Kiragoorina Gayyaligalu Movie Review

Tejaswi - When I started reading Poornachandra Tejaswi's works few years ago, first culture shock to me was the use of cuss words. I felt like blasphemy of the holy literary space! I was about to stop reading. But then I thought something greater must be in store because Tejaswi has a big fan following! To this day, I have not regretted my decision and I remain one of staunch fans of Kuvempu's son! In the movie, cuss words have been reduced drastically not because they have been used sparingly. The censor board has already heard them and muted them for general public. This certainly has impacted the rhythm of the movie! Ironically, you can hear worst(or best!!) of cuss words in your neighborhood in Bengaluru during fights involving owner and tenant or even during minor accidents on road!

What is it about? Kiragoorina Gayyaligalu is a novella by Tejaswi, which brilliantly depicts the life of people of Malnad region with high dose of humor! Rustic women of Kiragooru have to deal with a lot of issues due to drunkard husbands and village politics and sometimes, they quarrel among themselves! In spite of these problems, they are united. They continue to strive and manage the household.  How these women get rid of their life's problems form the crux of the story. Caste politics in Kiragooru mimics the politics in Vidhana Soudha, where fortunes are made or broken solely because of caste equations. Tejaswi had written the story more than two decades ago. So, I also felt that the film adaption could have made few changes in the story to depict the latest scenario.

Novella to Film : Film is a visual narrative and story is a important aspect of it. But story is not the only part of the movie. If these thoughts come to your mind, don't surprised. Because, this movie has its bright moments in few scenes. But this cannot be said about the entire movie. Witty humor, which is one of the prominent techniques Tejaswi had employed in his works has been adapted only in a few scenes. At regular intervals, film gets boring and you think when would it end! Also, it fails to bring the intensity as to why women would revolt against the system. But then the humor gets the tempo going!

Picture Courtesy :www.filmibeat.com

Cinematography and Nativity : Depiction of village life of Kiragooru through Manohar Joshi's camera is good. As a typical Kannada film set in rural background will have tempers flying high between the warring families. But here it is different. People don't spit rage at every opportunity but they present a realistic scenario, where they avoid each other! Village women are rightly shown doing some or the other task along with their talk, making a real connect to the rural life. Also, how can one forget the simplicity of clothes worn. No golden chain or tiger claw hanging from the neck!

Actors and More Actors! : Though Shwetha Srivatsav is projected as the heroine in the movie, it is Sukruta Wagle, who comes out as the foremost rowdy woman(err... I did not like the translation in the film title!) of Kiragooru. Achyut Kumar delivers his usual best. Though there are many cameos by popular actors, two roles standout - those played by Yogi(aka loose Mada) and Ravishankar (of Silly Lally fame). Needless to say they make us laugh heartily!

Music : There are no songs in the movie. But the background music echoing 'Kiragoorina Gayyaligalu' in some scenes was not required.

Points to Ponder  : 

• Repeated dialogues uttered by the Tehsildar when he leaves Kiragooru could have been avoided. During the quarrel among the women of Kiragooru in the first scene, they badmouth each other using same dialogues. This could have been avoided and made the scene shorter!
• Length of the movie could have been reduced leaving out unnecessary scenes in the first half. Though I felt first half was slow, even second half was equally slow.
• Quarrel scene involving of women of Kiragooru could have been portrayed more sensitively.
• In one scene, where Kale Gowda's girlfriend speaks to him dubbing seemed out of synch.
• In the end, women beat the men of the village left and right. Why do they do that? It is understandable when lead roles in the movie get the treatment since we are in the know of their wrong doing. Bad job by the script supervisor.

Whether you should watch the movie : You can watch the movie for realistic portrayal of village life and few scenes of witty homour. Otherwise, I believe it is better to read the book for your own imagination of Kiragooru!