Director: Mani Ratnam; Producer: C. Praveen Kumar Reddy, P.R. Prasad; Cinematographer: P.C. Sriram; Editor: B. Lenin, V.T. Vijayan; Cast: Nagarjuna Akkineni, Girija Shettar, Vijayachandar, Vijaykumar, Suthi Velu, Pradeep Shakthi, C. Gowtham Kumar Reddy, Sumitra, Radhabai, Sowkar Janaki, Silk Smitha, Disco Shanthi, Chandramohan (Telugu Actor), Sowkar Janaki, Mucherla Aruna
Duration: 02:16:25; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 103.660; Saturation: 0.019; Lightness: 0.212; Volume: 0.206; Cuts per Minute: 16.787
Summary: Rathnam’s first Telugu film was the biggest hit
of the year in Telugu as well as in Tamil (in a
dubbed version, Idhayathe Thirudathe). It tells
an unusual love story about a young collegiate
gangster (Nagarjuna) who meets the wild
Geetanjali (Girija). Both are terminally ill, he
with leukaemia and she with heart disease.
These afflictions appear to liberate the duo
from social constraints. Most of the film is shot
in exotic, fog-bound locations and includes
several rock numbers (e.g. Om Namaha which
uses an amplified heartbeat as background
rhythm). The critic Tejaswini Niranjana (1991)
points out that the heroine is the ‘new woman,
the strong heroine, the inheritor of a refracted
modernity in a context where feminity is once
again being redefined [placing on her] the
burden of saviour and teacher [w]ho has to be
the one to provide support, when the hero in a
similar situation [sings] sad songs. However,
[s]he is allowed to take the initiative in the
relationship because in spite of her shoulderlength
hair she is ‘Indian’ and a signifier of the
good modernity.’
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