Movie Review – Gantumoote

Deep Shit

One of the perks of knowing nothing about the movie before watching it. Thanks to the list given by my fellow mates. Except for checking whether its in Prime or Netflix, I read nothing about the film. This lockdown is all about Kannada movies. The other language movies just revolve around it. This is one such gem.

Looking at the poster, there was no curiosity to watch the movie. There was nothing interesting, it was as blank as it could get. The opening scene of the movie was an everyday scene. The only high was when we see the heroine Meera (Teju Belawadi) climb up for a hike where she sits back and reminisces her past. We start off with a school story and its pretty slow, we get a feel that it’d go to the next stage in a while, we get a feel that there would be song at various junctures, we get a feel that there would be some drastic change in story line, we get a feel that there would be some twist but every time we get that feel, the next scene would be something like the previous one. The director, Roopa Rao entices with her screenplay, nothing abnormal happens but it’s interesting.

The normalcy even though slow was so interesting, something which didn’t happen when I watched ‘Annayum Rasoolum’. We hear Meera’s story starting with a quote on how movies made her up and the only other interest being mountains. Much like me. I was curious. I thought it’d be a great coming of age Ranbir Kapoor like movie but it wasn’t to be. We see a young Meera going to theatre alone and sitting in front seat where another person keeps hands on her thighs. She pushes him and comes out of theatre. It’s a horrific scene which would leave scar on a young kid. We feel there would be some sort of repercussion, she’d be affected in some way or she’ll seek revenge but she goes to the balcony and watches the movie. She could have gone home and cried. But even then, it’d have been the same effect, nothing would have changed, she at least gets rich by a movie experience this way. This shows what’s the new normal is for women, a really strong message. There is a difference between front and back row seats, which is debatable. Why couldn’t it have happened in the back row. Are they all purists? It’s tough to answer the question. For her it happened like that, that’s it.

She then gets a rose from someone, gets followed by local lads and crosses them all. We expect some drama there, it doesn’t happen there too. We don’t know why autowallas stop following her, in any other movie we would have wanted to know why, here, we are relived like Meera. That’s a best tribute a female director can get about a female character. To make everyone feel in the way a female protagonist feels.

There was various conflict of interests, the smoking scene, the kissing scene etc. Meera is just frustrated and comes out of them. Like her speech, she’s a mature person and that makes her come out of the situation. Introverts would no better. In this love lost phase it achieves what ‘96’ couldn’t. in the end ‘96’ ends up being a romantic movie and romanticizes even the separation but here the turmoil lies within. The way she’s slut shamed and comes out of it was excellent without being feminazi. She takes it upon herself without blaming the guy.

Another interesting aspect is the school activity. It’s not all romantic as it feels. I didn’t endure a horrible past but this film got me depressed looking at the school sequence unlike many other films which induces only nostalgia. I remember how I used to wet my pillow with tears during board exams, how I wanted to make movies with all my classmates and title the film as 10^th standard Hell section. Making the roman numeral of 10 and drawing a danger symbol out of it and I studied in E section so using the word ‘HELL’ and highlighting ‘E’ in that. This film is the closest that comes to it. Especially the guys part where he couldn’t concentrate on studies, how he fails, how he had to be macho in spite of that. How he couldn’t fight with the goons, how he couldn’t do anything when his girlfriend gets called as ‘slut’ etc. Poor guy, I could only empathize with him.

I generally don’t like if the lead characters suicide. It doesn’t stick to me; it feels like an easy move. But here it was proper, suicide looked like the thing to do, I wouldn’t have regretted even if the heroine had committed suicide. The boy’s suicide was again a horrific scene because she couldn’t just let herself out, hug him or cry because there would be various people watching. She sees his family first before doing so. That’s how mature she is.

She not being a typical, fair, young, bubbly school kid was an added advantage, she doesn’t look like a heroine but there were scenes in which she looks beautiful. That’s how we’d have seen all the girls during school time, not every time does one look great. Above all she was an excellent actor who made this happen.

The whole movie was shot in a voyeuristic angle too. Like how we expect a drama or song. We also expect a disaster to happen. We are always in constant fear that they would get caught when they’re intimate. That feeling was at its peak when they kiss in library. It was a very disturbing scene. But like any other expectation, that too doesn’t happen. Special credit for shooting the scenes in this beautiful way and keep audience on the grip.