Telugu feature film mail, now airing on aha, is yet another reminder that there is no shortage of close-to-the-fact stories. Director Uday Gurrala takes us to the village of Kambalapally in the Mahabubabad district of Telangana and captures the people as they are, slowly unraveling their everyday lives and aspirations. once again we have to thank venkatesh maha (of kancharapalem care) and malayalam cinema for encouraging more telugu filmmakers to tell stories that reflect the specific spirit of the region. after the recent middle class tunes, this is another movie that tries to keep things realistic and endearing.
It seems like a simple story, but it goes far enough to show how people can use anything new as a power tool to enforce a social hierarchy or, worse yet, fool the gullible.
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In the late 1990s, the printer and the crude personal computer were prized possessions. computer labs in schools and colleges were sanitized spaces: shoes at the door and the computer handled with fear and reverence. Internet penetration in rural pockets took time. Uday incorporates these nuances into this story set in Kambalapally in the mid-2000s.
Ravi Kumar (Harshith Malgireddy) stares in amazement at the monitor, keyboard, CPU and UPS when he goes to check his high school board exam results. Back then, those who knew how to use the PC were considered superior to those who didn’t. the first half hour establishes the aspirational value of a computer course for a rural 18-year-old. For other people, like Ravi’s father who works in the fields, the computer is mysterious and unattainable.
ravi’s eyes widen with admiration when hybath (priyadarshi) opens a cyber gaming center. Kamran’s background music equates Ravi’s longing for the computer with romance. A little later, Ravi falls in love with Roja (Gouri Priya), a fellow student. if there had been a competition between the computer and gouri to win ravi’s attention, it might have been a tough call!
hybath’s process of ravi learning to use a computer follows a wicked pattern of gurukul. ravi borrows money to buy liquor for hybath and in turn uses the pc.
Things that matter to students are outlined with subtle humor. someone who failed exams is upset with a friend who passed in third class, who in turn is upset with someone who got a first class. ranks matter when viewed through the prism of struggling parents so the next generation can have better jobs. it’s a delight to see hurith as the innocent and enthusiastic teenager; Gouri as Roja and Mani as the friend Subbu fit perfectly into the world of the film. priyadarshi is effective as a smug hybath and this is another credible addition to his repertoire.
once the admiration for the computer and the social dynamic is established, not much happens for a while. the languid narration is deliberate. Out of nowhere, things change when Ravi receives an email in his inbox. the rest of the story explores what happens when a gullible tech novice believes what he sees in his inbox.
some other characters that until then had been on the sidelines, gain prominence. had it been a malayalam movie or an anurag kashyap movie, things would have taken a dark turn.
However, the unexpected turn of events towards the end seems fitting for the characters. mail has an independent spirit and has her heart in the right place. she is not completely fascinating; there are places where she wishes the story would move a little faster. the grounded vibe and performances make up for it. Ravinder Bommakanti as the pawnbroker Shivanna and the other smaller rural characters are well cast. the panchayat debate on computer viruses and what follows is hilarious.
sweekar agasthi, who has become the reference composer for those who want to narrate deep-rooted stories, delivers again. uday also handles the cinematography alongside shyam dupati and presents the mail in documentary form, where the rustic beauty of the region is captured without indulgence.
( mail flows in aha)