Awe (film)
Awe is a 2018 Indian Telugu-language psychological cross genre film written and directed by Prasanth Varma (in his feature debut). It is produced by Nani and Prashanti Tipirneni under their maiden production house Wall Poster Cinema. The film features an ensemble cast of Kajal Aggarwal, Nithya Menen, Regina Cassandra, Eesha Rebba, Srinivas Avasarala, Priyadarshi Pullikonda and Murali Sharma. It also features the voices of Nani and Ravi Teja. Awe deals with psychological issues and social problems like child abuse, sexual abuse, lesbianism and drug abuse.
Awe
Prasanth Varma
Goutham Nerusu
Mark K. Robin
- 16 February 2018
110 minutes
India
Telugu
est. ₹25 crore[1]
The film was released worldwide on 16 February 2018 and received highly positive reviews from critics and audiences. At the 66th National Film Awards, the film won the award for Best Special Effects, and Best Make-up.[2]
Plot[edit]
While working as a janitor, Shiva hopes to create a time travelling machine so as to meet his parents whom he hasn't met. Parvathy, a wheel-chair bound woman, shows up and asserts herself to be his future-self and claims that she has traveled back in time to restrain their parents' deaths, which are supposed to occur in an hour. Nala, a down-on-his-luck man, desperately tries to find employment and applies for the post of a chef at a restaurant owned by Chitra. Despite being unaware of how to cook, he manages to fulfill the tasks by following YouTube cooking videos. To his surprise, he realizes that he could hear Nani, a goldfish, and Chanti, a bonsai tree, talking in the kitchen and that he is the only one to be able to converse and communicate with them.
While dining with her parents at a restaurant, Radha informs them about her lover Krish. Krish shows up and Radha's parents are stunned to realize that Krish aka Krishnaveni is a woman and that Radha is a homosexual woman. They strictly oppose their same-sex marriage but are touched when Krish tells them that she is Radha's psychiatrist and that Radha has been a victim of constant sexual abuse, which transformed her sexual orientation. Meanwhile, Moksha, an eight-year-old girl, assists her absent mother at the latter's restaurant and performs magic tricks for the customers. Yogi, an egoistic magician, pays a visit to the restaurant and clashes with Moksha but ends up being tormented by a mysterious magic master in the restaurant's restroom, who could be the God Himself.
Mira, a drug-addicted barista at the restaurant, conspires with her boyfriend Sugar to purloin the money of a wealthy investor, who is expected to visit the restaurant. Mira discovers a necklace inside a tree at the restaurant and takes it for herself. She serves a regular customer Raghuram, whose residence is told to have been at the place where the restaurant is currently present and that his late beloved wife is claimed to have been buried under the tree where Mira found the necklace. She witnesses Raghuram conversing with his late wife and is horrified upon seeing her ghost. Elsewhere, Kali, an evidently despondent woman, signs an organ donation form and a note which reads, "I am going to conduct a mass murder, and I plead not guilty".
All the above events, except for that of Kali, are revealed to have been taking place at the same restaurant in parallel. Meanwhile, Sugar tries to execute his plan to loot the investor by instructing Mira to turn the lights off but she switches them on upon being threatened by the ghost of Raghuram's wife, foiling Sugar's plan. Neither caught nor suspected, he sits calmly and waits for another opportunity to accomplish the task. Moksha begins to play a magic trick for the investor, inadvertently distracting him from the money which causes Sugar to steal it. Nevertheless, the investor catches him red-handed. Sugar takes Moksha as a human shield but Yogi messes him up using his magic tricks, paving way for himself and Krish to combat Sugar. However, the gun is inadvertently fired and Radha is shot in her stomach. A panicked Sugar tries to run away but Nala restrains him by hitting him with a stick upon being motivated by Nani. Krish and Radha's parents try to rush Radha to an hospital but Parvathy commands Shiva to restrict them and states that if anyone will leave the restaurant, their parents shall die due to the butterfly effect. She further tells them that she traveled back in time numerous times to prevent them from stepping out of the restaurant but has continued to fail. Abruptly, lights begin to flicker and tremors occur in the restaurant with inhabitants unable to take control of the situation. Elsewhere, Kali shoots herself and along with her, all the characters in the restaurant die.
It is revealed that Moksha, Radha, Mira, Krish, Nala, Shiva, Yogi and Parvathy are split personalities of Kali, representing various traumatic phases of her life. She has committed suicide to ease the burden she has been carrying due to her disease, prompting all the characters to die with her.
Production[edit]
Nani met director Prasanth Varma who narrated the storyline to him. Nani reportedly loved the script and decided to produce the film himself. On 25 November 2017, the actor unveiled the title poster of the film at a star-studded event. The film was bankrolled by the actor's debut production house, Wallposter Cinema and co-produced by Prashanti Tipirneni, who worked as a costume designer for the Baahubali film series.[3]
The film features an ensemble cast, which includes Kajal Aggarwal, Nithya Menen, Regina Cassandra, Eesha Rebba, Srinivas Avasarala, Murali Sharma, Priyadarshi Pullikonda, Rohini and Devadarshini. Nani voices a fish, who is one of the two voice-over narrators while Ravi Teja was brought in to play as the second of the two voice-over narrators, featuring as the voice of a bonsai.
While Karthik Ghattamaneni, Sahi Suresh and Gautham Nerusu were reported to be the cinematographer, art director and editor respectively. Newcomer Mark K Robin was hired to compose the score and songs.
Music[edit]
The film score and soundtrack were composed by newcomer Mark K Robin. Initially, the film features only one song titled "Theme of Awe" which was played in the opening and end credits of the film. The song was digitally released in YouTube and other streaming platforms on 9 February 2018, while it was launched at the Radio Mirchi FM Station in Hyderabad on 13 February 2018, in the presence of the film's cast and crew.[9] Sung by Sharon, with lyrics written by Krishna Kanth, The Times of India stated that "The song is tailor made for the movie."[10] Lahari Music released the opening credits and ending credits video on 30 June and 1 July respectively, which features the theme song. Both the videos were released on two different YouTube channels.[11]
Legacy[edit]
Celebrities such as actors Rahul Ravindran, Anupama Parameswaran, Adivi Sesh, Vennela Kishore, Shashank, director Madhura Sreedhar Reddy, producer Shobu Yarlagadda and costume designer Neeraja Kona , praised Nani and Prashanth Varma for the latter's scripting and direction and the former's production values.[24][25] The film was presented at the World Congress of Psychiatry in Mexico, by an Indian medical student from the US who presented at the conference as "Dissociative Identity Disorder in Indian Cinema."[26]