Niharika Konidela’s debut as a producer of a feature film and Yadhu Vamsi’s debut as a writer-director relies heavily on triggering the lost romantic nostalgia of village childhood with a slight touch of expected socio-political message-mongering for a casteless society and cashless elections.
When was the last time we have seen a story that treats every character with the care that it deserves without the hero being the centre of everything? Yadhu Vamsi has written the characters with a flavour for everyone. We don’t see those 11 lead fresh actors as ‘character artists’ hanging in and out of the frame. Every character had the right amount of treatment, be it just runtime or having dialogues, or crafting each character with a unique style, especially the diction of Godavari region.
‘Committee Kurrollu’ are a gang of close-knit 11 friends living happily and recklessly till they grow up to be adults. The establishment of a romantic village milieu relied heavily to kick in your own nostalgia for childhood. This deliberate move to make a series of feel-good moments doesn’t feel as a manipulative story-telling tactic. It comes naturally to the screens as it came naturally to Yadhu Vamsi because of his intention to make an entertaining fun drama that explores the dramatic consequences of sudden discovery of caste-based reservations for education and jobs.
The sudden discovery of caste out of nowhere seems too true to be true considering the world of Amalapuram Committee Kurrollu were living. However, the alienation of caste from daily life and the out of the blue discovery of caste might be relatively truer to the urban setting- the targeted audience who craves the romantic nostalgia of village childhood.
The issue of caste can be accused of tokenism to elevate the good natured protagonists. Because, the statements of caste are what we usually expect from a commercial Telugu cinema: the message-mongering for a casteless society and cashless elections.
However, the intense drama that erupted at the interval due to the tiny rift of egos powered with immature testosterone of young boys is an edge-seater. The build up of drama and the long takes of adrenaline-rushed brawl of boys gives more dramatic impact than the message-mongering of caste.
It is nearly impossible to recall the names of all 11 main leads and other female leads in a single watch. You might not remember the name, but you might remember the antics they do on screen. That is a sign of good writing too, adding peculiarity to each character. Prasad Behara, the youtube and instagram content creator’s debut into feature film as a big brother of committee got a heft to the character. He proved as an actor who can go beyond the content creation. The dialogue writers, Venkat Subash Cheerala, Kondalrao Addagalla must be given credit for the fine-tuning of the Godavari dialect that is very natural to our ears. The cinematography by Edurolu Raju aces the aesthetics while capturing the wide landscapes and long moving takes of intense ego clashes. The music by Anudeep Dev aids the mood of the movie very well.
Committee Kurrollu is a fun watch for this weekend, or any other weekday if you skip to watch in theatres for OTT. Just like Jathi Ratnalu, Committee Kurolllu works better if you watch it in theatre with your gang. It is a sad reality if you don’t have a gang. Either way, you can watch Committee Kurrollu either to enjoy with the gang or to nostalgically remember the gang.
Committee Kurrollu is now playing in theatres.
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