Uma Maheswara Ugra Roopasya

UMUR

Directed by: Venkatesh Maha

Based on: Maheshinte Prathikaaram
Starring: Satyadev Kancharana

The nothingness of life, the fleeting moments are best captured by the Malayalam filmmakers and we saw that in C/O Kancherapalem, which is rare for a telugu film even today. This potrayal of life, this style of capturing a milieu is very important - focusing on the simple pleasures of life and yet in an accessible way with humor - a mix of realism and romanticism in a better ratio. I could see a lot of faces in the film who vouch for better cinema, Bommalata Ajay Vegesna, Paruchuri Praveena, Maha himself, TNR and I'm sure a lot more. This is a sweet gesture of forming a community in the industry, like how in Malayalam cinema they write, produce, direct and act in each other's films and there's a strong sense of comradery which is why it feels like their work has higher standards. We need a wave of such films and filmmakers, where people root for each other and only then can we see standards getting higher. Films like this are extremely important, they encourage producers to greenlit films which are out of convention and respect the artistic integrity of filmmakers. 

Having said that, I'd have been happier if this was more of an adaptation than a remake. The problem with remakes in general are that they have the pressure of living up to the original, whereas in an adaptation, the director takes the material and makes their own film out of it. I'm sure Woody Allen, Scorsese, Tarantino and Fincher would make totally different films out of the same screenplay. Of course this film had a sense of self discovery in the protagonist more than what I felt from the original and there are a lot of beautiful lines in the film - but I felt that the artistic voice of the filmmakers was exactly the same in both the films - it could be because of the same music director and also a similar visual palette. I'm definitely in love with Venkatesh Maha's voice and I'm waiting for more of his own interpretation of stories.