“Namaskara Aunty, nimm mandi novu hengidhe?” (Hello Aunty, how’s the pain in your knee?). Family Drama had me at this line, among very many others, but this specifically. Months later, if I ever hear this somewhere, I’ll still laugh loudly. I’ll remember the entire scene, what led up to it, and what happened later, but most of all, I’ll recall this affectionate, concerned inquiry in a testosterone-filled playground, where men were otherwise busy shooting each other.

At its core, Akarsh HP’s debut film celebrates dark humour. But what makes it different is that it refuses to take itself seriously beyond a point. The unintentional, pitch-perfect jokes land one after the other, in the most bizarre situations. And when the film does take itself seriously, it slides gently, before rushing back on track.

How does one even describe a family that always dines together, but where the father Prasanna’s (Mahadev Hadapad, last seen in Photo) job is never known, only presumed. Where each member is looking out for themselves, but not being judged for it. Where the mother Lakshmi (a brilliant Rekha Kudligi) is hinted as having an affair on the side, and looking to open a shop. The son Abhay (Abhay from Daredevil Musthafa) is a vagabond wondering how to make a quick buck, and daughter Divya (a lovely Sindhu Sreenivasa Murthy) knows her father does not value her desires, and is on the lookout for a job and a way out of her mundane existence. She’s that person who hopes to improve her English by listening to online classes, even as her mother wants her to fill a pot of water from the tap.

Akarsh takes his time to establish the characters and that slows down the pace initially, but after about 35 minutes, the film picks up and how! A little trimming would have made the film work even better than it does.

Prasanna dies and his family realises his profession was something none of them had imagined it to be. There’s a promise of money, and they attempt to do what he once did.

Enter don Prakasha, played oh so beautifully by Poornachandra Mysuru, be it the exaggerated enthusiasm or the desperate attempt to hide his fangs. He’s the don who is longing to find someone on a dating site, and his Man Friday is the robotic Toby (Aashith from Daredevil Musthafa).

As the lives of these characters clash, it’s a laugh riot with bullet-conscious goons who love budget-friendly security measures figure out how to survive, kill or perish.

Eventually, the film does end with a message, that the most satisfying meal is one that is cooked using hard-earned money. However, some spare change from life insurance won’t hurt, surely!

The performances lift this film. In the past few years, if you thought Rekha Kudligi has played all kinds of moms, she surprises yet again. Guilt, guile, quirkiness… she showcases everything in this film, but for the traditional, loving mother trope. Such a relief. She is a performer who is an asset to any film she is a part of. Sindhu’s eyes do a bunch of the talking. From the hurt of knowing her father won’t give her the money to pay the bribe demanded at a new workplace, to quietly observing the house dynamics from her corner, it is her eyes that speak. Abhay is ably cast as the man who loves someone who does not really approve of his ways but still sticks by him. He’s charmed by the flashy lifestyle of the goons and aspires to get there, till he figures life.

The film’s cinematography calls for special mention. Sidharth Sunil lights up the various strands of the film differently, deftly setting the mood. Music composer Chetan Ammaiah can be assured of many many Instagram reels for his ‘Shimmy Shimmy’. The background score and the soundscape he has chosen take you back to another era. In a nice way.

I’d like to see the script of the film someday, to see how Akarsh got the situational humour spot on and what process he followed in translating it to film.

Every week brings with it some well-made Kannada films that deserve a place under the spotlight. It is time to back such films that put their heart and soul into the writing. It’s pointless to support them only once they land on OTT. Because, Kannada films and the struggle to stream them on OTT is another story that has tragedy written all over it.

Subha J Rao is an entertainment journalist covering Tamil and Kannada cinema and is based out of Mangaluru, Karnataka.

Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film’s producers or any other members of its cast and crew.

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