Kick - A movie that metaphorically kick started my brain.

A 2009 movie that had everybody I knew in splits and howling in laughter, which I finally got around to watching earlier this week woke me up from my stupor and led me here. 

A poster of the movie, KICK
Image Credits : http://www.landmarkonthenet.com/kick-telugu-by-ssurender-reddy-movies-4087154/

The movie was an undisputed hit, people loved everything about it, the concept, the music, the twists in the plot, the comedy, the bootylicious actress and the charming, daring albeit a little older looking hero, the protagonist.

I could not stand to sit beyond the first few minutes after the titles but the prospect of being entertained made me hold my ground, clutch my pillow and throw my laptop off the bed.

The movie opens with a woman (the afore mentioned bootylicious actress) contorting herself in an effort to find peace and sort out her troubles when her parents and a sister approach her with a marriage proposal. All this is under a gazebo on an extending pier so that she can achieve her tranquility without being disturbed. Like a typical contemporary Indian woman, she does not want to get married right away because she has something to pursue and prove, but wait, what was that again? Studying? Nope, there is no mention of that, nor of a career (of course her future spouse does have to have) nor of her having any sort of dreams or goals for herself.

But nevertheless, in spite of her very obvious reluctance she meets with this guy, who happens to be a police officer (whose first name happens to be the same as her one true love but ex-boyfriend, the hero) since she is a dutiful daughter and they end up sharing life stories, which form the flashback for most of the first half of the movie (and they still look the same as last year? Probably all the contortion... ) and then agree to get married, in the width of a local train (read metro with posh interiors) journey in Malaysia.

After which, the hero waltzes back in to their lives with a complicated comedy side track, and then at one point makes his ex girlfriend realise that she is being dishonest about her love for him and walks away. 

Now the parallel plot, the secret bright side to our hero's facetious quest for kick is revealed.

He is in fact a modern Robin Hood, serving the noble cause of curing orphan (one has parents who commit suicide since they decided they cannot take care of their dying daughter and leave her to die alone or fend for herself) children with deathly diseases, by stealing money from corrupt politicians (all of them old, Telugu speaking, Dhoti wearing, God fearing and openly accepting that they have cheated people and earned money) and greedy capitalist businessmen (the leader here being the heroine's own father). 

The nobility of the cause, justifies the means and the earlier introduced police officer who has never compromised on his ethics, decides to let go of trying to capture this thief and bows out silently when the thief turns into a cop.

The End.

Forgive my bracketed commentary, I know it makes for confused reading but it colours the judgement into the right shade palette. 

This movie provoked many thoughts inside my head but I exercise a strong control on them since I wanted to complete seeing the movie without trashing it right away.  However, the end credits were the limit, they very simply underlined the essence of the movie, the kind of film making this was and the audience it was meant for.

Those with the ability to turn off their brains to get entertained.

How?

How can one turn it off and not think when they see a young couple leave their less than 10 years old, unhealthy daughter at an orphanage and commit suicide? Especially when they know there is a cure possible for her, however highly expensive it maybe? 

It is alright for a random stranger to break laws and steal for her cure but not for her own parents (since the government apparently does not do anything for this section of people who need the help)?

What sort of a world do we live in where the parents are allowed to turn into martyrs and choke on their ineptitude? 

How is this acceptable to even the most unthinking audience?

How can one turn it off and believe that all politicians are corrupt and greedy and still vote for them? How do they distinguish their choice from the rest, having believed that it is a postulate that includes ALL of them?

How can one turn it off when the son and father get totally drunk together(but are responsible enough not to drive) and that is not an example of depravity but an act of getting one's kicks and generating affection for another?

How can one turn it off when a car bomb blasts a car but the man in the driver's seat remains hurt but alive? Especially when we see them as horrible, atrocious acts of violence in real life? 

Why should anyone care then, when a blast racks through a city, hurts people and causes chaos? If it is funny in a movie, it should be funny when we see mangled limbs as part of the television coverage, right? 

How can one turn it off so completely that this genre of movies rule the media today and we all spend money, time and brain power to be a part of them? 

Because every time we see a movie like this, and do not have an urge to barf, we are accepting it and becoming a part of the epidemic that allows and accepts that people have to turn their brains off.

Acceptance of the ridiculous and logic defying in a movie is just a few steps away from accepting rot and disease as the natural way of existence. 

What then?

I have very regularly been told by people I like and respect for their thinking abilities that I take movies amongst other things too seriously and should learn to watch it without thinking too much.

I am now beginning to question my ability to think since I thought it was alright to respect them.

It is surprising that people can think, question, solve and be wonderful and still like and love these movies.

Parts of the movie where laughter is the end result of timing and logic and not titillation, hence is a genuinely comic situation are the only excuse that I can make for these people being able to stomach these movies and the only redemption I can think of, for liking them.

Oh, and no offence intended (Read without the No).

Namaste!