Arishadvarga

Dark, creepy and twisted. Makes you question what's real and what's fiction. Great acting by the cast, writing and direction. Only underwhelming accuracy I found was the incorporation of songs into the movie which Didn't feel natural, felt more shoehorned.

I would consider the movie "delicious and delectable" . These are adjectives you would use for food but they go so well in describing this movie. Arishadwarga going strictly by the meaning point towards the six enemies of the mind- kama (lust), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), Mada (pride), moha (attachment), and matsarya (jealousy). The movie comes a full circle and describes how people inadvertently commit these six sins during the course of their life and the circumstances which made them commit the same.

The movie doesn't have any real "big stars" of the industry but yet doesn't fizzle out in terms of talent or performance. Anju Alva Nayak makes a convincing housewife but not completely in the traditional sense. The movie very subtly hints at the trials and tribulations of a late marriage though not dwelling unnecessarily on the same.

Mahesh Bung and Samyukta Hornad are struggling actors and they accurately depict the hurdles faced by actors starting off in the entertainment industry. Mahesh Bung along with being an actor is a part time gigolo and shows us a peek into the dark side of what people have to go through to eke out a living in pursuit of what he loves to do which is acting. Our society has also downplayed a woman's sexual needs and is often satisfied in pretending that a woman is content with only breeding for the continuation of progeny. The film sensitively handles the subject albeit with some thrill . Avniash Yelandur comes off as a person who is conscious of his standing in his society, wants to be the strong virile man but isn't which in several frames he shows off with great strength. Sripathi Manjanbailu plays a small but very significant role in the film. He's the voice of the society which nobody listens to.

Gopalkrishna Deshpande's performance doesn't look forced. He appears throughout the movie. His character gels into the movie and his innocence shines through. Balaji Manohar's frames makes the movie even more interactive. The sound design is brilliant and that's one thing which I'm glad that it was released first in theatres than OTT. Bhangi sedo Bhangi is the first track in the movie and is a pure psychedelic party. Kudos to Udith Harithas.

I'm told by certain sources that no OTT has come up to grab it. This makes me think that the criteria to source content on Amazon prime and Netflix goes a lot beyond good movies. ( The last 4 new Kannada releases in Kannada on prime were unbearable.).

One of the few movies released after Covid and we are off to a good start. Overall , a very good start to movies opening on the big screen. Thumbs up.

Engages you till the end . Acting and screenplay is very good.

None of the characters you would root for as you don't truly care for their needs, except the lead actress if you call. All others are just there for the prop. And the second half narration gives a different perspective which seems just there to show what happened and comes across not really a needed impact. Ending too is predictable for that situation and seemed forced.

And what truly annoyed me were songs. Though it's good but why? I mean why are you you adding songs. That too a modern rendition of Janapada singing. The songs no doubt is good but trying to fuse it in this makes it seem acting smart to say as if "Look this is art cinema" as such. It genuinely feels pointless. And the modern take on japaada though is good but if you over do it, it becomes unfit for films. It's like going to a restaurant based on a theme of village and while you order brew filter coffee which comes in traditional ways but your orders are all Chinese or Italian pizza kind of pretentious. The whole movie when I kept hearing the songs felt extremely like those pretentious outwardly looking traditional restaurants where it's just for show off, not genuinely traditional. And each order is quite expensive and just all fluff but no substance kind. Even acting at times feels bad.

The movie because of that might leave a bad taste to you if you truly love art films or something like looking for hardcore thriller, because it's neither here nor there kind. As though filmmaker wanted to prove I'm super good sort of and each one were over doing it. The songs truly annoyed me to the core even though separately it is good to hear.

It could have been a good movie if they worked on the character development and kept it just genuine, simple rather than trying too hard to be thriller and also artsy. Most filmmakers do that, even in Tamil cinema, and Malayalam cinema they do this. Like hugely influenced filmmakers of here and there world cinema and they try to show off and its like half baked attempt. Might sound harsh comment, but truly, be yourself when telling story things will come out truly amazing.

Went back to the Cinemas after say 10 months and that's perhaps the longest break, one forced by Covid 19.. It was worth every minute of the going back to PVR to see this super thriller of a movie, Arishadvarga.... The trailer did give glimpses what to expect from the movie and the expectations were exceeded watching the narrative unfold and it is a gripping narrative at that.. A fantastic plot and a story superbly told by the Director Aravind Kamath.. .. It's two hours of awesome entertainment as the murder mystery goes is unravelled through a series of twists and turns.. Excellent photography too, even though the storyline doesn't call for any exotic locales.. All the actors have done a great job, each one of them getting into their characters very well and have done full justice to their roles... The BGM is apt an adds well to the suspense element.. The one song Gadiyaarake a haunting number that plays through the length of the movie ..

The kind of movie that doesn't let you look away from the screen lest you miss some action... Loved it..

We need such movies to get people from their Covid created panic to walk into the theatres, to get the industry on it's feet, to encourage more new film makers to experiment and present such new ventures...

Thanks to the Production team for giving us this beautiful movie, it was really like a whiff of fresh air.. This deserves a longer run at the cinemas.. And yes,i might go back and watch it another time...