Of course, spoilers ahead!
As a film buff, I take films very seriously and when I'm watching a film so many thoughts run in my head. I'm following the story, the characters whom I would never get to know unless for the writer who's written them. I just witnessed a brilliant cut there, could I have pulled off something like that? Well, that music doesn't fit there. That SFX sync was perfect, but this ambiance feels fake. I'm not consciously doing all of this, but since I love cinema and make an effort to study all the crafts I end up deconstructing stuff while I'm watching films. But while watching some films, I become a kid who knows nothing and is all open with his heart. I blindly trust the film maker and I'm just there to enjoy the film. Both of Gowtam's films did that to me. In less than 10 minutes into both the films, I knew I was going to watch good films, what I didn't know was that they'd be great films.
Most of you must be wondering, I agree with Jersey being a great film, but Malli Rava? Before I justify what I'm saying, let's discuss these films. Let's start with some common qualities in both the protagonists, Arjun and Karthik. Both of them look like they're careless people, yet they are filled with immense perseverance and passion. Karthik is a back bench student, which is what is used to judge him throughout his life. But does that define him? No. At least not for us. For us, what defines him is the passion with which he loves Anjali. Arjun is a jobless guy, who watches cricket all day and probably chills with his gang. In Sara's words, it feels like Arjun has lost interest in almost everything in life. That's a dangerous zone to be in, if there wasn't Nani in his life I can't imagine how his life would've been. But, who is Arjun for us? He is someone who wants his son to be proud of. He doesn't want his son to think of him as well, my dad was just another regular guy.
Malli Rava, is about Karthik and Anjali in different phases of their lives. Are those three phases just to inter cut between time zones to keep the story interesting? No. Their childhood is shown for us to see what shaped them to the persons they are now and their childhood clearly drives the choices that they make now, when they are adults. Anjali denies to marry Karthik because she is reminded of her traumatic childhood and because she sees her parents' marriage struggle, Karthik is the guy who was robbed off of Anjali from his life due to external factors and that continues to happen to him and he's the same guy he was in his childhood, he just quietly absorbs things happening around him and accepts life and heartbreak the way it is. In Jersey, Arjun has given up on his dreams and has compromised to small joys of life, they can be watching cricket, playing with his son. He tries to suppress his pain, with these little things.
Anjali, played by a brilliant Aakanksha Singh was such a strong image in my mind that when I watched her in her next film, Devadasu I couldn't forget Anjali. This happens with strong characters performed well, it happened with Arjun Reddy, Jessie in Ye Maya Chesave where you are constantly reminded of another character even when something slightly resembles that. Some sequences in Malli Rava, like the scene where Anjali asks him to quit smoking, that scene is written, captured and edited with brilliant rhythm and pacing, also the scene in Jersey in the shop where Arjun couldn't buy his son a jersey and the shopkeeper gifts him a poster instead. That timing, isn't possible in real life. It is constructed in a way that things fall in place the way they did.
The tonality of Malli Rava is so uniquely built, it has a constant tone throughout the three time zones and any shift in tone is done across all the time zones. The whole film is built for the pay off in the last 30 mins, which I think is the core of the film. This is where we see why they aren't still together even now, this is where we see Karthik's pain at the maximum, this is where we go in awe of Karthik's patience and perseverance. I usually don't like a lot of background music in films, it somehow makes the world a little less grounded. I believe that you can create better drama without music, because the world is more grounded then like Asghar Farhadi's films. But in both these films, music helped tears come out of my eyes which I think would have stayed in otherwise. Although, crafts like editing and sound design have been used just to let the audience not get distracted from the world of the story and they haven't been used enough to push storytelling like Arjun Reddy did.
About Jersey's ending, why is Jersey a great ending? Usually endings can be of three types, one where you kind of know what the ending is as soon as the premise is presented and they deliver that ending, two where you can't decipher what possible ending this premise could give or you expect of something and the ending exceeds your expectations or is something different altogether but better than what you had thought. There can be great and bad films in both categories. In the first category, we can see Baahubali, Avengers: End Game, Bhajrangi Bhaijaan and a lot of other films. In these films, in spite of a few cliffhangers you would know what the ending would be. Does that make these films not great? Of course not. These films hooked us with a premise and delivered what they promised in a satisfying way which is why these are great films. In the second category, we have films like Little Miss Sunshine, Like Father Like Son, Se7en, Jersey and many more. In Little Miss Sunshine, a family go on a road trip with an 8 year old girl for her beauty pageant competition. Throughout the film, she is worried about how she doesn't want to be a loser. You'd expect that she'd probably win, but the ending is that she is made fun of at the pageant and the family embraces that and take a stance that beauty pageants are a joke. This is a more profound thought process, which is why you'd respect the writers of this ending because they were a step ahead of you. With Jersey, take the twist out and it is still a good film. It delivers all that the film promises. One of my friend, walked out of the theatre as he was in a hurry when Arjun lifts the bat and he told me that he liked the film. Had he watched the ending, he would've been raving about it. The ending of Jersey works because, the ending isn't all that the movie is built for and it just adds a perspective to the film, which blows your mind and keeps you thinking about the film until you watch it again and experience it in an even more emotional way.
As a film buff, I take films very seriously and when I'm watching a film so many thoughts run in my head. I'm following the story, the characters whom I would never get to know unless for the writer who's written them. I just witnessed a brilliant cut there, could I have pulled off something like that? Well, that music doesn't fit there. That SFX sync was perfect, but this ambiance feels fake. I'm not consciously doing all of this, but since I love cinema and make an effort to study all the crafts I end up deconstructing stuff while I'm watching films. But while watching some films, I become a kid who knows nothing and is all open with his heart. I blindly trust the film maker and I'm just there to enjoy the film. Both of Gowtam's films did that to me. In less than 10 minutes into both the films, I knew I was going to watch good films, what I didn't know was that they'd be great films.
Most of you must be wondering, I agree with Jersey being a great film, but Malli Rava? Before I justify what I'm saying, let's discuss these films. Let's start with some common qualities in both the protagonists, Arjun and Karthik. Both of them look like they're careless people, yet they are filled with immense perseverance and passion. Karthik is a back bench student, which is what is used to judge him throughout his life. But does that define him? No. At least not for us. For us, what defines him is the passion with which he loves Anjali. Arjun is a jobless guy, who watches cricket all day and probably chills with his gang. In Sara's words, it feels like Arjun has lost interest in almost everything in life. That's a dangerous zone to be in, if there wasn't Nani in his life I can't imagine how his life would've been. But, who is Arjun for us? He is someone who wants his son to be proud of. He doesn't want his son to think of him as well, my dad was just another regular guy.
Malli Rava, is about Karthik and Anjali in different phases of their lives. Are those three phases just to inter cut between time zones to keep the story interesting? No. Their childhood is shown for us to see what shaped them to the persons they are now and their childhood clearly drives the choices that they make now, when they are adults. Anjali denies to marry Karthik because she is reminded of her traumatic childhood and because she sees her parents' marriage struggle, Karthik is the guy who was robbed off of Anjali from his life due to external factors and that continues to happen to him and he's the same guy he was in his childhood, he just quietly absorbs things happening around him and accepts life and heartbreak the way it is. In Jersey, Arjun has given up on his dreams and has compromised to small joys of life, they can be watching cricket, playing with his son. He tries to suppress his pain, with these little things.
Anjali, played by a brilliant Aakanksha Singh was such a strong image in my mind that when I watched her in her next film, Devadasu I couldn't forget Anjali. This happens with strong characters performed well, it happened with Arjun Reddy, Jessie in Ye Maya Chesave where you are constantly reminded of another character even when something slightly resembles that. Some sequences in Malli Rava, like the scene where Anjali asks him to quit smoking, that scene is written, captured and edited with brilliant rhythm and pacing, also the scene in Jersey in the shop where Arjun couldn't buy his son a jersey and the shopkeeper gifts him a poster instead. That timing, isn't possible in real life. It is constructed in a way that things fall in place the way they did.
The tonality of Malli Rava is so uniquely built, it has a constant tone throughout the three time zones and any shift in tone is done across all the time zones. The whole film is built for the pay off in the last 30 mins, which I think is the core of the film. This is where we see why they aren't still together even now, this is where we see Karthik's pain at the maximum, this is where we go in awe of Karthik's patience and perseverance. I usually don't like a lot of background music in films, it somehow makes the world a little less grounded. I believe that you can create better drama without music, because the world is more grounded then like Asghar Farhadi's films. But in both these films, music helped tears come out of my eyes which I think would have stayed in otherwise. Although, crafts like editing and sound design have been used just to let the audience not get distracted from the world of the story and they haven't been used enough to push storytelling like Arjun Reddy did.
About Jersey's ending, why is Jersey a great ending? Usually endings can be of three types, one where you kind of know what the ending is as soon as the premise is presented and they deliver that ending, two where you can't decipher what possible ending this premise could give or you expect of something and the ending exceeds your expectations or is something different altogether but better than what you had thought. There can be great and bad films in both categories. In the first category, we can see Baahubali, Avengers: End Game, Bhajrangi Bhaijaan and a lot of other films. In these films, in spite of a few cliffhangers you would know what the ending would be. Does that make these films not great? Of course not. These films hooked us with a premise and delivered what they promised in a satisfying way which is why these are great films. In the second category, we have films like Little Miss Sunshine, Like Father Like Son, Se7en, Jersey and many more. In Little Miss Sunshine, a family go on a road trip with an 8 year old girl for her beauty pageant competition. Throughout the film, she is worried about how she doesn't want to be a loser. You'd expect that she'd probably win, but the ending is that she is made fun of at the pageant and the family embraces that and take a stance that beauty pageants are a joke. This is a more profound thought process, which is why you'd respect the writers of this ending because they were a step ahead of you. With Jersey, take the twist out and it is still a good film. It delivers all that the film promises. One of my friend, walked out of the theatre as he was in a hurry when Arjun lifts the bat and he told me that he liked the film. Had he watched the ending, he would've been raving about it. The ending of Jersey works because, the ending isn't all that the movie is built for and it just adds a perspective to the film, which blows your mind and keeps you thinking about the film until you watch it again and experience it in an even more emotional way.
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