Aa Coffee Ishtam ledu - a movie by Sujoi & Sushil

The lead pair – Aa Coffee Ishtam Ledu

Telugu short film – by Sujoi & Sushil

Well, rarely do I review movies. For, I am not a movie buff, but that doesn’t mean I cannot critique a movie. This one is special because of the neck-deep entrenchment of a friend who is more electronic and less digital in his fabric of thought; and more colourful than plain in his aptitude of life. Enough of aggrandizing of my friend whose creative instincts gush out when he writes his name as Sujoi (should have been Su-Joy) and becomes too withdrawn (can’t call him reclusive, given the extrovert he is) when he writes his name as Sujai, as written in Golden letters on a black nameplate outside his chambers in the Telangana State Secretariat.

The movie, a 15-minute-long short film, was directed by Sujoi and Suhsil (the younger sibling of Sujoi). But it’s interesting to see on the screen that they Karempuri brothers directed for their short film for their mom and dad. I felt they didn’t do it for me. Step one: I felt ejected instead of feeling that it belongs to me.

The plot of an arranged marriage turning out to be a love marriage around which the story was woven is excellent.

Sanjana Sequeria, the female lead, looked older than Raghu Reddy, the male lead. But both have ease in acting and are emphatic in expression. The age gap (may not be true, but visually it seemed so) has two connotations: positive is that despite the female being older, chemistry worked out between them; negative – wrong pairing (if the Director intended to show them as natural couple).

Makeup: I have an issue with the dress of the female lead. It’s too exotic for an Indian. Didn’t sync with the all-pervasive, isotropic and hypothetical ether of the movie. I will try and explain this further down. The male lead is fine. He was made up largely well.

Dubbing: This area was too good standalone. But the diction of Telangana dialect did not seem natural. It seemed kind of put on accent – almost like two Andhra settlers trying to ape the Telangana dialect. This is the folly of the director and his team.

Taking: This is very good. No two ways about it. The scene inside the bus came up so naturally that it’s almost spotless. But the intruder trying to stand between the female and male leads was just an uncalled for aside, as it has nothing to do with the circumstance or story, except for a minimal assertion of undefined proximity between the boy and the girl.

Cinematography: Doesn’t have a great role in the movie. So, it remained dormant and as an essential ingredient of the movie.

Exceptionally terrific things:

  1. The storyline – just mind blowing. The audience felt that it was natural that the boy and the girl who had a strange encounter in the bus are going to see each other formally at an arranged meetup. But it turns out that it’s not true. Suddenly, audience feel disappointed, only to be delighted to see the story reaching its crescendo in a logical end.
  2. The encounter at the coffee joint – can’t call Nandu’s Coffee House, a coffee shop. The way she asks if the Facebook status changed, and the way the boy touches her fingers and the vibe was shot exceptionally. It appeared as if there is a perfect chemistry between the duo.
  3. Showing of the two steel glasses with dabara and saying that it’s the beginning was whoa.
  4. When the twinkling eyes meet up, the girl, who asserts that the seats are reserved for women and gets the boy up, ushers the same boy to be seated by her side after the aunt vacates the place. This is really superb.
  5. Mutual enquiry if each other is already ensnared in an affair. No words to describe the sense of humour and also the depiction of sensitivity. Also, the way they tried to gauge each other and know about each other are wow. Hats off to the director.
  6. The phone call from the dad is the key driver of the story. How subtly it is introduced speaks volumes about the power of imagination of the director.
  7. The way she touches him and quickly establishes a sensitive connect is extraordinary. Kudos again to Sujoi.

Thumbs down to:

  1. The song towards the end
  2. The put-on accent
  3. The repair of a toy helicopter driving home the point to startups
  4. Filter coffee and the dialect were a mismatch, unless the director wants to try and emphasize the underlying adaptation to new cultures by people, irrespective of where they live and what their society practices. But that coffee, which is far away from Telangana culture, has been the common thread throughout.

This doesn’t surely come across a maiden directorial venture, for the alacrity with which it is made demos enormous maturity.