Eega Movie Review: Revenge of the Musca Domestica

A year back, I was randomly reading through the filmographies of various directors of Tollywood and landed up on the page of SS Rajamouli. There was an entry for his forthcoming movie called Eega which apparently was a bi-lingual with a Tamil version called Naan Ee being shot simultaneously. What caught my eye was that it was going to be Sudeep’s proper debut in Telugu after a supporting role in RGV’s Rakta-Charitra and thus, my curiosity was piqued. Then of course came the trailer which pretty much laid out the story for us and I gotta say, I was quite dumb-struck. A guy gets killed and comes back as a fly to take revenge on his killer. But then, this was SS Rajamouli who has not had a single flop till date, if I’m not mistaken and so I figured, “Chalo, Yeh bhi dekh lete hai”. And then again, the movie also starred Nani who I’m slowly becoming a fan of, because of his affable screen presence and Samantha who to me is cuteness personified (Yeah yeah, I am human after all ).

Now the story as the trailer was kind enough to tell us is quite simple, Nani (Nani) is your friendly neighbourhood do-gooder who is madly in love with Bindu (Samantha) a social worker, who runs an NGO with her friends helping to educate kids by providing them with textbooks etc. Bindu one day approaches a tycoon Sudeep( Sudeep), who also falls for her at 1st sight. When Sudeep realizes that Nani is a competitor for Bindu’s affections and is ahead of him in the race, he brutally murders Nani and passes it off as an accident. Fortunately for Nani (And us too), He is resurrected as a fly, and decides to have his revenge on Sudeep, Makkhi style!

I gotta admit, Considering this year has been a tad underwhelming, I walked in expecting a decent entertainer and nothing more, and thankfully, Rajamouli is up to the challenge here as he pulls out all stops. 7 crores were spent on the graphics for this movie, and I can safely say that they’ve been well spent. Equal credit goes to KK Senthil Kumar for the camera work in this movie is absolutely brilliant. He actually manages to make us a part of Eega’s world and gives a new meaning to being a fly on the wall. And kudos to the graphics team for actually making an otherwise disgusting housefly look absolutely adorable and kudos to Rajamouli sir for making sure that we live the story.

The writing by Rajamouli Sir, Janardhan Maharshi and Crazy Mohan is excellent, and while I didn’t get some of the dialogues as Big Cinemas didn’t bother sourcing a subtitled print, the movie doesn’t have a single dull moment. It makes you smile during the initial romantic sequences, it shocks you during Nani’s brutal murder, it amuses you when the Eega harasses Sudeep and it thrills you when it boils down to a fight between the villain and the fly. A special mention of the sequence where the Tantrik casts a spell on 2 birds to hunt down the fly, it is a triumph of cinematography and good solid writing.

Nani steals the hearts of the audience even in a small role as the affable lover-boy and makes sure you miss him after he’s gone from the story, especially in the entire sequence before his departure. Samantha is absolutely adorable, whether as the blushing object of Nani’s affection or even while grieving his loss and even while in a rather unorthodox relationship with a fly. The chemistry between the 2 is excellent and can help reduce the wait for Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu. However the 2 showstealers in the movie are Sudeep who manages to add a decent amount of menace to an otherwise Prakash Raj like villain who is hounded by a resilient foe and of course, The Eega who I warn will be one fly you will not want to swat

The music by Keeravani is quite easy on the ears, The pick of the lot being the title song and Nene Naani Ne( which has also been shot quite beautifully).

So, Verdict is, Go watch this one. SS Rajamouli’s most ambitious work till date is a treat to the senses.

Vikram Bondal

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