Courtroom dramas set high bar
Hyderabad: As filmmakers come with new narratives, the trend keeps changing at the box office. For the Telugu film industry, the year 2021 has had a narrative of its own – the trend of courtroom dramas that took the centre stage. Irrespective of the success rate and said formula, filmmakers continued to experiment with stories […]
Published Date - 29 December 2021, 06:29 PM
Hyderabad: As filmmakers come with new narratives, the trend keeps changing at the box office. For the Telugu film industry, the year 2021 has had a narrative of its own – the trend of courtroom dramas that took the centre stage. Irrespective of the success rate and said formula, filmmakers continued to experiment with stories under this genre, one after the other. Here’s how they fared well.
Courtroom proceedings with gripping story lines. Shoutings, surprise witnesses, unexpected revelations, arguments and cross examination of witnesses — these have all intrigued the general audience. Not to deny that such dramas have come earlier in Telugu, but modern-day narratives have changed their form. Starting with Pawan Kalyan’s ‘Vakeel Saab’, Allari Naresh’s ‘Naandi’, to Satyadev’s ‘Thimmarusu’ and Suriya’s ‘Jai Bhim’ — some were remakes while some were inspired by real incidents.
‘Vakeel Saab’ was released amidst fears of the second wave of Covid-19. It not just drew whistles and shouts from fans in theatres, but the film also gave a much-needed break after a brief lull post Pawan Kalyan’s plunge into mainstream politics. Directed by Venu Sriram, the film, which was, of course, a remake of the Bollywood hit ‘Pink’, spoke about the challenges faced by women in the society. Courtroom conversations stood as major highlights. It questions the notion why women are judged by the way they’re dressed, and underlines that living to their taste is their fundamental right.
Ends dry run
‘Naandi’, in a way, ended the dry run of actor Allari Naresh at the box office. Directed by Vijay Kanakamedala, it is the story of an IT professional wrongly framed in a high-profile murder case. Enduring torture, the protagonist languishes in jail waiting for trail. The film discussed at length Section 211 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Of 3.6 lakh prisoners by 2015, as many as 2.5 lakh under trial prisoners were languishing in jails in the country, for knowingly or unknowingly, committing a crime. Varalakshmi Sarathkumar, as a young lawyer, shoulders the responsibility of fighting for the protagonist in this legal drama.
Actor Satyadev came as a whisper with ‘Thimmarusu’ at the box office when it was released in July. The Telugu remake of Kannada original ‘Birbal Trilogy Case 1: Finding Vajramuni’ stood out to be another gripping courtroom drama. A young bartender gets life term for the murder of a cabbie. As he awaits help in jail, lawyer Ramachandra, played by Satyadev, reopens the case after eight years.
A classic of sorts
‘Jai Bhim’ is another classic example of how courtroom dramas are told on-screen. With just a commercial touch-up to the story, ‘Jai Bhim’ is hailed by critics as a masterpiece. Gnanvel, a former news reporter, took up a near-impossible task of directing a real-life story of Chandru, an advocate and former Judge at Madras High Court. The story is about the struggle of a tribal woman who explores all possible routes to free her husband who was arrested, unauthorised, by the police. Although ‘Jai Bhim’ was mired in controversies in Tamil Nadu, the positive unanimous response from audiences, critics and industry bigwigs made the film a massive success. The cause-and-effect sequence occurring event after event, the film keeps the audience glued and makes one watch it over and again. In the end, one might feel how the film missed out on a theatrical release.
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