First things first, debut writer-director Yadhu Vamsi and his team have created a signature style with Committee Kurrollu. The director makes sure the film goes beyond the usual stereotypes associated with rural dramas. He avoids all the caricaturish writing ideas like the mass hero, the alcohol-ridden friends group, the village belle, the item song, the inspiring story, and the single-issue-based narration. The film is a genuine telling of a personal story that moves with the milieu of eleven childhood friends.
As shown in the trailer, the group of friends who aspire to be Committee Kurrollu, spend their childhood in their picturesque village in Amalapuram. Their life revolves around childhood games, eating idlis in one leaf, dancing around, having a tryst with blue films, first crushes, and other antics. As they turn eighteen, their applications to entrance exams ensue, and how they interpret the reservation system, which results in a severe fight among the group disturbing the divine village festival, forms the plot.
The ambitious filmmaker takes ample time to show the lives of these protagonists. All their little moments are zoomed in and we get to relive many 90s memories. There is an amusing moment where the boys go to an internet cafe to get adult films and we see the shopkeeper playing GTA Vice City. Usually, coming-of-age films tend to connect with the audience through nostalgia-baiting. However, with Committee Kurrollu, this doesn’t feel like a gimmick because there are several details hidden in each frame. Kudos to the production designer, Pranay Naini, for his attention to detail. Unlike the recent rural dramas in Telugu cinema, this film feels authentic and rooted.
Another admirable aspect is the dialogue. Writer duo Venkata Subhash Cheerla and Kondal Rao Addagalla have written the dialogue in a way that actors get to own the line, and the conversations flow like butter when the characters mouth Godavari dialect. Another positive trait in the film’s writing is that the conflict is beyond its politics and the film takes nobody’s side. Neither does the film claim to be progressive nor wear any political colour on its sleeve. At the end of the day, the whole squabble comes with the repercussions that haunt the boys in the next decade of their lives.
Coming to the cast, there’s barely an actor who doesn’t fit in the world. The ones who truly catch our attention are Trinadh Verma who plays Subbu and Eshwar Rachiraju who plays William. Trinadh Verma’s intense eyes and his commitment to the angry, impulsive Subbu are such a treat to watch. The man comfortably sits in all age groups as an intermediate student and as a working 30-year-old. Eshwar Rachiraju has a glorious facial range. We rarely get to see such fresh faces in Telugu cinema. Pellivaaram Andi-famed Prasad Behara, although looking older than the group, convinces you that he is a part of them. Also, his dialogues generate the most laughs in an organic way.
The other two most delightful departments are sound design by Sai Maneendhar Reddy and music by Anudeep Dev. The music knows when to stay subtle and when to blast the speakers. During the village festival interval scene, the sound is so immersive that you don’t notice the location shifts when the big fight is happening. At every given moment, the film glues you to the seat with reverberating music and layered sound design. Coming to how the film handles the issue of caste, although Yadhu Vamsi commits to the idea that youngsters never faced any discrimination or conflict related to caste until they turned 18, it’s definitely hard to believe. When the youngsters face their EAMCET results, the studious Ravi, who doesn’t crack the required rank to get a seat in JNTU, gets shattered and that disappointment, combined with Rambabu’s JNTU admission despite getting a 70,000 rank, fuels the divide between the friends. Yet, the fight doesn’t demean the Dr BR Ambedkar’s ideals or the reservation system. The film only shows what these youngsters feel about it. Their opposing views, narrow understanding of the past and quick judgemental nature are established in a way that gives rise to the conflict. One particular moment in the film where the casteist older men instigate Subbu to show his manhood and protect their caste legacy completes the questions that might arise within you.
Despite all the well-executed ideas, the film never moves past the Happy Days (2007) phenomenon. You get it, the song ‘Aa rojulu malli raavu’ already takes you to the past, yet the film decides to keep playing on these lines. In a huge part of the second half, the characters keep remembering their fun old days every two minutes and you are left thinking, does the past never die in this film? The last 20 minutes of the film go in a different direction because all the beats you were set up with suddenly dissipate and an election take center stage. Now, fighting over the president, Bujjigaaru, played by an efficient Sai Kumar, becomes the goal. Of course, the symbolism of the 2019 Andhra Pradesh elections is quite evident, with the axe symbol for Sai Kumar’s party and the Hanuman statue behind the protagonist’s speech. As you sit not too impressed with these associations, suddenly, you are given a new-age peppy presentation of how people sell their votes for a few bucks. While the idea is not new, the presentation is vibrant and refreshing with those match cuts, fourth-wall breaking characters who change locations, talk to the viewer with a mic, and play ‘Imagine this…’
You never expected that shift to energetic filmmaking in this emotional film and that truly blows your mind. These decisions add an extra zing to the coming-of-age drama. The director calmly reminds us all, that there’s not much the youth, so used to seeing stupidities and greed, can do except sing and dance to the madness. That’s what they do. In fact, the way the youngsters already know, “Manam eeroju odipothunnam” (We are losing today) right before the election results even happen, hits you strongly. The sassy folk ‘Gorrela’ song, written by Nag Arjun Reddy, is the best part of the film, both visually and musically. It felt like a film with so much heart never had any place for logic but the filmmaker, Yadhu Vamsi, knows how to add an edge.
Overall, Committee Kurrollu is a film that’s best watched on the big screen, possibly with a gang of friends. Although the film has too many ideas to deal with like nostalgia, casteism, reservation, political hierarchy, election malpractices, leadership, and the inability to face the truth, the emotional core still feels valid. And the journey you get to have with not one, not two, but eleven protagonists is the juiciest part of the film. Especially the climax shot with all the protagonists standing to the camera with their three age groups blended together in one frame is where the filmmaker Yadhu Vamsi proclaims his arrival.
Cast: Sai Kumar, Sri Lakshmi, Kancharapalem Kishore, Goparaju Ramana, Sandeep Saroj, Yaswanth Pendyala, Eshwar Rachiraju, Trinadh Varma
Director: Yadhu Vamsi