CHENNAI : The review was written even before he watched the movie,” the memes will say. “How can something so detailed be produced an hour after the first show?” they’ll demand. This happens routinely following big releases. No one has ever accused me of this, given that my pieces come out a good number of days post-release — if I do write about cinema, that is. But the new Adithya Varma trailer might be my game-changer — allowing me the chance to write not an immediate, but even an ‘advance’ review of the movie even before it releases later this year.
Those who write immediate reviews must be making copious notes while watching a film. I have had the misfortune of watching two versions of the movie and now, the trailer of the Tamil version that leaves nothing to the imagination — this one too, is going to be exactly like the others. I have, therefore, had ample time to make detailed notes for an advance review. Shared below are some notes for an advance review of Adithya Varma:
Adithya Varma starring Dhruv Vikram in the lead is a faithful remake of the original Telugu film Arjun Reddy. The macho that the new actor brings to screen is original and his own. The misogyny is the same from all the other scripts of the film. Once more in another language, violence has been justified as love (the director said this too, in an interview), and the woman is blamed for the man’s fall from grace.
This is the third version of the film. Yet nothing is different. For those of us who have braved through different versions of the film, it may have been a reprieve to replace the female lead with a sexy lamp. This film will pass the popular ‘sexy lamp’ test for films because the heroine is very relevant to the plot, but considering how little she says, she could have been a sexy lamp on wheels perhaps. Or one that is smart enough to do as it’s told. We don’t know yet about the climax, but I’m pretty sure it’s the ‘virginal girl’ trope — easy to write about when I see it once more, and certainly boring now.
The first version of the Tamil remake was helmed by director Bala. At that point, the popular opinion was that it was the best thing to happen — his Sethu, which was on very similar lines of stalking and later mental illness, gave actor Vikram his break. Had director Bala’s version of the film, titled Varmaa, come through, it would have been ‘genetic’ — father and son in similar films — with drugs thrown in to the 2019 version to keep it current. But Bala left the project, and I wonder why a whole bunch of people are determined to bring this overused script to light in Tamil.
Also, all movie titles of the versions of the film — Arjun Reddy, Kabir Singh, Adithya Varma — have been used as ploy to assert caste location of the male leads. It is even what plays out in the separation between the lead couple. In all these films, I wonder if it had been someone from a less-privileged background, not a doctor, but with the same anger, would the audience be sitting quietly and watching him play hero? (This is food for thought, and Asuran is in theatres now).
The supporting cast has a number of big names. Why would these people sign up for such a film? But again, why would a film such as this that has been bashed in Telugu and in Hindi be remade again? Money, obviously. But how much further will we sink before responsibility is a mandatory part of the equation? (Creative freedom is not to be confused with this).
How is such a movie allowed to release without a fuss at the censor board? I mean, this is a film about a lady, and therefore definitely lady-oriented, no? How is this kind of violence, toxic behaviour and drug abuse, not be certified for adult viewing, but an entire nation is up in arms when a bunch of women ‘talk’ about sex in a movie like Lipstick Under my Burkha? That the #MeToo movement going unnoticed in the industry is terrible, but mustn’t the censor board come down strongly on workplace harassment?
There are lots of men hooting when the lead actor is misogynist on screen. Scratch that, throughout the movie. But again, it has been known that only heroes are born to fathers, and stars to toxicity — for every time the male audience is given a reason to whistle and cheer, they will pay back with fan club cheer (that rhymed, but is hardly beautiful).