Hrudaya Kaleyam

Synopsis: ​When superstars like Mahesh Babu, NTR Jr, Ram Charan and Pawan Kalyan utter similarly outlandish lines the fans cheer and whistle in unison.

Movie Review: A kidney with a heart…goes the tagline of the film giving you a peek into what to expect. Incredibly the filmmaker manages to surprise you. Imagine all the things mana heroes do onscreen - mouthing outlandish punch dialogues, gravity defying stunts, over the top melodrama and the works. For the uninitiated it would all look plain stupid or unintentionally funny. But when you get somebody who looks like a slapstick comedian to do all the same things with the same intensity the result can be side splitting and the laughter in theatres say it all. No wonder it’s running to full houses.

The filmmaker has just taken all the clichés of Telugu cinema hero with all due respect and changed the cinematic context of how they play out. At an idea level it’s what we colloquially call a PJ. Sample a few of the dialogues.

Nen narakadam antu modalupedthe ne bokkalu yerukodaniki procliner lu kavali raktham yerulai paradaniki drainejilu tavvali adi chusi nuv ucha… Uccha poskovali poyesta poyesta…naa chetho poyestha (If I start butchering you will need to get procliners to collect pieces of your bones and will need to dig new drainage systems to flow out…on seeing it you will piss in fear…I will make you piss…with my hands) goes one.

Kallu chethulu aayudhalu meeku, naaku na ventruka chalu mee ventricles viricheyadaniki (Hands and legs are weapons for you, I just need my hair strand to break your ventricles…notice the pun) goes another.

Dhairyam ela untundo telusa ra…Aa dhairyaniki bhayam esthe dindu kinda na photo pettukuni padukuntundi (You what is courage…when that courage feels afraid it seeks solace by going to sleep by keeping a picture under it’s pillow).

When superstars like Mahesh Babu, NTR Jr, Ram Charan and Pawan Kalyan utter similarly outlandish lines the fans cheer and whistle in unison. It’s just that with Sampoo the movie goers can’t help but break into uncontrolled laughter. To amplify the effect Sampoo is shown mimicking the quirky mannerisms of all our superstars that just seals the joke. The joke however, isn’t on the superstars but on the banalities and vanities that dominate mainstream Tollywood action entertainers. The joke is on our collective cinema culture that culminates in hero worship.

It is apparent from the introductory shot of the movie itself. Sampoo is introduced with a rain shot carrying a statutory warning that says getting wet in the rain could be injurious to your health. A destitute he grows up by the railway platform to become an electrician and how he falls in love and invents a computer that runs on turmeric because his girlfriend wants him to make something of himself. Unfortunately the global computer giant’s gang up against him to steal his idea by deputing a deadly assassin called Black Mamba.

We’ll not get into the technicalities because well there aren’t any worth analyzing. It’s just too amateurish and downright cheesy. Sampoo just creamed it with a performance that wouldn’t qualify to be called one. You need to watch it to believe it. Just for the sheer quirkiness of the idea at least. It’s surely a one of a kind. And yes hail Sampoo! He’s the man.