Film: Raallu
Duration: 45 minutes
Cast: LB Sri Ram and others
Music: Varikuppala Yadagiri
Camera: Jana
Editor: Praveen
Producer: Sri Ram Vejendlla
Story-Screenplay-Dialogue-Direction: Vemagiri
Story:
Sivayya is a sculptor who lives on a stony hillock. His livelihood is making stone idols. While he is worried with his ailing wife who is bedridden, the village big heads come to him asking for a new Shiva Linga. Sivayya says that his wife is ailing and it costs Rs 10,000 for her medication. The villagers shout at him and ask him to control his desires. They offer him only Rs 4,000 and give an amount of Rs 116 as advance!! Desperate Sivayya makes the Siva Linga toiling day and night.
The villagers come and take that Shiva Linga and eulogize Sivayya saying that he is the great sculptor and pay the balance in Rs 4000. When the villagers leave the hillock, Sivayya notices that his wife is no more. Yes, she passes away. As there is no one around him, he carries her body on his hands and walks towards the village.
People carry the Shiva Linga, which he sculpted, in a procession. They look at Sivayya and his deceased wife. They get no sympathy but feel that his appearance with a dead body in front of holy procession will be a bane for village. They kick him away with verbal abuses. Then Sivayya takes a resolution. He decides not to sculpt the idols again. He gives an oath to his deceased wife that he would stop sculpting after working on a single idol. He sculpts the image of his wife on a stone and leaves the place along with the body of his wife.
The next day, the villagers notice the idol on a stone and assume that Goddess has blessed them. They call the place 'Guttathalli Ammavari Gudi' (Goddess on the hillock) and start performing poojas.
Yes, the value given for stones is not being given for fellow humans.
Performances:
LB Sri Ram performed wonderfully through out the flick.
Director Vema Giri's dexterity is seen well.
He has profound depth in depicting pathos on screen. Jana's camera work is also impressive. But darkness dominated in some scenes.
Editor Praveen has also shown his adroitness.
Varikuppala Yadagiri's music added value for the movie. Sri Ram V must be appreciated for making the film is the lowest possible budget without affecting the requirement.
Analysis:
Just a span of 45 minutes is enough to make the hearts of audiences melt. Director Vema Giri proved that he is a talented director who can bring pathos in perfection on to the celluloid.
The movie goes with single line. It is the movie for critical appreciation and not certainly for masses and theaters. But the point discussed is appealing for entire Indian society.
The film has meticulously discussed the concept without giving controversial opinions on idol worship. The movie gives a message that when humans are great enough in giving value for stones by divinizing them, why they can't give value for fellow human beings. That's the right spirit of the movie.
The 2nd international film festivals at Hyderabad have introduced the talented director called Vema Giri with this movie.
(SiraSri can be reached at [email protected])
