S Viswanath

Anna means brother. Lo! Bro. Annas galore in Su From So. Of course, akkas, thangis, ammas too are there aplenty. But sidelined to fringes. Only coming forward to champion a common cause. These annas exist to tickle you to death. Their mirthful meanderings and mindless melee making you burst in laughter. The reason for their asinine antics? Troop in for filmi date with Su From So.

A somberi katte conversation between bunch of bros leads to talk around spirits and ghosts what have you. After all it is idle talk. As the adage goes “idle mind is a ‘devil’s workshop,’” while Bacchus flows and brothers in camaraderie get sozzled downing bottles of booze.

Our annas are on the overdrive. Especially the resident do-gooder, the bashful, beefy much admired bachelor mason of Marlluru village of Dakshina Kannada — Ravi anna. The ever there go to man rationalising on spectres to his acolytes sending them jittery and chattering teeth with his jejune claims.

One bro though is jostled out of his wits. Who, struck by heebie-jeebies, chokes on his churi-muri listening to Ravi anna’s fantastical fables on apparitions and phantoms. Others too turn pale, petrified and panicky rendered ill at ease over the discourse.

What follows is that. This tall talk about ‘lost souls’ turns into harsh reality providing Su From So comedic track and cacophonic two plus hours great gambol run.

For, a spirit called Sulochana possess one of the annas with entire village at its wits end to wish her away from their midst while they scram and scatter hither and thither like headless chicken.

This bro, aroused after binge watching sleaze, sex clips on mobile, peeks into a bathroom as a woman bathes. His noxious nocturnal act being discovered and after a hot chase apprehended.

To free from his two fellow bros, our peeping tom, the cupid stuck Ashoka feigns possessed taking advantage of ghostly chat and eerie happenings around that has put the fear of devil in the community to sprint away.

This Houdini act becomes his undoing. Because he is incarcerated in a room ensuring Sulochana doesn’t leave him to haunt and hound the village to take vengeance.

With the village chatter and gossip spreading like viral video — about Sulochana furiously spreading like forest fire, the otherwise calm and collected community is caught in a deathly thrall.

The village has just participated in the funeral in the course of the day where, after elaborate mourning rituals, have partaken rich repast spread to satiate the soul of the dear departed and free it from the earthly entanglements.

We learn in the course of this loony mad as a hatter laughathon that Sulochana is in fact deceased mother of Bhanu resident of neighbouring Someshawara village. Hence, the film’s terse title — Su From So — expanded to read Sulochana from Someshwara.

So Bhanu is summoned to talk her mama dearest and implore her to free herself possessing Ashoka and leave the earthly abode, its mortal entanglements and make peace in heaven above.

What thereon ensues between the Sulochana possessed Ashoka and misery bitten and abuse battling Bhanu, how our Annas and uncle get the act together to bring Bhanu to meet up Ashoka forms the fulcrum of the film’s latter half that ends on a cathartic and cataclysmic note.

The first half of Su From So’s ghostly galatta provides the prologue and pretext to the pivotal pith with its serious social premise and poignant plotline on which the film actually pegs itself thereon.

After wantonly wasting audiences time for over an hour in this ballyhoo, balderdash build-up, director J P Thuminad who pitifully plays Sulochana possessed Ashoka finally gets into serious business addressing the meat of the meandering malarkey.

That of exorcising Bhanu from the abusive sexual misery of her loathful, lecherous uncle by invoking the occult of Bhanu’s deceased mother Sulochana through the medium of Ashoka a la Exorcist.

As a subplot and subtext you have the invincible village’s troubleshooter and enterprising errands man Ravi anna, who whizzes on and off his scooter to fetch Sulochana, hidden in his tough exterior a sob story of his own.

Bestowed with both brain and brawn, beneath his cuddly but tough exterior, Ravi Anna suffers in his own insecurity ruing his bachelor status having rejected Bhanu during a formal family arranged bride selection sojourn in his youthful, eligible bachelor days.

The problem with Su From So stems from the atrocious assumption of Indian film makers that audiences primarily troop to theatres for mere ‘entertainment’ however nonsensical it may be.

It is with this ingrained innate belief that Thuminad stretches all his creative sinews to ensure the first half has audiences hooked on to the most silly sloppy tamasha that he lets loose having them guffawing away to glory nonstop ad nauseum.

Sadly instead of being a breezy, boisterous fun ride supernatural comedic flick Su From So simply teases and tests the patience of one and suffer its over 135 mins insufferable run time.

Instead of a subtle and nuanced cinema holding a probing and perspective mirror to stoic sufferings women folk face in the lust driven patriarchal society, Thuminad lets this potent social saga skim away in the prolonged mirthful madness he creates before arriving at the pith of Su From So’s actual premise and pretext.

Of course, Su From So endears itself with its glorious celebration of the coastal life, the infectious community spirit of its people, the bonhomie, the culture, the traditions, their innate fondness for the tipple, and tantalising tales laced with laughter and meaning they bring to the table.

But then with its insufferable forced humour tracks, which becomes irritatingly cyclically repetitive, whirling around like a merry go round about ghosts and gags, guilt and gossips, fast fading tradition and culture, Su From So is simply lost in the byzantine labrynith it creates to overwork the funny bones of audiences and have them invested in the twist in the tale that follows.

As a result you simply give up on Su From So staying put suffering somnolently its giggly goings on agonisingly awaiting for the final credits to roll by before you can scurry to the nearest exist for that fresh blast of cool breeze to breathe free again from suffocation so endured.

S VISWANATH is a veteran film critic who officiates as JURY at several National & International Film Festivals. He deputises as CHIEF CINEMA CURATOR/PROGRAMMER & CREATIVE ADVISOR for Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes). He also curates & advises on the selection of shorts & documentaries for Bengaluru International Short Film Festival (BISFF). Mr Viswanath is the author of “RANDOM REFLECTIONS: A Kaleidoscopic Musings on Kannada Cinema”.