An inspirational, engaging saga of empowerment

Film: Hebbet Ramakka

Language: Kannada (U)

Cast: Tara Anuradha, Devaraj, Hanumanthe Gowda, K V Nagaraj Murthy, Suresh Chandra, Chandrakanth

Director: N R Nanjunde Gowda

Rating: 3 1/2

With the polls around the corner in the state, here comes Nanjunde Gowda's Hebbet Ramakka, which spotlights the corrupt political landscape and the guile ways of the political class in the country.

Hebbet Ramakka has hit the theatres with a forceful message and one hopes that the majority will watch it before pressing the poll button.

The film succinctly captures social issues that afflict the country's democratic landscape with the ordinary folks at the receiving end of the system with no succour whatsoever. It touches upon the issues such as women empowerment, their education and constitutional rights.

Laced with situational humour, the film tells the story of Ramakka, an illiterate but forthright village woman only concerned with the upkeep of her farmland and her animals, besides her two school-going children.

Unwittingly pitchforked to the position of Zilla Panchayat president owing to clashes between a former MLA, the incumbent MLA and her opportunistic contractor husband, the way Ramakka wades through the byzantine ways of political intrigues, forms the kernel of Hebbet Ramakka.

What makes the film both entertaining and educative is the well-written character of the illiterate Ramakka, who rises to take on the system, the mean men that infest it and acts as a spoke in their wheel with the help of a well-meaning personal assistant.

That the film has bagged the National Award for Best Kannada Film only reinforces how important films such as these are the need of the times than the trash that is thrust upon audiences ad nauseam.

With convincing performances by Tara and Devaraj, the film is a must-watch just for regular audiences but for women and youth in particular.