Preachy and outdated dialogues make this one a miss

Maavu Bevu  (Kannada/Theatres)

Director: Suchendra Prasad

Cast: Sandeep Neenasam, Danny Kuttappa, Supriya Chaitra, Ranjitha, Srinivasamurthy

Rating: 1.5/5

‘Maavu Bevu’ is an experimental film woven around the poetry collection of the same name by renowned Kannada poet and lyricist Doddarangegowda. Known for his acting repertoire, Suchendra Prasad’s directorial talks about family values and Indian culture. It also features Kannada proverbs and songs from the popular Kannada album, ‘Maavu Bevu’, composed by C Ashwath and sung by SP Balasubramaniam in the early ‘90s. A nostalgic moment for fans of the late singer and the composer.

The film revolves around the lives of two lovers from contrasting cultures. The screen opens to a couple fighting, a woman in her early 30s is heard yelling at her partner in a mixture of Hindi and broken Kannada indicating she is a North Indian settled in the urban city of Karnataka. This is followed by the popular song, ‘Yaariguntu yaarigilla’, in SPB’s voice.

It continues to show women as arrogant wives in household conflicts while the ‘man of the house’ plays the victim card. The narrative structure lacks balance, as it only unfolds the man’s side of the story. Women characters in cinema have evolved over a period of time, but ‘Maavu Bevu’ (the film) still seems to be stuck in a bygone era. One can only cringe at such portrayals.

The performances are overshadowed by preachy dialogues. The dialogues are composed of popular proverbs and idioms and fail to form a solid conversation. The film comes off as visually loud, the audience may easily lose focus as the frames are unsuccessful in bringing out emotions.

Kumudendu Muni’s ‘Siribhoovalaya’ is shown in the film multiple times to only conclude with a discourse about how Indians were pioneers in science and technology much before the westerners.

This is not the first time a film has been made based on a poetry collection in the Kannada industry. The award-winning 1992 film ‘Mysuru Mallige’ directed by TS Nagabharana was based on the Sahitya Academy awardee KS Narasimhaswamy’s poetry collection of the same name.

‘Maavu Bevu’ was also a part of the Chitrabharathi (Indian) Competiton section at the 14th Bengaluru International Film Festival.