MOVIE REVIEW: LOVE, LIFE AND PAKODI

Cast: Sanchitha Poonacha, Bimal Karthik, Kala Jyothi, Krishna Hebbale, Anuradha Mallikarjun

Director: Jayanth Galli

Language: Telugu with English (subtitles)

Rating: 3/5 ***

A typical Indian romantic comedy, however, instead of a male protagonist, the movie features a female protagonist's love story, from a refreshing feminine gaze and perspective. Some of the best soundtracks in a movie in a long time. Watch when you want to laugh with a good slap of reality and realism.

Watch Love Life and Pakodi on Amazon Prime Video

The STORYLINE starts with a long montage of Arun (Karthik) meeting some children and telling them about his dating history. Arun also tells the children that he plans for asking his girlfriend to marry him. The rest of the movie forgets the montage as well as the children and continues focusing on the journey leading up to the day Arun asks the girl to marry him. Divide the movie into two halves, the first when Arun is contemplating to propose and is falling in love with the girl. The second half focuses on the reaction the girlfriend gives to being asked to marry.

The main storyline of the movie starts with Arun meeting Rheya (Poonacha) on a staircase, while she is uncomfortably making out with her date (Aman Saini). After a very long stare between Rheya and Arun while making out with Saini, Rheya heads back to Saini's home in the same building as Arun. Poonacha yells out, "Thank you stranger" to Arun as she parts. The two continue to bump into each other at bookstores, clean up drives, through mutual friends and while jogging in the park. The two eventually become friends in the same friend circles. Rheya finds out she is pregnant with Saini's child who abandons her after finding out that she is pregnant. Rheya has to go through the abortion on her own. Her best friend, Rashu (Mallikarjun) asks Arun to help take care of Rhyea and help her recover after the abortion at his home, since it is a secret abortion.

Eventually, Arun and his friends throw a party. Rheya and Rashu are present at the party. Rashu spends all her time with her boyfriend (a friend of Arun's) and Rheya and Arun are left by themselves. With nothing to talk about, Rheya starts talking about the decor in Arun's house and points out a particular series of poster Arun has placed. Their conversation blossoms through the night and eventually they become close friends. Rheya starts visiting Arun's place often. Over time, she starts personalising the home with new gifts and even steals one of Arun's posters, replacing it with an interesting object. Rashu predicts, "she's going to rob everything in your house very soon." Spending more and more time together and taking more liberties with each other as their friendship grows, on an emotional night for Rheya, the two get high and end up having sex. 

Arun gets paranoid that Rheya might take the hookup as something more. On the next day, Rheya surprises Arun by telling him, "All this relationship, commitment crap is not for me." and the two decide to keep it simple. Seamlessly, their friendship transforms into something more and they start having sex and meeting each other romantically. Arun's married friend starts making Arun think about what's next with Rheya, while Rheya's best friend, Rashu, starts making Rheya question the status of the relationship.

With time, their bond gets stronger and they both seem to be sure where they are in their relationship. Arun very romantically asks Rheya to get married. Rheya refuses the proposal saying she didn't think Arun would be the kind of person who wanted to get married. Despite a long chase from Arun and constant proposals, Rheya hates every time he asks her and eventually wears him down. Arun at this point gets frustrated and seems that there is no reason to continue being in the relationship anymore.

Rheya's single mother has also fallen in love with a man and has been asked to get married. On finding this Rheya is suddenly struck with several questions and confusions about the relevance of marriage. Rashu has at this point left her boyfriend to get married to someone else who believes in marriage. Rashu points out that marriage means stability and security for her, which she finds more important than love. Rheya is levied with more questions. After a heart to heart with her mother, Rheya finds that she would rather be married with love than have neither love nor marriage and that Arun is more important to her than the labels of life.

On a date with Arun, Rheya tells him that she's thought about it and despite her confusion about everything she doesn't feel confused about Arun. Rheya tells Arun not to be "Shah Rukh Khan" every chance he gets and make a proposal that is special and honest, 'not romantic and not filmy'. Rheya asks Arun the question on every human's mind when it comes to marriage - what is the meaning of marriage and life, and why he wants her all his life. Arun responds with a heartfelt explanation that he doesn't know the answers and wants to find the answers with Rheya.  

In the end, Arun and Rheya are about to get married, when their family meet each other and there's a bigger twist. Ending with more humorous montages and more ups and downs, Rheya and Arun almost get married and define their own sense of marriage and a relationship.

The PERFORMANCES are interesting and humorous at most times. There is obvious raw talent in the entire cast, which over time may get further refined. 

Bimal Karthik as Arun Pakodi is nice to look at, with some very honest moments. Karthik's portrayal shows the viewer of an archetypal male perception of the world, mundane, dry and centred around the existence of feminine energy. Most scenes that Karthik does well are scenes with female co-actors. At most times, however, Karthik looks stone-faced and stoic despite being a decent looking fellow. Something, he portrays beautifully is the dilemma of the character. There is definite confusion in the kind of character Karthik is portraying. His dialogue delivery is strong, but his facial expressions often mismatch his emotion or seem blank. Karthik, because of his laid back portrayal becomes invisible in several scenes. As a lead, it would do him good to focus on having more relatable and welcoming moments with his audiences.

Sanchitha Poonacha as Rheya is the more interesting actor to watch. Her facial expressions are strong, edging on overacting. She isn't subtle, which perhaps, works with the kind of character she portrays. However, Poonacha's fluctuating energy through the film, confuses the audience about who Rheya is - it makes one very unsure of whether Rheya is an energetic spontaneous woman or someone who thinks and thinks and then takes action. Rheya in the movie is both, but Poonacha needs to look deeper into the reasons of how she is either at a point of time and why she is that way. Her dialogue delivery is often cringe-worthy with emphatic diction and clarity, making her sound unnatural more often than not. The dubbing is very evident and something most actors understand the nuance of, only later in their careers.  Poonacha is strong with her connection to the audience and comes across as a confused 20 year old making sense of the world around her. Poonacha's portrayal and logical spirit make Rheya the protagonist and driving force of the movie, particularly in the second half. 

Kala Jyothi as Veena (Rheya's mother) is more sure of her interaction with the camera. She looks beautiful in every scene and effortlessly works with subtlety and less is more. Jyothi though shown in very limited scenes, carries emotional and heavier scenes better than she does humorous and comic ones. 

Anuradha Mallikarjun as Rashu is the prototype girl's best friend. However, Her personal problems and parallel storyline, are made evident by the writers and Mallikarjun's portrayal; making her a memorable story within the movie. Her acting is often loud and dramatic, however, she overcomes that with her humour and comic timing. It is evident that Mallikarjun is laughing with the audience rather than being laughed at. 

Akarsh Raj Bhagavathula as KC, brings a lot of humour to the story. His deliberate posture, expression and even his one-liners make him one of the stand-out actors from the ensemble. Bhagavathula eases into the story and works with the camera with ease. His delivery works wonderfully with the camera and the screen.

The DIALOGUE in English is contemporary. It seems natural on paper and in thought, there is humour in the dialogue, albeit, with an excessive use of expletives and 'fuck'. The most beautiful writing is in the intimate conversations, which are often and repetitive. I shall refrain from commenting on the Telugu dialogue since I do not speak the language, however the subtitles point out that the idea and thoughts are beautiful and make it an extremely honest film.

The MUSIC is some of the most interesting music I have heard. The entire movie depends on the music cues to create the mood and the progression of the movie. The title track is melodic and will stay with you much after the movie. The music strongly uplifts an otherwise slow and drab movie. Even the silences and dramatic pauses work better because of the balance the music director has created.

The COSTUMES could have worked better, and interacted more strongly with the colours and mood of the film. Most clothing is not the most flattering to the actors, particularly when the camera angle and set is added. There were several costumes that were too busy and loud when the movie required cleaner energies. The designer must look at how the clothes bring out emotion and character and how one person may dress in a unifying wardrobe rather than making the actor look even more bipolar. The costume for Karthik, does the well, but the costume for Poonacha in the movie goes in several different directions all at once.

***

As a whole, the movie works because of the comedy and the light-hearted direction. The serious scenes are few and when shown are followed up with a quick and odd fix. The best part about the movie are first the music and then the idea behind the movie. With more years of acting and directing, this group of debutantes will be able to make more justice to the stories they tell. However, as a whole, this movie is an easy watch, cohesive and comprehensive, even if it may seem long. The idea of what a relationship in the modern world could look like, continues after the movie, which aims to bring and hold this question. The movie will hold your attention, make you think and laugh and leave you feeling good about spending two hours.

Watch Love Life and Pakodi on Amazon Prime Video