“Life is Beautiful” is now not just an Oscar-winning foreign film but also a Telugu film from a much-acclaimed director Shekhar Kammula, an Engineer-turned sophomore director who makes baby leaps with every film and carries youth and family audiences with him. Shekhar’s films are usually titled with English names, words or phrases like “Happy Days”, “Dollar Dreams”, “Anand”, “Godavari” and now “L.I.B” but his heart lies in Telugu household traditions. That’s what made his works ensnare a huge base of viewers across the Telugu-speaking world. Typically, his films have undercurrents of urban middle-class family values, humane and altruistic outlook in principal characters, feelings of nostalgia for things past, cute romantic tracks, autobiographical leanings and a subtle message beamed out through the narrative itself. “LIB” is no different from the above package that one expects from Shekhar. Its another film that resembles “Happy Days” in substance and texture and his earlier films. In this film, he shows the coming-of-age of three youth whose lives get entwined in a colony in Padmarao Nagar, Secunderabad (where else!).
One of them Sreenu (Abhijit) sets foot in Sunshine Colony with his two sisters to complete his Engineering final year so they can study for their courses too; they are set off by their mother Amala for a “reason”. He is joined by two more youth who have their own stories – one is a rustic good Samaritan (perhaps the best character in the film-Nagaraju played by Sudhakar) and the other is a gizmo-creating, dreamy-eyed youth almost similar to Aamir Khan’s character in “3 Idiots” called Abhi (Kaushik). The threesome run into a series of class-divide neighbourhood brawls with a gang of Rich-Dad-Rich-brats who have nothing else to do in life except party, play and all that. When they are not having run-ins with the richer kids in the neighbourhood, the three youth have their share of fun with the loves of their life. Here is where Shekhar Kammula can be faulted with because the storyline is just a leaf out “Happy Days” where for most of the screentime, youth are seen wasting their time on discussing cute women, unfriendly combats and then raproachments. The only difference is, in “LIB”, the setting shifts to a colony from college – so the next setting we can expect from Shekhar Kammula in this coming-of-age trilogy may be in the office or workplace itself – so he can create romance and fights at workplace despite the fact that time is more precious and already paid for. This is the biggest failing in the film – that people have so much time to kill for and have neighbourhood brawls. Whether in Padma Rao Nagar in Secunderabad or a colony in Gachibowli or Banjara Hills, people don’t see their neighbours in years so where’s the case of a class conflict between a B-Class flat society and a Gold-phase neighbourhood? Shekhar has to grow up and see the reality in metro – how the society lives its daily chores and how it interacts with each other segment – the basic fabric is getting increasingly exclusive so the inclusivity amongst the classes is usually idealistic. There’s little scope for any intercourse between those at the periphery and those in high standing – that’s the harsh reality of today’s ecosystem which Shekhar has grossly missed out – and while drumming up to the theme that “life is beautiful” throughout the film, he shows little glimpses of what that beautiful life is all about – its mostly about infatuation, male-female fixation, romance, Mars, Venus and little else, you get the idea.
Leave that flaw and the thing about how society is moving on, Shekhar has taken a mature approach to show as many characters as possible which gives a macrocosmic view of an Urban India that is degenerative in values and demeanor. He is immaculate in creating characters clearly etched out and distinct from each other; they flourish in a medium pace narrative that mostly slackens after the second half. What is good about these characters is they will appeal to each one of us in a manner we can relate with in daily lives. Shekhar’s films are still worthy of family audience viewing and by that I also mean what the family should know how each member of the family is thinking or moving directionally. In that sense, he strikes a chord in “LIB” in showcasing what’s on the minds of today’s youth – someone is forced into an MBBS course, someone lies to her brother of an affinity towards a boy-friend, someone saves her boy-friend’s name in mobile phone as “Radha” (girl’s name), someone gets pulled into a trap with material comforts by a friendly boss, someone is mis-guided never to cry in public (this can be hugely repressive and dangerous, as we see). Stuff like this hardly gets highlighting in films even though its happening in our lives because they are taboo topics and Shekhar gives his best shot at uncovering these for the benefit of better supervision by elders and spirited guidance of today’s youth. Shekhar gives his take on these matters in his usual subtextual narratives, matter-of-factly and unobstrusively. Shekhar also puts his trademark dialogues and creates impactful scenes. One such scene is where Abhi’s sister doesn’t make it to Nasr School (its obvious!) because she can’t speak English. In climax, the girl comes back in a spellbee contest with zeal, speaking fluently in English then lapses into Telugu because she says she can’t express herself better in any other language. That’s one of the most intense scenes apart from a few more where the director shows that life is beautiful if you can enjoy the little joys of living and there’s no correlation between making money and staying happy. But some of this comes too little too late after rambling in romance for 150 minutes.
On the whole, the film is watchable once despite the painful resemblance to “Happy Days” and the faulty assumptions about modern-day living. Characterisation is quite consistent for each character and the three principal characters and their lady-loves are livelier than the rest. Amala Akkineni is passable and don’t know why there was so much hoopla about her comeback role, she is seen for less than 10 minutes even in interspersed between first and second half. Anjali Jhaveri has a good role in the film which gets highlighted at crucial turns in the film, she looks as demure as the girl who stirred hearts in “Samara Simha Reddy” and “Preminchukundaam Raa…”. But the glamour and oomph factor in the film is Shriya Saran. With her well-toned figure and selective makeup, Shriya is sensational to watch as an older girl who is charmed by a younger boy who never tires of antics and magic tricks. She is shown in the scantiest of dresses that Shekhar wouldn’t have shown in all of his films so far as a Diva from Venus and the superstar sex appeal of an aging actress who acted with the likes of Rajnikanth, Chiranjeevi and Mahesh Babu is revived well by the director. The other two girls – the lady loves of the two youth are also impressive, one of them Shagun who played Paddu surely has the good looks that will turn her into a bankable heroine. Watch out for her, a Tamanna in the making.
A word or two about the technicals. Padmasri Thota Tharani has created sylvan surroundings that are bewildering in a simple colony in PadmaRao Nagar. Music by Mickey J Meyer is alarmingly close to “Happy Days” soundtrack in most numbers. But I guess, this is because the idiom dictated by the script is similar to that so there’s little scope for improvisation and variety in this film. What I feel is that music directors who get lulled into the same plots sometimes ruin their careers – this happened with RadhaKrishna Murthy and a few others. Mickey J Meyer has scored some great music in the film but the sounding is not different from what we have heard before. For a music director to appeal for eternity, you need a mix of exciting instrumentation, harmonical orchestration, range of rhythms and range of musical genres – if you don’t have all of these you will not make it big. Mickey J Meyer is a trained music composer in the Trinity College, London has all the trappings of an emerging Musical Mind but is not experimenting with new rhythms, richer orchestration and different instrumentation. I get the feeling, his best works are behind not ahead of him as I haven’t heard anything new after “Kotha Bangaaru Lokam’ or “Maro Charithra”. If he gets back to doing some homework on these lines, he can join the likes of DSP, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Mani Sharma, and Harris Jayaraj. Lets not talk about joining the duo of Ilayaraja and AR Rahman. That’s a far cry. The only thing that excited me is the notes using Mandolin – that stood out in a couple of songs that are always forgettable. Cinematography is great. Dialogues by the director himself are quite apt and worth their utterances.
On the whole, the movie is mostly fun even though I didn’t spot much loud laughter like in earlier films. Despite the shortcomings, “Life is Beautiful” is worth watching once because of the niche Shekhar created for himself but if he doesn’t move on from the nature of plots like these, he will meet with unexpected failures in future because a director who has a grip on all departments like him should try out different genres. It is for this reason that, had I rated “Happy Days” 3.5 out of 5, I will rate “Life is Beautiful” 2.5 out of 5 because I expected more.
One of them Sreenu (Abhijit) sets foot in Sunshine Colony with his two sisters to complete his Engineering final year so they can study for their courses too; they are set off by their mother Amala for a “reason”. He is joined by two more youth who have their own stories – one is a rustic good Samaritan (perhaps the best character in the film-Nagaraju played by Sudhakar) and the other is a gizmo-creating, dreamy-eyed youth almost similar to Aamir Khan’s character in “3 Idiots” called Abhi (Kaushik). The threesome run into a series of class-divide neighbourhood brawls with a gang of Rich-Dad-Rich-brats who have nothing else to do in life except party, play and all that. When they are not having run-ins with the richer kids in the neighbourhood, the three youth have their share of fun with the loves of their life. Here is where Shekhar Kammula can be faulted with because the storyline is just a leaf out “Happy Days” where for most of the screentime, youth are seen wasting their time on discussing cute women, unfriendly combats and then raproachments. The only difference is, in “LIB”, the setting shifts to a colony from college – so the next setting we can expect from Shekhar Kammula in this coming-of-age trilogy may be in the office or workplace itself – so he can create romance and fights at workplace despite the fact that time is more precious and already paid for. This is the biggest failing in the film – that people have so much time to kill for and have neighbourhood brawls. Whether in Padma Rao Nagar in Secunderabad or a colony in Gachibowli or Banjara Hills, people don’t see their neighbours in years so where’s the case of a class conflict between a B-Class flat society and a Gold-phase neighbourhood? Shekhar has to grow up and see the reality in metro – how the society lives its daily chores and how it interacts with each other segment – the basic fabric is getting increasingly exclusive so the inclusivity amongst the classes is usually idealistic. There’s little scope for any intercourse between those at the periphery and those in high standing – that’s the harsh reality of today’s ecosystem which Shekhar has grossly missed out – and while drumming up to the theme that “life is beautiful” throughout the film, he shows little glimpses of what that beautiful life is all about – its mostly about infatuation, male-female fixation, romance, Mars, Venus and little else, you get the idea.
Leave that flaw and the thing about how society is moving on, Shekhar has taken a mature approach to show as many characters as possible which gives a macrocosmic view of an Urban India that is degenerative in values and demeanor. He is immaculate in creating characters clearly etched out and distinct from each other; they flourish in a medium pace narrative that mostly slackens after the second half. What is good about these characters is they will appeal to each one of us in a manner we can relate with in daily lives. Shekhar’s films are still worthy of family audience viewing and by that I also mean what the family should know how each member of the family is thinking or moving directionally. In that sense, he strikes a chord in “LIB” in showcasing what’s on the minds of today’s youth – someone is forced into an MBBS course, someone lies to her brother of an affinity towards a boy-friend, someone saves her boy-friend’s name in mobile phone as “Radha” (girl’s name), someone gets pulled into a trap with material comforts by a friendly boss, someone is mis-guided never to cry in public (this can be hugely repressive and dangerous, as we see). Stuff like this hardly gets highlighting in films even though its happening in our lives because they are taboo topics and Shekhar gives his best shot at uncovering these for the benefit of better supervision by elders and spirited guidance of today’s youth. Shekhar gives his take on these matters in his usual subtextual narratives, matter-of-factly and unobstrusively. Shekhar also puts his trademark dialogues and creates impactful scenes. One such scene is where Abhi’s sister doesn’t make it to Nasr School (its obvious!) because she can’t speak English. In climax, the girl comes back in a spellbee contest with zeal, speaking fluently in English then lapses into Telugu because she says she can’t express herself better in any other language. That’s one of the most intense scenes apart from a few more where the director shows that life is beautiful if you can enjoy the little joys of living and there’s no correlation between making money and staying happy. But some of this comes too little too late after rambling in romance for 150 minutes.
On the whole, the film is watchable once despite the painful resemblance to “Happy Days” and the faulty assumptions about modern-day living. Characterisation is quite consistent for each character and the three principal characters and their lady-loves are livelier than the rest. Amala Akkineni is passable and don’t know why there was so much hoopla about her comeback role, she is seen for less than 10 minutes even in interspersed between first and second half. Anjali Jhaveri has a good role in the film which gets highlighted at crucial turns in the film, she looks as demure as the girl who stirred hearts in “Samara Simha Reddy” and “Preminchukundaam Raa…”. But the glamour and oomph factor in the film is Shriya Saran. With her well-toned figure and selective makeup, Shriya is sensational to watch as an older girl who is charmed by a younger boy who never tires of antics and magic tricks. She is shown in the scantiest of dresses that Shekhar wouldn’t have shown in all of his films so far as a Diva from Venus and the superstar sex appeal of an aging actress who acted with the likes of Rajnikanth, Chiranjeevi and Mahesh Babu is revived well by the director. The other two girls – the lady loves of the two youth are also impressive, one of them Shagun who played Paddu surely has the good looks that will turn her into a bankable heroine. Watch out for her, a Tamanna in the making.
A word or two about the technicals. Padmasri Thota Tharani has created sylvan surroundings that are bewildering in a simple colony in PadmaRao Nagar. Music by Mickey J Meyer is alarmingly close to “Happy Days” soundtrack in most numbers. But I guess, this is because the idiom dictated by the script is similar to that so there’s little scope for improvisation and variety in this film. What I feel is that music directors who get lulled into the same plots sometimes ruin their careers – this happened with RadhaKrishna Murthy and a few others. Mickey J Meyer has scored some great music in the film but the sounding is not different from what we have heard before. For a music director to appeal for eternity, you need a mix of exciting instrumentation, harmonical orchestration, range of rhythms and range of musical genres – if you don’t have all of these you will not make it big. Mickey J Meyer is a trained music composer in the Trinity College, London has all the trappings of an emerging Musical Mind but is not experimenting with new rhythms, richer orchestration and different instrumentation. I get the feeling, his best works are behind not ahead of him as I haven’t heard anything new after “Kotha Bangaaru Lokam’ or “Maro Charithra”. If he gets back to doing some homework on these lines, he can join the likes of DSP, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Mani Sharma, and Harris Jayaraj. Lets not talk about joining the duo of Ilayaraja and AR Rahman. That’s a far cry. The only thing that excited me is the notes using Mandolin – that stood out in a couple of songs that are always forgettable. Cinematography is great. Dialogues by the director himself are quite apt and worth their utterances.
On the whole, the movie is mostly fun even though I didn’t spot much loud laughter like in earlier films. Despite the shortcomings, “Life is Beautiful” is worth watching once because of the niche Shekhar created for himself but if he doesn’t move on from the nature of plots like these, he will meet with unexpected failures in future because a director who has a grip on all departments like him should try out different genres. It is for this reason that, had I rated “Happy Days” 3.5 out of 5, I will rate “Life is Beautiful” 2.5 out of 5 because I expected more.
