Kannada films crippled by poor writing

'Ek Love Ya'

Stanley Kubrick once said, "If it can be written or thought, it can be filmed".

Unfortunately, more than a handful of Kannada films continue to be filmed without much writing or thought every year. Even the most recent films were plagued by regressive themes that are not only problematic from a societal gaze but in a much-ignored way too.

Most of the Kannada directors double up as writers. They could be deliberately employing such themes or that could be the only way of writing they know. But the fact is the audience shouldn't look away from these issues.

Generalisation

Suraj Gowda's 'Ninna Sanihake' (2021) has a needless action sequence in which the bad guy is from a particular religion. Filmmakers have unapologetically antagonised that community for ages.

Shankar Guru's 'Badava Rascal' (2021) adopts the technique of generalising people based on financial status - poor are good, rich are bad.

The most disturbing of them all is the gender generalisation. It's high time writers became responsible about the man-woman relationship. Stalking and misogyny are portrayed as aspirational, like in Nanda Kishore's 'Pogaru' (2021). Such films blame women for break-ups and follow it up with hateful songs about women.

Tokenism

For decades, the heroine's only purpose in Kannada cinema was to be a glam doll meant to titillate the audience.

Questioning this approach has given birth to another problem - tokenism.

Some films may have the heroine in a 'profession' but that's done only to counter the criticism of showing her as a 'bubbly girl' without distinct qualities. Even if the heroine plays a doctor in a film, you won't see her working in a clinic or a hospital.

The utterly meaningless deification of the hero is just to boost his ego. Another common feature in commercial films is the insincere lines on the 'Kannada pride'. Apart from this distasteful and reprehensible technique, the heroes or their sidekicks take the names of yesteryear legends for some quick, cheap applause.

Only sincere writing and intentions can ensure the leading man, the language and the legends the respect they may deserve.

Hypocrisy

Many Kannada filmmakers are under the assumption that they are championing 'progressive' ideas. But in their films, you will see the 'male saviour' syndrome in full play. Also, in case of a conflict, what does the hero resort to? Violence!

Some directors have understood a 'progressive woman' as one who smokes and drinks. Make her utter cuss words and you will get Rachita Ram's character in Prem's 'Ek Love Ya'.

After all this, the anti-rape message this film tried to drive home obviously couldn't stand on its gas-filled legs.

Hypocrisy is also talking about the greatness of a mother in one scene and completely objectifying the heroine in another, as was seen in Mahesh Kumar's 'Madagaja' (2021).

The less said the better about the lyrics of some of the songs.

In some films, these issues are ignored as the art is superior and makes up for these slips.

The art of writing for films involves manipulating the audiences, but that's just a means to an end and should never be the motive. Kannada filmmakers must identify and collaborate with gifted writers. Otherwise, these glaring, repetitive issues will persist.