I've never been a Telugu movie fan. So much so, that I've not even watched the famous Telugu films like Sagara Sangamam, Geethanjali and Sanakarabharanam in their original language, preferring instead to watch the dubbed version of them in Tamil.
So what made me pick up a Telugu film at the DVD centre? And that too one starring unknown actors(unknown to me at least)? I don't think I can ever answer those questions. All that I can say was that something prompted me to purchase this particular film and I bought it even without blinking an eye. The movie concerned is none other than Golconda High School starring Sumanth and Swathi (Subramaniam fame) in the lead roles.
It was a wonderful watch really. The film reminds you of Chakde India, only this one is more straight to the point and less flimsy. It was much later that I found out that the film is adapted from Harimohan Paruvu's novel- The Men Within. In fact, the author even came in a scene or two, so my guess is that they have stuck very close to the original story enacted in the book.
So what's up with the story? The film is basically about a cricket coach who has to train 14 arrogant but talented cricket players within a span of 3 months and clinch the inter-school cricket tournament championship. Failure to do this would amount to the school's famous cricket ground being commercialized in order to facilitate a cricket centre by the money-minded school board trustees.
Sumanth, needless to say, plays the role of Sampath, the cricket coach with a bad past. The school lost its glory due to his mistake at a key point cricket game 15 years ago (of course it was later revealed that it wasn't his mistake but a mere sabotage by his team mate that caused the school to lose the championship cup) and has since then failed to win a spot at any tournaments. Now, not only has Sampath got to win the boys' trust, but he also has to fight against his past demons to redeem the school's lost glory.
The boys are an interesting batch to watch. Casting was good but wish their screen presence could have been dealt in a better way. While some boys are given huge prominence, some other hardly have a line, and there's one or two who you can only see in a couple of scene and disappears thereafter. Of course, it's hard to give each cast equal amount of screen time but that doesn't mean they have to be reduced to merely appearing in a scene or two. But the ones who actually get a larger dose of role clinched their part extremely well and leave a huge impact in your mind. Michael, the hot tempered batsman; Siddhanth, the arrogant and self-confessed star player; Gautham, the confident de facto leader; Rajinder, the Punjabi wicket keeper; Varun, the victim of bully; Ramesh, the wannabe film director and Nissar the fast bowler, are all delightful to watch on screen, mainly due to their natural screen presence and talent.
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The shy coach and the bold teacher in one
of their love moments |
Of course, watching a coach training a bunch of boys for more than two hours can be quite a bore, so in comes Swathi a.k.a Anjali, the English teacher who has a huge crush on Sampath and is not shy about opening up about her feelings. Nevertheless, being the teacher she is, her advances on Sampath doesn't come across as too open or cheeky, but they remain very delighful and cute to watch. I must admit however that it took me quite some time to accept Swathi as a school teacher as the last time I watched her in Subramaniapuram, she was playing this naive college going girl. She still hasn't lost the childlike mannerisms, and at time it really takes an effort to picturise her as a mature teacher rather than a love-struck teenager. Nevertheless, it goes without saying that she's the life of the film, lighting up the scene with her naturally cute expressions and dialogue delivery. I personally enjoyed watching the manner in which her eyes literally lit up everytime she meets Sampath. The coffee shop incident where she casually and conveniently invites him to a dinner date was such a delight to watch and the way she remarks on how cute he looks when he blushes was so done so genuinely and casually without an ounce of flirtation in it.
Coming back to the main guy, Sumanth a.k.a Sampath. His was a beautifully written and brilliantly enacted character. Sampath is cool on the outside but vulnerable on the inside. His eyes lets out the flicker of pain whenever the 15 years old tournament incident is mentioned, proving that he is still nursing the pain of losing the championship. But he turns confident and hard when it comes to showing the boys on how to face the challenges in life. There were few beautiful scenes where you can see his varying mannerisms. The way he blushes whenever Anjali teases or compliments him, the way he lits up whenever the boys are bad-mouthing him or throwing a challenge at him, the way he frowns whenever the team is losing, the dejection in his eyes when he finds the boys losing their trust on him during the final tournament, the confidence and fire in him when he motivates the boys and the triumph in his face when they finally win the championship. In each and every scenes mentioned, Sumanth relies less on words and more on his expressions and eyes to do the talking. And he's such a sweetie pie to look at which makes it even more interesting to watch him play the role.
Music is by Kalyani Malik and he has done a commendable work. I love the Jago re song and the lovely Idi Adenemo number. All the songs are wonderfully picturised too.
Overall it was a fun film. I love it and I wouldn't mind watching it again. Actually, I have been watching it again....and again, and again, and again, and, ahh forget it. You get the picture, right? ;)
