A Bengali watches Fidaa (2017)

It was in college that I got hooked to Telugu movies. Despite the running vein of misogyny even in the women centric films, these movies are what we call masala entertainment- they will always play up a bunch of tropes that we as audiences enjoy with complete awareness.

When Fidaa was released it was hailed as a film that had done something the Telugu industry doesn’t often do, atleast in the mainstream- a strong, female lead, almost no objectification and a hero who did not spend a good amount of time beating up goons. Sadly, it didn't translate to many more such films being made but one can always hope.

What I want to point out is something in Fidaa’s storyline that makes it stand out in the character development department. Real true growth.

In the first half of the film, Bhanu (Sai Pallavi’s character) comes across as a hot-headed, impulsive and bratty girl who does nonetheless have several important points to make about marriages and the woman’s place in the natal and marital home. Had the filmmakers left her making all those impulsive mistakes, the film would have turned out badly but they had her see the error of her ways and let go of her preconceived notions and become a better person in the second half. The Bhanu at the end is a very different girl from the one in the beginning.

Varun (Varun Tej) does not show the transition to that degree. He is quite the charmer in the 1st half, but his arrogant misbehavior and ill-treatment of Bhanu (far worse than her childish antics) is reasoned as being due to lovesickness and trying to get over her. Neither character apologises to each other, smoothing over ruffled feathers by being nicer instead- which was not a satisfactory resolution to me. His character growth comes from giving up a desire for riches and settling back in India as a PHC doctor.

Much has already been written about the remarkable acting by the cast, so I shall not reiterate that.

Fidaa does several things unsatisfactorily- treats Bhanu’s fiance and Varun’s side-chick as mere plot points and disposables and leaves the siblings as underdeveloped cardboard support figures. For a film that made a path-breaking, modern village girl in Bhanu, it disappoints with a dialogue stereotyping white girls as gadget-bearing AC-inhabitants.

But Fidaa does so much right and well that I am not complaining too hard and loud.