When the call went out for celebrating the Megabirthday, I realized that it was high time that I moved beyond clips of Chiranjeevi (as wonderful as they are), and finally got around to watching a whole Chiru film. On the recommendation of Temple of the Cinema Chaat blog, I ordered a copy of Yamudiki Mogudu, director Ravi Raja Pinisetty's 1988 film. Little did I know what was in store for me. The bottom line?
I love this film. Every inch of it. That is all.
Oh, all right. But honestly, I don’t even know where to begin. Kali, a sort of goonda-for-hire who uses the money he earns to help and look after the folks in his colony, finds himself caught between two rivals, Kailasham and Kota Kondappa, who plot to kill him as he’s heading to his wedding to Radha (the daughter of Kailasham). He arrives in the domain of Lord Yama, only to discover that, due to a clerical error, he’s been called up too soon. The god agrees to send him back, but they arrive too late, just as his body is set on fire to be cremated. Kali insists the god find a way to allow him to live – and the god decides to put his spirit into the body of someone else who is about to die. Three possible candidates present themself, but Kali chooses Balu, a decent man who is ill-treated by his uncle. The uncle – wanting Balu’s inheritance for himself – decides to kill off Balu. Kali takes his place, and sets plans in place to avenge both Balu and himself. The fly in the ointment, of course, is that not only is there Radha to deal with, there’s also Balu’s sweetheart, Gauri.
So – a double role, lots of dishoom, much dancing, some cracking dialogues, and excellent pacing all add up to a satisfying masala film that I enjoyed most gleefully, not even noticing the time slip away. I adored Yama and his assistants – heck, I enjoyed this film so much I can hardly express it. There’s a much better review of the film over at Cinema Chaat, but I got thinking it had been a while since I’d looked at the idea of the narrative function of song and dance in a while, and since I adored all the songs in Yamudiki Mogudu, I decided to share some thoughts on them in honour of the Megabirthday.
First, there’s “Bahusa Ninnu Bandarulo”. Radha has just met Kali – he’s come to meet with Kailasham, who wants to teach him a lesson for stealing goods from him. Kali ends up beating up Kailasham’s goons, which Radha (who has been longing to meet such a “he-man”) films, and later rewatches. She imagines the two of them together:
He sings:
I might have seen you in Bandar
I must’ve touched you intentionally.
I am mesmerized by you.
I surrender myself to you.
The flower in your hair and you in my lap. I am living in heaven.
She sings:
You must’ve liked me in public.
I must’ve given you my heart in sleep.
You are my first love.
You are my last love
I am dying to get married to you.
So, essentially, Radha is imagining her romance with Kali, expressing her desire to marry him – a relationship that is set to become a reality until Kali is killed off in such an untimely fashion.
After Yama and his assistants are unable to return him to his body (it having been cremated), Kali threatens to tell Brahma and generally “raise a storm in the three worlds” with an eye to having the mistake revealed and the realm of Yama shut down. To buy time to find another body to put Kali into, Yama’s assistant Chitra Gupta suggests they call Rambha and have her entertain Kali, giving us the song "No No Natyamida".
“Oh human,” she sings, “oh human, I welcome you. Have you seen this? Have you heard this?”
Kali is having none of it.
“No no no no no no,” he sings. “Do you call this dance? Do you call this singing?” If you want to dance, he says, you’ve got to see the passion. “Learn to break and shake, oh Rambha,” he tells her, so that you have people clamouring to have you dance more!
What comes next is a riot of musical and dance styles from tap to rock and roll to disco to break dance to pop:
And the only thing I have to say to that? “This is what is called dance!” And: “Dance once more!”
The song “Ekku Bandekku Mama” is probably my favourite in the whole film – I actually ran it back four or five times and watched it before continuing with the film. It’s introduced magnificently – Yama and his assistants take Kali to see Balu, the last of the potential candidates for a body to occupy. When Kali wants to know more about Balu, Chitra Gupta brings out a magic box that allows them to see a vision of Balu and his sweetheart Gauri. Think of it as a kind of celestial laptop with Google (and how fabulous is *that*?)
"Ekku Bandekku Mam" is essentially a push-pull song, with the woman the pursuer of the reluctant male, who resists her as best he can until he finally gives in to her:
I loved this cheeky little song so much I copied down the translation from the subtitles:
She sings:
Get on the cart and start riding it, dear.
Take me into a nest and give me a hug.
It’s a common thing when you become young.
We can’t control our desires.
Why are you hesitating when I am fine with it?
Why do you behave like a kid when I am inviting you?
Get on the cart and start riding it, dear.
Wink at me. Hold my hand like a man.
Hold my waist and check the size of my waist.
He sings:
It’s a bad,bad world, there are thorns here. You might get hurt.
Don’t make me do this. It’s a bad thing.
She sings:
Why did I fall in love with you? Take advantage of me.
He sings:
You are as tasty as the brinjal curry.
You are as hot as a pickle. (actually, the subtitle said “prickle”, but I assumed given the food metaphor, it had to be wrong)
She sings:
Get on the cart and start riding it, dear.
Take me into a nest and give me a hug
He sings:
I will take you into my arms and give you a kiss.
Just guide me. I will entertain you. Give me a chance.
She sings:
I will be lucky to get a partner like you.
I will chew you down like a betal leaf.
He sings:
I will throw a web on this bird.
I won’t leave this bird.
She sings:
This guy is such a funny guy.
I am having a great fun with him.
Get on the cart and start riding it, dear.
He sings:
Take me into a nest and give me a hug.
She sings:
It’s a common thing when you become young.
He sings:
We can’t control our desires.
She sings:
Why are you hesitating when I am fine with it?
He sings:
Now I am right in front of you.
We go from this to "Vanajallu Gilluthunte", a rain song – or, a twist on the rain song. It begins to rain, Gauri puts her hand out to catch the drops, and then she (like Radha earlier with Kali) imagines her romance with Balu, the rain transformed into an underwater world complete with shells and pearls:
She sings:
How can I bear it when the rain is tickling me?
How can I bear it when the thorn got pierced in my feet.
My drenched waist is putting me in trouble.
I am all yours at this moment.
Come to me and save me from the raindrops.
I am drenched, but there is a fire inside me.
There’s the pleasure of heaven in your arms.
And it’s just after this song that Balu, reading the newspaper, sees news about Kali’s colony that brings his memories of being Kali back. He sets about avenging his death,and renews his relationship with Radha.
When he tells his future father-in-law that he has to go away for a few days to his gold mine, Radha wonders how she will survive his absence. “Keep thinking about me until I come back,” is his response. He kisses her goodbye, she faints, and imagines herself dancing with him in the gloriously 80s styled wonder that is the song “Andam Indolam”:
Kali, of course, is Radha’s (and our) Supreme Hero! Our Dream Boy! Radha sings that she wants to
be with him forever, but we all know the problem here. Because Kali is also Balu, and Balu has Gauri. Of course, Kali/Balu is going to end up having to juggle the two women as he works towards his ends, and it’s summed up nicely in the song “Kanne Pille Thoti” and its opening lines: “The boy has fallen in trouble with the girl. There will be chaos if one sees the other.”
I love the song, and in particular that little touch of having one of Yama’s assistants looking on in amusement, and even getting involved in the fun – before the inevitable chaos results when the two women realize that they’re sharing the same man.
What I particularly love about Yamudiki Mogudu is that there’s little screen time actually given to the romances themselves – it’s the songs that carry the romance tracks, and I’m fine with that -- especially given how glorious these ones are. There’s even a small musical moment at the end (not a song really, and I couldn’t find it anywhere) where Radha and Gauri sing back and forth, each of them citing the reasons why the other really should have Kali/Balu for her own, until Yama makes a suggestion (which we never hear) as to how Kali/Balu should resolve his relationships with the two of them.
Yamudiki Mogudu was, I think, a perfect choice for my first full Chiranjeevi film, and I’m grateful to Temple of Cinema Chaat for the suggestion. It will definitely not be my last Chiru film!
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