The film begins with a patient, Nikki (Satish Neenasam) in a coma and a
debate around euthanasia. Cut to
flash back, Nikki is an average Joe,
unnoticeable in the Bangalore crowd. He works at his uncle’s decrypt movie hall as an usher and
suffers from insomnia. The love of his
life is Shweta (Sruthi Hariharan) who works at a local Pizza outlet who
seems to want more from life than poor Nikki.
He is soon introduced to a wayside
drug ‘Lucia’ that promises to cure his sleeplessness, but with other side effects that let him dream
about the life he seeks. And lo, he turns into a movie star Nikki who also seems to have issues with a newbie actress Shweta; the track played
out in monochrome. How Nikki deals with his life in both worlds forms the rest
of the story, a suspense best left
undisclosed.
The concept of lucid dreaming,
in a way, reminded me of ‘Vanilla Sky’
where Tom Cruise’s character who loses touch with reality and is lost under the
dreamy skies like in the famous Monet painting. But the similarities end there.
Another semblance is with Nolan’s ‘Memento’
with two tracks, one in color and the other in Monochrome that merge into a logical ending. The editing
in “Lucia” is as good as in ‘Memento’ and keeps the audience hooked; truly world-class editing there!
‘Lucia’ is a landmark film
in the Kannada filmdom as it is the first
crowd-funded independent film in Kannada. The opening credits show more than a hundred people who
responded to Pawan Kumar’s facebook post.
The film was made with only INR 50 Lakh,
a pittance as compared to the usual big budget blockbusters with top stars,
foreign locales and cars blowing up in action stunts.
To its credit, Lucia doesn’t
have any stars but each of them did
well. For Satish Neenasam, it
was his first as a lead actor and
convincingly plays the regular local
dude who may be seen in a down-market movie hall having big dreams. Sruthi Hariharan who is said to have
had origins in dance and then moved on to films, does a decent job, both as the simple neighborhood waitress and as
a budding actress.
Apart from the drugs and dreams, the underlying story in ‘Lucia’ deals with the needs and wants of its various characters
who have two roles, one in the real
world and then another one in the
dream world with its own set of
metaphors. What plays out includes the inherent
conflicts in romance, class, language and other issues as well as an investigative undertone that begins
with the first scene.
Songs from the film come
with entertaining everyday lyrics
composed by Poornachandra Tejaswi, a software engineer turned music director;
and this is his first attempt. While
some like ‘Helu Shiva’ come with a very modern touch, ‘Thinbedakami’ is funny
and has a rustic feel.
So, does ‘Lucia’ lack anything?
There is nothing that is grossly amiss as such. The only element of finesse which
is left wanting is the dubbing,
which seems mismatched in a couple of
scenes.
‘Lucia’ premiered at the London
Indian Film Festival this July and won the Best Film Audience Choice award.
Already, the film is drawing enough attention
in screens nation-wide as it has been released with English subtitles. So, even if you don’t know Kannada, the subtitles are there to assist you.
Verdict: Those of you who
may have given up on Kannada films,
or others who think that all South Indian movies are about fat, dark actors
dancing with fair skinned babes, prepare
to get overwhelmed. ‘Lucia’ will
keep you occupied with its story, every
single second of its screen-time.
Rating 8/10: Psychological
thriller that blurs the line between dreams and reality
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