories produce an "awe" effect from the audience.
The story involving Eesha Rebba and Nithya Menen was forcefully stretched as it becomes evident that the approach it takes was not necessary and could have come out easily for the characters if it was tweaked a bit. But then you have to make a 2-hour long film, so maybe that's the reason for this approach.
Awe is like a Rubik's Cube which is solved by the director in the end for us in case you were unable to figure it out. It doesn't stick to any one genre or story and tries to say everything at once. I believe this is the first Tollywood film to deal with issues like homosexuality and sex reassignment surgery. I liked when these societal issues were played with the story but the effect ruined when it tried to sum it up with a monologue towards the end. Perhaps, the filmmakers were worried that the general audience would not be able to catch the message behind this mind fuck of a movie, and I can understand that, but it didn't work for me.
But let's not start getting hard or cynical towards it as the film took risks to deliver this product. I genuinely applaud every member of this film for making it possible and putting it out there. Some aspects should be highly praised like the plot, some special effects and its acknowledgement of changing societal norms. I am not sure if everything makes sense, but it's interesting to look back at it after the initial viewing. Reportedly the script was so much loved by Nani that he decided to produce it himself.
As is the case with many South Indian films, Awe too falls under those weird camera tricks involving a comic scene with high FPS, bizarre dialogue deliveries (maybe because I watched the dubbed version) and a cringy scene which takes you out of the experience. The one for me here was during a sequence involving chants of a mantra. It is during these moments that the film becomes "Antharyudh" and not "Awe" for me. If only it had taken the risk of directing some scenes differently, this could have been better than it is. In spite of all this, I would prefer to watch an experimental film which pushes the boundaries of cinema rather than those old-school cliched romantics with big faces. Do check it out if possible.
Rating - 3.5/5
Follow Me On:
Twitter - https://twitter.com/vikas_yadav98
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/vikasy199/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/vimovies123/
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