LUCIA (KANNADA) (2013)

My first ever Kannada movie, Lucia, turned out be a veritable delight and an engrossing entertainer. Lucia opens with the following metaphysical verse from the 16th century Kannada philosopher-poet-saint Kanakadasa - 

Are you a creature of illusion? or illusion is your creation?

Are you a part of the body? Or is the body a part of you?

Is space within the house? Or the house within space? 

Or are both space and the house within the seeing eye? 

Is the eye within the mind? Or the mind within the eye? 

Or are both the eye and the mind within you?

Does sweetness lie in sugar, or sugar in sweetness? 

Or do both sweetness and sugar lie in the tongue?

Is the tongue within the mind? Or the mind within the tongue? 

Or are both the tongue and the mind within you?

Does fragrance lie in the flower? Or the flower in fragrance? 

Or do both the flower and fragrance lie in the nostrils? 

I cannot say, O Lord Adikeshava of Kaginele,

O! peerless one, are all things within you alone?

It is followed by another famous quote from the Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi which is as under -

I dreamed I was a butterfly, 

flitting around in the sky; 

then I awoke. 

Now I wonder: 

Am I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, 

or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?

While the immortal verse of the poet sets the tone and is the underlying thread that runs through the movie which explores themes of reality, virtual world of dreams and their intersection in a unique and intricately constructed plot, it is the the quote from the Chinese philosopher which appears more apt for Lucia's plot line which is set in two parallel tracks for the most part which converge and enmesh into each other towards the finale.

Lucia begins with a heavily bandaged patient surviving in life support after a fall from a high rise which has triggered a media debate on euthanasia. Simultaneously, we see that the police are investigating the cause of his state even as they are trying to round up a gang involved in drug trade with the help of an investigator from Mumbai. 

A swift cut to a flash back shows the protagonist Nikki (Nenasam Satish) as a poor villager in the metro working as an usher in a dilapidated single screen theater run by his benefactor Shankaranna (an excellent Achyuth Kumar). Thanks to Shankaranna's steadfast rule that his theater will only play Kannada movies, he finds himself deep in debt with the theater in a downward spiral of loss with predatory creditors and land sharks circling to gobble up the property. Despite the paltry remuneration he receives, Nikki loves his job at the movies and reveres Shankaranna. However, he is afflicted with insomnia which forces him to wander the streets late at nights. One such night, when he is presented with a magic pill - Lucia - that could cure his insomnia and could also help him in lucid dreaming (hence the name), he accepts it gleefully. On consuming the pill, he enters a self-constructed dream world where he is Nikki, a reigning superstar in Kannada cinema. 

From this point on, the movie traverses the two planes of his real world as well as dreamscape. The people and events from both these planes reflect each other. So, when Nikki, in his dreamscape, falls in love with an aspiring actress Shwetha (Shruthi Hariharan), the theater torchbearer Nikki, falls in love with Shwetha (Shruthi Hariharan) working in  a pizza store. When Shankaranna and Nikki  are threatened by goons to hand over their theater for unpaid debts, in the dreamscape, there are extortionists who demand ransom from Nikki, the superstar and his manager (Achyuth Kumar). What follows is an intriguing set of events that pepper the parallel worlds building upto a collision of these seemingly parallel worlds which results in a surprising finale. 

In this fascinating juxtaposition of fantasy and reality, we find that even as the humble theater usher dreams of having the life of the superstar, the superstar himself, who is lapped up in luxury, dreams of leading a life filled with the struggles of a simpleton. There are also sub-plots in the form of a police investigation concerning a drug gang, Shwetha's futile attempts to make Nikki learn English such that he can work as an usher in a multiplex and Shankaranna's life-long ambition of releasing a Kannada movie he made years ago which found no takers.

Lucia has a complex and layered narrative and succeeds to a great extent in keeping the viewer interested and curious about the unfolding plot. It presents an intricate plot that is imaginative and cleverly inter-weaves the events in the real and dreamscapes so well that soon, the thin line separating the two planes disappears to intrigue the viewer. The plot brilliantly uses the fact of Nikki being colour blind to capture his dreams in in black and white while the real world is captured in colour. The closing sequences of the movie which melds both the parallel worlds is sure to stoke debates in the viewer. In its handling of the realm of dreams and probable dreams within dreams, there are definite streaks of Christoper Nolan (Inception).

Though the movie is billed as a psychological thriller, it also presents a simple romance between Nikki and Shwetha garnished with situational humour besides several sub-plots holding pointers to diverse elements including the crassness of commercial cinema with heavy reliance on item numbers, choppers, contemporary society's craze for everything Western, consumerism, the vanity with English, class differences, euthanasia and the travails of single screen cinemas which are an endangered species in the age of multiplexes. However, trying to cram in several such strands into the plot results to some amount of meandering of the narrative. This remains as a minor blemish, in an otherwise engrossing watch of about 135 minutes of its running time. 

Lucia is a pioneer on many fronts. It is the first ever Kannada (if not, the first South Indian) crowd-funded movie.  In less than a month, the 30-something director of Lucia, Pawan Kumar, could raise about Rs. 50 lakhs from more than 100 contributors through a Facebook page and his blog with an assurance to share the returns with all such contributors. Some 110 names popping up as associate producers as part of the opening credits is a sight to behold and is indeed heartening. It is also the first mainstream Kannada movie released with English subtitles. The story explores vistas hitherto considered the exclusive preserve of movies from Hollywood or some distant shores. Made on a paltry budget of about Rs. 75 lakhs, it stands tall among its well-endowed peers which present their at best prosaic fare as "hatke" entertainers. 

Nenasam Satish emotes well and has showcased a wide range of expressions convincingly. He shares an easy chemistry with the impeccable veteran Achyuth Kumar as well as Shruthi Hariharan who has ably supported him. The movie also greatly benefits from the background score of debutante music director Poornachandra Tejaswi who has also provided a few catchy tunes. Siddhart Nuni, the cinematographer (the movie is supposedly shot on a DSLR) shows his mastery in presenting a polished look for a movie made quite literally on a shoe-string budget.  

Whenever I watch movies like Inception and The Matrix, I, like many other desi fans, have wondered why such themes are never explored by Indian filmmakers. Lucia comes as a sight for sore eyes which have been yearning so long to find desi movies to explore such intriguing themes. It also shatters the multiple myths that nay-sayers propagate that Indian movies are constrained by budgets and our audience do not appreciate such experimental fare.

Lucia premiered in the London Indian Film Festival (LIFF) where it won the Audience Choice Award for the Best Film. With its unique story and a plot that is constructed around the world of movies and theaters, it is, indeed, a fitting tribute in this centenary year of Indian cinema. 

This brave venture of writer-director, Pawan Kumar is sure to win ample accolades of a wider audience of Kannada as well as non-Kannada cinephiles. 

Despite its flaws, Lucia remains a commendable experiment which intelligently engages the viewer and raises several pertinent questions in their mindspace. 

Take a bow, Pawan Kumar. I LOVED IT !! Your efforts are sure to inspire many more such meaningful experiments in Indian cinema.

A MUST WATCH !!