Lakshmi (2006)

Let the record show that it's been two days, and the song "Lakshmi baava, Lakshmi baava" is still stuck in my head. I went dangerously close to listening to it again this morning, but thankfully, for once, better sense prevailed and I played the Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha title track. JK, this song is way too powerful for me. Just heard it, and even danced a little. (Derrida, I know you're laughing in your grave.)

According to my friend, this movie encapsulates every single Tollywood trope in existence. And I think I agree with her- there's #BaavaPropaganda, the ideal upright (and uptight) Annayya whose entire existence is devoted to the well-being of his siblings, the gasp-worthy (but also predictable) deception practiced through a marriage that everyone was happy about earlier, Sunil dropping truth bombs and saving the day (I know it doesn't technically qualify as a trope, but SO WHAT I LOVE AND CHERISH SUNIL AND I AM NOT ASHAMED OF IT), the comically insane villains, the symbolic bigamy, the action scenes that are too intense to be true (including the when-the-hero-kicks-a-bad-guy-and-he-stays-in-the-air-for-5-seconds-before-gravity-does-its-thing shots), the songs that hit you out of nowhere, etc. Also, the main heroine wears a saree even when she's in a coma, while the second heroine is a secretary who wears wildly inappropriate clothing to her workplace, and that's honestly all you need to know about Lakshmi (baava, Lakshmi baava, ninne pelladathaaaa) (I'm sORRY, but you know who really needs to be sorry? Every single person who was associated with that song). 

Also, there's something really off about the chronology of the movie- in Sunil's introduction scene, when he goes to receive his father (Sayaji Shinde as Janardhan, one of the main villains) at the airport, it's made abundantly clear that they are meeting after a gap of at least 15+ years (both of them need photographs to identify each other). And the reason why Janardhan had to leave the country in the first place was because Lakshmi had kicked him out after he was caught forging his signature. So that means Lakshmi was in sufficient position of authority by then (refer to the uprightness mentioned earlier), which implies that at the very minimum, he must have been in his 20s. And if the present takes place 15 years (at the very least) after the forgery incident, Lakshmi is comfortably in his mid-30s. BUT also, when right before the flashback, Lakshmi's actual sister's bae discovers the Nandhini-Lakshmi connection, we see in her medical chart that her age is 19. 19?!? And the whole incident which made her go into a coma (not just saree-wearing, but also saree-changing coma) must have happened at least 6 months back, for it to have had such a disastrous PTSD-ish effect on the Kolkata-based villain, and prior to that, Lakshmi had been actively engaging with Nandhini and her mother for at least a couple of months, which makes her closer to 18 (if not 18), and him still in his 30s (again, this is me being generous in my estimates), which I personally find SUPER CREEPY. I mean yes, it's #BaavaPropaganda and all, but STILL. I don't know why I dedicated an entire paragraph to this, and melted my own brain, but it had been bugging a small corner of my brain and I just had to get it out. Yes, I'm obsessed with the details and logistics, and I have absolutely no shame about it anymore because life is too short to be ashamed of your weirdness (should I just drop everything and write a best-selling self-help book?) (The answer is a resounding yes, even as a small part of my brain sneers at me for being a hypocrite).

In conclusion, feel free to hate me for whatever this review was. Also, at this point I think I will practically watch anything with Venkatesh in it, and I am so ready for this new phase of my life. Will be back soon with more self-indulgent commentary on movies soon (if I ever finish Alludugaru, that is). Khuda haafiz.

PS- I just know that Venky was struggling to control his laughter in one scene. Don't @ me.