Thithi (Kannada, 2016)

The film is universal in the fact that it has a theme focusing on the conflict between materialism & desire-free life that can set just about in any village across the world. The well-written script also becomes truly local by highlighting in a non-fussy manner, the normal familial happenings & cultural festivities that are unique to us Indians.

While the cast is almost entirely possessed of non-actors, the way even the crowd have been tuned to not be conscious to the presence of a camera is definitely praise-worthy. The best example of natural acting in the film has to be the reactions following the announcement that Gaddappa would treat the shepherd group to a dinner of Ragi, Chicken & Alcohol. Such authenticity overall.

Singling out any of the leads for good performance would be a serious disservice to the rest of the cast as they provide the environment upon which the film stands strong. Right from Thamanna’s coat-wearing friend to Abhi’s fat friend to the shepherd’s wife, everyone shone in their given space. Of course, Gaddapa gets the best situations and dialogues and shows his brilliance in a fantastic long-take rendition of an incident from his past.

Apart from the spot-on casting, the film’s strength is its organic rooted dialogues. Even the tongue-in-cheek dialogues fit right in and do not seem to stand out. Similarly, the love track too seems so natural & un-filmy if one can call it that. While we were just exposed to the subtitles, the “I’m not removing anything” utterance from Gaddappa during his father’s funeral was a absolute ROFL moment for many in the audience.

In keeping with the tone of the script, the technical departments have been restrained so that there are no gimmicks in the camera work or editing.

It is a certainly a reaffirmation of faith in Cinema & the art of film-making that a film so rooted without any flashy music or camerawork is also able to appeal, not just across the nation but also to a global audience. It is the closest that we have come to something like The Gods Must Be Crazy.

In spite of seeming to be nit-picky, the dialogues are so good that even the 2 or 3 places in the film where there doesn’t seem to be any subtitles added, irritates the concentrating viewer!