Introducing this fresh, exceptional attempt by director Raam Reddy, if reading about its basic theme and looking at its online promotional stills you assume it to be another of those ‘artistic’, somber movies based in a remote village talking about the harsh realities of life in a depressing mode. Then let me enlighten you with the fact, that THITHI is nothing of that sort at all coming as a pleasant, enjoyable surprise talking about DEATH in a rare, entertaining manner like never before.
Yes, it is entirely based in a rural village of Karnataka, giving you a highly authentic feel of the ethnic people, their daily life, the problems and the small pleasures they enjoy in their limited surroundings. But the director never makes you feel as an outsider right from its first scene itself and you soon find yourself involved in its unpredictable light hearted proceedings, well presented on screen through all relatable characters.
Revolving around an aged person’s sudden demise and his last day rituals (funeral) to be held in the village on the 11day from his death called as THITHI (The Date), the film is a very fine, thoughtful as well as a fun filled, comic satire on our ages old customs, social conditions, poverty in villages and the drastically changing values, focusing on a particular family led by an old 'wandering man'. In exact words, its just like watching life on screen without any added ingredients or artificial elements as it is.
However, if you still don’t feel convinced considering it as a regional movie, then just take a look at its visionary subject and decide on your own if you can afford to miss it.
THITHI begins with a 101 years old fun-loving person passing comments on the people walking by a road in a hilarious style. The man is aptly named Century Gowda. But in the next couple of minutes, he just falls down and dies all of sudden. Now the film is precisely about how his death makes an impact on three male characters representing different generations of a family living as per their own understanding of life and its key priorities.
The first is Century Gowda’s 75+ years old son Gadappa (the white bearded man on the poster), living his final days in a rare uncaring mode like an enlightened being, who has perhaps ultimately realized that the world is actually all fake.
Gaddapa has a 50+ years old son Thamanna, who is a greedy man having an eye on all the property to be inherited after his father’s death (who is unfortunately still alive and kicking).
And then we have Thamanna’s 20+ years old young son Abhi, who is more interested in a shepherd girl than anything else in the world, not even his grand grandfather’s demise or the celebrations.
The film simply tracks the impact of Century Gowda’s death on Gadappa, Thamanna and Abhi in the next few days till the arrival of THITHI wherein the entire village is called for a grand feast (serving the meat). And later the narration also involves other prominent villagers into the script too, making it a rich engrossing fare as a slice of life. Yet, the one character that actually lifts up the film to much higher levels is of ‘the old bearded man’ Gadappa, who has probably reached a different stage altogether, way above the usual pleasures and greed of this monetary world.
Winning the National Award of Best Kannada Film for the year 2015 and receiving wide appreciation in various film festivals all over, another pleasantly shocking feature of THITHI is that most of the actors in its impressive cast are non-professionals giving highly believable performances as the real life characters. In fact throughout the film, you are never able to catch anyone deliberately acting in a scene or the camera capturing them all in any superficial manner. The progression does have a few slow moving sequences in the mid hindering its engaging pace. But it’s these remarkably honest acts and a beautiful raw execution that actually turns the film into a decently entertaining as well as a distinctively enlightening one made on an otherwise serious subject of DEATH.
So instead of getting deceived by its overall look and feel, just go for THITHI as a must, to experience an unusual take by the talented debutant director keeping our hopes alive.
Rating : Deserves to be seen without caring about any kind of ratings whatsoever (supporting Indian Regional Cinema and its courageous exceptional attempts as a must).
Note : The film can now be seen at Netflix with English Subtitles.
