“Man
must be sustained in suffering by a hope so high that no conflict with
actuality can dash it- so high, indeed, that no fulfillment can satisfy it; a
hope reaching beyond this world”
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Antichrist
In the initial scene of the film, we see Arjun’s grandmother
candidly narrates a small incident from Arjun’s childhood with a deep metaphor
about the stubborn nature of humans. She mentions about the Sages, Saints,
Goddesses, birds and the creatures of the sea being vulnerable to change with
respect to time. Then, she questions the human resistance to the course of
change and even after accepting that change, there is a bundle of grief. Her
simple and resounding rationalization is “Why grieve on incidents that are both
unforeseen and predictable”. She further recounts about Arjun’s deep attachment
with a doll draped in a white gown. One day, when the doll is lost and Arjun
despite lot of attempts is unable to find her, he sleeps in sorrow after
constantly asking his grandmother to help him find the doll. Director Sandeep
Reddy Vanga has told us a major characteristic of the protagonist, he is
stubborn about change, yet accepts it with unhappiness, but does not, under any
circumstances leave “Hope”.
Arjun Reddy (Vijay Deverakonda), found in weird conditions on
several occasions under the influence of alcohol and drugs, is in desperate
need for a physical interaction, and when his quest is rejected from several
feasible options, he picks a handful of ice and place it down his jeans,
probably an effective but definitely not a subtle way of calming the raging
hormones.
Arjun Reddy is going through a drastic transformation in his life,
post a major incident, yet he refuses to come out of it and move on in his
life, like most of the people around us do, but no, not him, he is Arjun Reddy,
a medical prodigy, the one who refuses to bow down to anything which under his
judgment and sensibilities is not right. He is aware about the 690
carcinogenic agents, 4 cancer-causing factors and 48 COPD diseases found in
cigarettes, yet he smokes, because it has become his habit. Nuance is not
Arjun’s cup of tea, but a strong trait for his character, that the director
paints on the celluloid. Arjun speaks with his heart, no matter what the
situation is, he can easily make you fall in love with him, at the same time,
the anger issue he goes through, the sudden mood swings might make you despise
him.
The moment he sets his eyes on Preeti (Shalini Pandey), he is sure
about his feelings, and does not take too much time to amplify his notion of
love. It’s the subtlety of his character through which a better perception of
his inner character can be guessed, like for instance, when Preeti’s father
cleverly tries to suggest that he should take care of Preeti as an elder
brother, he instantly rubbish off the suggestion, citing a reason that he
doesn’t have a sister, and won’t be able to connect emotionally with her as a
brother, so it’s better she remains a junior for him. You are not sure, what
Arjun might do in the next moment; he might unintentionally objectify girls
because of their weight and tell you with a straight face that fat chicks are
warm and loyal, so friendship with them would last longer. He might just
casually barge into girl’s hostel and lay down under Preeti’s lap as if it is
the only place, he will find solace.
The film at some point does feel like a documentary on this
fascinating character, but yet it never provides a dull moment, the narrative
of the relationship between Arjun and Preeti is told through the lens of Arjun,
and not Preeti. We do not get into her frame of mind, her perspective of being
in love with Arjun Reddy, off using his influence to avoid ragging, her
thoughts about strategies of studying various topics of anatomy through
diagrams drawn on her skin by Arjun, her tactics of calming the spontaneous
anger that might burst out of him at any moment. It seems likely that Arjun act
as a catalyst in Preeti’s life, to help her open up a bit and embrace the love
he has to offer. Honestly, I am not even bothered about any other point of
view, because Arjun has all my attention. However, the impulsive nature of
Arjun Reddy is put to a test in a crucial moment in the film, where we are
introduced to a cockier version of him, where he will curse, give deadlines,
immerse himself in alcohol, find something irrelevant like someone’s hair
(Probably Preeti’s) on his bed, do pushups (way to calm himself down).
There is a gradual transformation of Arjun Reddy in both physical
and mental aspect. He flaunts a thick beard, which often might be
misinterpreted as sign of toxic masculinity (Cumulative of his actions). He is
adamant in his actions and explains to his friend that his situation is similar
to a girl going through her periods, instead of being supportive, affectionate,
and attentive, people around him are neglecting his sorrows. There are
numerable scenes, where Arjun show signs of being under the influence of “Dev
D” syndrome through the aid of alcohol, drugs, and casual sex. He even joins a
group meant for people failed in Love named “Love Failure Support Group” and
solves the questions in order for a group conductor to assess Arjun’s pain.
Arjun’s grandmother mentions that “Suffering is very personal”, and sums up the
situation that Dr. Arjun Reddy has put himself in. Arjun has indeed embarked on
a personal journey of suffering with loads and loads of hope, in search of
peace of love that he found under the lap of Preeti; there will be moments of
heartbreak, loneliness, self-discovery, a moment where we might see a glimpse
another shade of who actually Arjun Reddy is.
We are spectators of his journey. He will be judged through our
patriarch opinions; anti-feminist judgments, hypocrite nature. We will
applaud/notice him for his drinking stamina, his style of inhaling a thin layer
of cocaine, his style of smoking, his obsession about riding solo on his
Enfield, his idea of hating good-bye, his habit of suddenly doing push-ups
while pondering over something, his precision about not using suture on
underage people, his notion of being in love with oceans, his strong sense of
opinion that he had a benchmark love story, his ability to visually represent
his thoughts about a topic from human anatomy, his stubbornness of not agreeing
to take money from friends when he is broke, his frank belief that other people
are not worthy of love marriage.
Arjun Reddy is an up-close encounter with this
fascinating character; let’s witness his personal journey of suffering.
Iam not a big fan of Telugu movies, though it is my mother tongue. But I have heard a lot about this movie Arjun Reddy. It’s been years since Telugu cinema witnessed something this radical, maybe after Ram Gopal Varma’s few picked masterpieces of the 1990’s. This character is as of what I have been reading about the movie’s writing and characterisation after your blog post on the same looks to be an enfant terrible, somewhat like Ranbir Kapoor’s character in Imtiaz Ali’s Rockstar. Arjun could be interpreted as a modern-day Devdas but a very dangerous one, what do you say, especially with his thick bearded look? Arjun Reddy has created a superb buzz for itself from the past few days. The younger generation is going crazy about the film its no shame I have not seen it, may be soon. Your writing is getting better like Wine. Iam impressed.
ReplyDeletethis was my first telugu movie watched 2 days ago .. its influence on me is something i cant describe here .. some of its scenes came as flashback in my mind since i watched it ... i read many comments n reviews about movie but reading first blog on it .. just loved it .. last paragraph says it all about character of arjun reddy .. - krutika from twitter
ReplyDeleteThank You for taking out to time to read..:)
DeleteWonderful
ReplyDeleteThank You for Reading Hardik...:)
DeleteAn absolute delight reading this.I felt like I just F5ed my arjun reddy connect. Kudos Mandeep!
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading Pankaj, i wrote a more detailed post on Arjun Reddy, do read.... https://insomniacpoint.blogspot.com/2018/07/arjun-reddy-through-spectacles-of.html
DeleteI really like what you write, provide useful knowledge
ReplyDeletearjun reddy movies .
Thank you for reading Yuvraj..:)
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