Kumari 21F
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Kumari 21F is a 2015 Indian Telugu drama film directed by Palnati Surya Pratap.
Besides providing the story and screenplay, Sukumar
co-produced the film with his friends Vijay Bandreddi and Thomas Reddy under
their banners, Sukumar Writings and P. A. Motion Pictures. Devi Sri Prasad composed the film's music and R. Rathnavelu was its director of photography. Kumari
21F focuses on the love story of Siddhu, a chef and Kumari, a struggling
model. Siddhu's friends express doubts on Kumari's character after which she
rejects his proposal citing lack of maturity. Siddhu realising the same and
uniting with Kumari after an incident; this is the film's centerpiece.
Kumari 21F was produced
on a budget of ₹60—150 million. Sukumar took inspiration from his college days
in Razole where a girl went to a picnic with a few
other boys, a big deal for a girl back then, which earned her the tag of a
"loose" character though none knew what actually happened. Raj Tarun and Heebah Patel were signed to play the roles of
Siddhu and Kumari. Neither Prasad nor Rathnavelu charged remuneration for the
film. The film's principal photography commenced in December 2014 and was
wrapped up in 70 working days. According to Rathnavelu, lighting played a key
role during the filming process and digital low lighting photography techniques were
employed.
Kumari 21F was released
on 20 November 2015 in nearly 500 screens across the globe. It received mixed
reviews from critics with general praise directed towards the film's climax,
performances, cinematography and music.
Contents
Plot
Siddhu is a chef leading a middle
class life with his mother in K.G.B. colony. His father Ravikanth is accused to
have an extra-marital affair which led to the separation of his parents. He
aims to be a chef in a star cruiseliner of Singapore and his financial status
does not support him. His friends Shankar, Srinu and Suresh make a living by
stealing money from the people who draw cash at the local ATM. The trio always
hides in an old ruin for three days and Siddhu cooks food and brings liqour for
them. He receives a share in the money everytime for the same.
He meets Kumari, a struggling model
from Mumbai who has recently shifted to the same colony to take care of her
ailing grandfather. They fall in love shortly and Siddhu often gets confused
with Kumari's bold and daring attitude. His friends however argue that Siddhu
is not the "first" boyfriend of Kumari and considering that she is a
model, she may have various relationships in the past. Siddhu grows suspicious
about her virginity and Kumari comes to know about the same. When he proposes
to her, she rejects him saying that he doesn't have the maturity to love her.
Siddhu tries to make Kumari feel
jealous by romancing his neighbour Madhu but fails to do so. Kumari continues
to love him unconditionally and her attitude leaves Siddhu confused. At the
same time, Siddhu's friends come to know that Kumari is actually Meena, a
Mumbai based model who was caught in a police raid at a brothel. She rejects
their sexual advances which angers them. Siddhu refuses to leave her for good
which furiates the trio further.
After an ATM robbery, the trio
escape and in the process, Srinu loses his phone which is handovered to the
police by Kumari. The trio take shelter in the ruins and when Siddhu meets
them, Shankar reveals that Kumari is actually Meena and shares the video of a
pressmeet by the Mumbai police featuring her among others. Siddhu's advances
are rejected by Kumari that night, and on the next day, he comes to know that
his father was never in an extra-marital relationship and it was his mother's
misunderstanding. On the other hand, to make sure that Siddhu is happy, Kumari
asks him to visit her that night to fulfill his desire.
The trio reach Kumari's house before
Siddhu and rape her after faking an apology for their misconduct and sedating
her with narcotics mixed in juice. Siddhu reaches her house to propose to her
and finds the trio there. After chasing them away, he reads Kumari's letter
which makes him recognise the lack of maturity in him. He starts arranging
everything back to normal to make sure that Kumari is not aware of the assault.
While adjusting her sari, he sees blood stains on it which indicates that she
is a virgin. He removes the saree, washes away the stains, and puts it back.
When Kumari gains consciousness,
Siddhu lies that she fell asleep after the trio left and he was waiting for her
and hides about the assault. She finds something fishy, but Siddhu manages to
convince her and proposes her to marry him to which she agrees blissfully.
The inspector arrests Siddhu and
interrogates him to reveal the whereabouts of his friends to which he refuses.
He is shortly released from jail after which he marries Kumari. Three years
later, Siddhu is shown running a cuisine in Hyderabad and the inspector plans
to close the case for his inability to find the trio. It is revealed that
Siddhu chained the trio in the ruins and has been feeding and torturing them
everyday since the past three years who beg him to kill them. The film ends
with Siddhu, now Kumari's husband, beating the trio with a rod after feeding
them and saying that he is not matured enough to forgive them.
Cast
- Raj Tarun as Siddhu
- Heebah Patel as Meena Kumari
- Noel Sean as Shankar
- Naveen Neni as Srinu
- Sudharshan as Suresh
- Hema as Siddhu's mother
Production
Development
Devi Sri Prasad (left) and R. Rathnavelu (right) were signed as the
film's music composer and director of photography. Neither of them charged any
remuneration for this film.[1]
In October 2014, Sukumar
announced that he co-produce a film along with Vijay Bandreddi and Thomas Reddy
under the banner P.A. Motion pictures. P. Surya Pratap, who made his
directorial debut with Current (2009), was chosen to direct this
film.[5] Sukumar titled the film as Kumari
21F since it is the story of a 21-year old girl named Kumari. He added that
it is not a female-centric film and both the leads would get equal importance
for which Raj Tarun and Sheena Bajaj were chosen.[6]
Sukumar wrote the film's story and
screenplay taking inspiration from his college days in Razole where a girl went to a picnic with a few
other boys, a big deal for a girl back then. While none knew what happened
there, many rumours were spread and the girl was tagged as a "loose"
character, which stayed in Sukumar's mind.[7] He defined Kumari as an "honest
and genuine human being who isn't afraid of expressing herself" and the
"sort of girl most people would know" despite going overboard at
times with her characterisation during the scripting stage.[7]
Sukumar's friends and regular
technicians Devi Sri Prasad and
R. Rathnavelu were signed as the film's music
composer and director of photography respectively.[8] In an interview to Behindwoods in December 2014, Rathnavelu
revealed that the necessity for rejuvenating himself after Lingaa (2014), the film's script and his
friendship with Sukumar as the reasons for choosing to work for this film.[9] Neither Rathnavelu nor Prasad charged
any remuneration for the film.[1] Heebah Patel replaced Bajaj after the makers were
impressed with her performance in Ala Ela (2015).[10] Patel went through many a workshop for
her role which occupied 80% of the screen space,[11] and her voice was dubbed by Lipsika.[1] On the other hand, Tarun did not
prepare much for his role as he felt it was a "brilliantly conceived"
one and an extension of the roles he played in Uyyala Jampala (2014) and Cinema
Choopistha Maava (2015).[12]
Filming
Kumari 21F was produced on a budget of ₹60—150 million.[a] The film's principal photography
commenced in December 2014,[10] and was wrapped up in 70 working days.[1] Initially, Krishna Nagar,
Hyderabad was chosen as the film's backdrop. Rathnavelu felt that they have to
create a noisy and crowded environment if shot there and chose to shoot the
film in a dreamy and isolated colony and in confined space.[13] 60% of the film was shot at the
R&B colony in Malakpet, Hyderabad. The
song "Bang Bang Bangkok" was filmed in the picturesque locales of Bangkok, and was choreographed by Prasad himself.[1][14] Regarding the same, Prasad revealed
that he composed a few signature steps during the composition of the song which
Sukumar and Rathnavelu liked. They wanted him to conduct the choreography for
that song and Prasad chose to present Bangkok in a different manner.[15]
According to Rathnavelu, lighting
played a key role in Kumari 21F. He shot the film with less equipment
and used mostly natural light.[13] The experience he gained by working in
Haridas
(2013) helped him for this film and used Digital low lighting photography techniques
thereby utilising 80% of the generally required lighting. He found the climax
sequences challenging as the emphasis was more on visuals rather than the
dialogues.[16] Regarding her experience during the
filming of a few intimate sequences, Patel recalled, "There were so many
people on the sets, so it was obviously uncomfortable. But then, I got myself
mentally prepared for this kind of thing in a workshop I had undergone before
the shoot. It also helped that I became good friends with Raj Tarun and that
made things way less awkward". Tarun added that he and Patel "put in
a part of us into the characters to make the romance more believable".[17]
Music
The official soundtrack of Kumari
21F consisting of five songs was composed by Devi Sri Prasad.
Ramanjaneyulu, Krishna Kanth and Chandrabose
wrote the lyrics for one song each. Prasad penned the lyrics for the song
"Bang Bang Bangkok" which he sang along with Ranina Reddy and Rita. A
catchphrase from the song, "Good boy goes to heaven, Bad boy goes to
Bangkok" was well received. For the song "Meghaalu Lekunna" sung
by Yazin Nisar, Sri Mani wrote the pallavi and Anantha Sreeram wrote the charanams.[18] The soundtrack album was released on
31 October 2015 at Shilpakala Vedika,
Hyderabad with actor Allu Arjun attending the
event as the guest of honour.[19] Aditya Music marketed the soundtrack album.[20]
Reviewing the song "Meghaalu
Lekunna", Karthik Srinivasan of The Hindu opined that it "sounds at best
like the Telugu version of a song by the Hindi pop band Euphoria".
Srinivasan added that the tune is "similarly lush and folkish" and
Prasad does "some interesting things in the interludes—the use of violins
and solo-violin in the first and second interludes, to be specific".[21] Madhavi Tata of Outlook India
called Prasad's music, especially the song "Love Cheyyala Vadda" (To
love or not to), a "winner".[22] The Times of India,
however, gave the soundtrack 2 out of 5 stars and commen
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