In the rain with Love- Episode 1

The Windows of my Room shuddered once again as thunder struck Bangalore once again that evening. It was raining since morning and had pushed almost all people indoors. I kept scribbling something on my pad hearing to the sound of rain. I dipped a biscuit in the hot coffee in the mug & as I moved over towards the window to close it; the power went off making it darker where my life was already filled with unending darkness. As I was about to close the window, lightning struck almost giving a few seconds of complete brightness to Bangalore. In this flash of lightning, god made me notice a girl in a white chudidar standing beneath a tree. The ends of her white Duppata had those silver trinkets which glistened along with her white silver earrings to the flash of lightning. I was blown away by the beauty of this girl and became as still as a rock even though I had seen her only for a second. The coffee dipped biscuit in my hand became even softer and fell into the coffee and few drops of hot coffee fell on my face making me shrug & also come back to senses from a short tour of fantasized world. I wiped the drops of coffee of my face and gazed my eyes out of the window scanning if I could see her again. It was pouring heavily which made seeing an object 10m far also difficult but I still frantically searched for her. To my fortune, heavy flashy lights from the headlamps of a car coming towards her gave me another chance of visualizing her. This time, instead of going to the fantasy world, I rushed downstairs and reached for the door and go towards her. As soon as I opened the door, the same car sped past me and I held myself back for a second and then ran towards the other end of the road only to find no one standing there. I clenched my fists and punched myself with it. The street lamp glowed as the power came back and I had another view of the place where I had seen the girl from the window. I turned towards the other side and I happened to see a part of the white dress popping out from the rear door of the car at the far end of the road and I realized that the girl had gone in that car and all this had happened in seconds. I shook my head at the happenings that took place a couple of minutes ago when a small purse caught my attention. Yes, it seemed to be of the girl whom I had seen. I picked it from the side end of the road and brushed away the dirt and drops of water which had accumulated on the top of the purse. I went inside and sat in my room again. I was in a dilemma on whether to open the purse or not but I had to somehow give it back to the owner. This thought flashed another idea which made me think that I could get closer to the girl whom I had seen minutes before. I opened the purse and found all the customary things that a woman has in her purse along with a few notes. There was nothing that could get me any information about that girl. I closed the purse and as I was about to throw the purse back into the drawer, I sensed something hard at the bottom end of the purse. I opened the purse again to find out what that was and as I saw that, it brought me a smile to my face. It seemed to be her mobile phone and I was happy that I could get some amount of information through that.

Prithvi-Kannada Film Review

Star cast: Puneeth Rajkumar, Parvathi Menon, John Kokkin, Avinash, Sadhu Kokila,CR Simha, Achyuth Rao
Cinematography: Sathya.P
Music: Manikanth Khadri
Written & Directed by: Jacob Varghese
Release Date: 23- April 2010
My Rating: Simply Sakkath ****

The theme of Prithvi is one which I always wished someone would come and do it in Kannada. Such subjects are rarely made and also very difficult to make it. It is tough to make films dealing on some controversial things. The entire India knew on Bellary being the mining capital of the country and how encroachments are being done there in order to mint money. Dust Provides money there in Bellary and Jacob would have thought that doing such a subject would certainly make some political big-wigs raise their eye-brows and have a look at what the film is all about and Jacob has almost succeeded in doing that. Manikanth Khadri has given some superb and fresh tunes. His Background music at places were good but in some places has to be improved. Hats off to the cameraman Sathya.P who has given us a visual treat. The way the songs are shot, I can say Jacob is one director some sensible and passionate producers will be looking for. A controversial subject handed quite well is what I can sign of as a one line review.Such Movies have to make their mark in Kannada so that the audience are exposed to how the system functions. Its quite bold and has done in order to get the gold medal but fails just by some meters.

Story: Prithvi (Puneeth Rajkumar) is a 2nd rank holder in IAS. Priya(Parvathi) is his sister Aarthie's(Spoorthi Suresh) friend and would be in love with Prithvi from 7 years. As the family of Prithvi hears the good news of Prithvi being selected for IAS, Priya proposes Prithvi for marriage and Prithvi agrees. So a song follows which starts of from the engagement of Prithvi and Priya and ends up with their marriage and Prithvi being posted to Bellary as a DC. 

Prithvi enters Bellary and soon realizes there is a lot of anti law elements which are going on in Bangalore. He gets a more clearer idea on who is commanding Bellary illegally. There is a lot of face-offs between Prithvi and Nagendra(John Kokkin) who is the brother of MLA Narasimha Nayak(Avinash) and who has been doing mining and encroachment of lands illegally there.The arrival of Prithvi is a big headache for all these baddies. How Prithvi makes Bellary corruption free is the rest of the film. The way he does it is best watched on the screen.

Actors: Puneeth Rajkumar should really be appreciated to take up such a dignified and matured role. He has done a role which may not be so pleasing to his fans as they do not see their regular Puneeth in this film. He has chosen a well written and researched script at an early stage of is career. Parvathi is as usual good and Parvathi and Punith make a great pair on screen. The scenes between them as Husband and wife are so well etched that it surely makes anyone think that they will need such a companion in their life. The main find of the  film for the industry is John Kokkin who has done the role of baddie with ease. He suits the bill perfectly. I would like to see him do more such films in Kannada. Avinash, Sadhu, Spoorthi and others do their job well.

Crew: This is certainly the best technical film ever made in Kannada. Sathya. P, the cameraman stands first in my list of all technicians to be applauded here. He is top class. The songs " NINAGENDHE VISHESHAVAADHA" and "NENAPIDHE NENAPIDHE" are shot in his camera so well. The editor also has done a wonderful job and he could have cut down a few scenes. The fight master RAjashekar is excellent. Though the last fight didnt make me so happy, it may enthrall the mass audience.

Overall Verdict: This has to be a very successful movie going by the way its made but it is very tough to get this loved by the common audience. If it does, Jacob has done a remarkable job. I predict more than a 50 day run for this film.