My thoughts on Thithi | Explained | review.
By: Suraj Sai
Tags: Movie Review, Kannada, Movies To Watch, Must Watch Movies, Tithi

Thithi (funeral) movie is a village drama which almost feels like a documentary is a 2015 Indian Kannada drama film co-written and directed by Raam Reddy. It has a cast of non-professional actors who actually live in that village . Ere Gowda and Raam Reddy written it’s story and screenplay , which is set in their native place (Nodekoppalu in mandya district, Karnataka).It also won national award for best feature film for kannada in 2016. It is as natural as a documentary and I cannot praising for it. The best thing about this is it’s compelling natural characters which is rare in these generation of films. It is very much reminiscent of satyajit ray’s filmmaking . I have a lot to tell about this film , but let me clear something first I’m myself no critic . I’m just an engineering student interested in films. Let’s get into it.

For those who haven’t seen this film ,stop reading this here as there are spoilers ahead . I strongly suggest you to watch this film this film’s experience is unmissable and it is worth all your time. Performances are amazing and director did an extraordinary job with those actors who are amateurs who never acted before. If you love realistic rural drama I just beg you to watch it and thank me later. Cinematography , music , everything is at their best just go watch it.

The story is very simple it’s about the aftermath of patriarch death in Gowda’s family . The story line may look simple but characters in them what makes the story more interesting. Century Gowda who died , has a son named Gaddapa, a grandson Thammanna , and a great grandson named Abhi. Each character is so unique and realistic and have very different goals given their ages . This is not some serious rural drama this is very humorous social commentary and what death means to the other persons , and Oh boy! this is so very funny.

The movie starts with an extraordinary scene (at least for me) , I enjoyed this very very much and I consider this one of the best opening scene of all time. This scene sets the movie tone , century gowda is shown passing his absurd yet honest for him kind of commentaries on the villagers who seems to ignore all his comments and do his works. There are a some annoying old people whose work is just to annoy people with their commentaries and I mean this in a funny way.

Century Gowda

This scene is brilliantly portrayed by “Singri Gowda” who is an amateur yet did with an ease , You may see him just for 5 min but you cannot forgot his character or this scene it is just brilliant. After this scene we see him go to piss while doing this he dies and someone see and calls everyone that century gowda is dead who was famous in those all nearby villages. Their son Gaddappa (which means bearded man) who is a wanderer , he just does not stay in a single place , he does not like crowds big big sounds. When someone informs him that his father is dead he acts with “I don’t care” attitude which looks very funny on screen. During funeral when Thammanna who is century Gowda’s grandson when he comes forward to perform ritual , priest argues with him that only his son (Gaddappa) should do it. So his great grandson (Abhi) goes finds him and brings him to perform ritual and when someone asks why didn’t he came to ritual , he says he came and went after these crowd and band sounds. So that’s how his character is . while returning from ritual priest says to Thammanna that it’s better to change the land from his father Gaddappa to his name otherwise his cousins may come and occupy it and it will be very tedious to fight for it in court. So it is established here that his goal is to get the land from his father. In other scene we see Abhi lusts after a girl from Shepard community who wanders from place to place with their sheep . So that’s their goals and his father Gaddappa wants to go somewhere else from this village . These are the goals of our protagonists and the entire movie is about did they get there and how. (spoilers !! ahead) Long story short Thammanna asks his father to give the land to him . He says he can take it but do not ask him to come to office and do those tedious paperwork . This is enough of story I think you pretty much knew what happens afterwards (as you have seen the movie if not please go and watch it) .

Thithi philosophy

As you can read from the above image it is pretty much what Thithi movie’s main philosophy is , at least for my understanding and of course there are many themes through out the film but to my perspective this is the main theme. Life goes on and you too just go with the flow don’t plan things because if it’s destined to happen if it isn’t it wont Period there is nothing more you can do . Like everyone might had many plans this year but pandemic just shattered everything . SO it’s better not to pin hopes on anything but there is one thing to note here I’m not saying not to do anything , sit idly but what I’m saying is try as hard as you can and just leave it to the flow. This above mentioned is a very crucial movie in scene and I don’t think anyone can forgot it , It is just so good and even in the end of it , It becomes even better when Gaddappa says that he doesn’t even remember whether the story he narrated was true or the dream he got last night which just brings humor to this intense emotional scene. This is what I love in this movie it shows everything with humor in it which makes it very entertaining. Coming to my point in this movie Thammanna worked his fingers to bone for the land but at the end it fails but Abhi didn’t do much compared to him he tried his level best and he just waited for the chips to fall in place. This even worked for Gaddappa.

ENOUGH about the philosophy now we should talk about performances , I can just say WOW!!! such a natural performances by everyone which sometimes difficult for even an actor who was in industry for years. They did it with such ease. Everyone did their best and they really bought characters to life. Even the girl who played Cauvery by Pooja S.M did an extraordinary job especially at the end of their intercourse that ambiguous expression that is this a good or bad thing to do. Gaddappa who is somewhat like a monk who doesn’t care about anything yet lives his life so happily (I’m not implying that he is a monk) is also portrayed wonderfully by Chennegowda but what amazes me even more is that these guys all are amateurs who stood in front of camera for the first time in their whole life. Thammanna who is a farmer frustrated with his dad’s and son’s carelessness attitude towards life and wants to have land . He has to go through all the struggles to get the land o his name which fails at the end. Fun fact : Actor who portrays Thammanna character , his original name is also Thammanna.

Now coming to technicalities cinematographer Doron Tempert did a fantastic job , visuals are great. But I observed a lot of wide shots in this movie and also movie starts and ends with wide shots. Staging , colors and lighting everything gives used to give this a very natural look . Coming to sound most of the scenes doesn’t have background score at all they used the natural sound. The night scenes especially when they make chicken curry and dances it is well shot and well lit. Director did a commendable job in making actors act and in every other aspect of it. So finally Thithi is a great movie by the first time filmmaker Raam Reddy. It’s a must watch.