Lakshman, played by Vinoth Kishan, is a Vedam’s Cable Raju & Raghuvaran B. Tech extremely gone wrong. He is a habitual liar and cunning laggard living a life exploiting his hard-earning wife, Varalakshmi (played by Anoosha Krishna) and almost everyone in the movie.
Pekamedalu may appear as a simple tragic struggler story of a liar, and his family, in the bastis (slums) of Hyderabad. But, the real essence of the film is not the hero, but the heroine– who also gets the whistle worthy moments. The domestic abuse scene in the house is one of the most intense actions I have seen this year. The claustrophobic cinematography by Haricharan K added with the extraordinary sound design shows the true horror of domestic violence.
She gets to play the righteous hard-earning woman of the house. The feministic powerhouse that she becomes as the story progresses without keeping her in the limelight gives us the story of the husband. We get to see her story, without actually seeing it. And, that in fact worked quite well for me. While we are more focused on the male protagonist, the female’s character keep building her power. Ofcourse, a few may still call it a male-gaze and token-feminism for the sake of “moments”. Whatever the intention of the filmmaker is, the small shock value and having a sense of justice-delivered to Venkatalakshmi is a sign of relief and hope for the independent women out there.
Vinoth Kishan as Lakshman delivered one of his best performances. Vinoth sometimes has a flat-face. Even that flat-faced fury too feels powerful, maybe his eyes do the work. So did the acting by Anoosha which is also quote subtly powerful.
Director Neelagiri Mamilla has written scenes without a bore. The music by Smaran simply blends into the movie and it is not in-your-face music. It is an appreciative value of today’s directors using the songs as stylistic devices to tell a story rather than limiting them to duet-songs. The folky song written by Bhargava Karthik, “Aanandham Athaki Swaaha”, is one song that is still being rung in my ears apart from Mano’s theme song for Lakshman.
The trio-writers Hamza Ali, Srinivas Ittam, Bhargava Karthik did a good job at keeping the humour simple. eyes. The humour in the movie may not be a belly-buster. It is definitely a giver of few amusements. The comedy is very simple, therefore effective. They could have added a bit more nuance to Lakshman’s character. We see a character trying to redeem his sins just to get back into the loop of lying. But, we still wonder what is the purpose of his living. Maybe, the definition of Beetles seems appropriate to the life of Laksham. Because, we can’t find neither value nor empathy in his character.
Pekamedalu is an interesting entertainer of this year following the lines of toxic drunken male characters in yesteryear’s one of best movies, Pareshan.
Pekamedalu is now playing in theatres.
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