srinivasa
rao's
LITTLEJOHN
cast: Bentley
Mitchum, Jyothika, Anupam Kher
Director Srinivasa Rao is
undoubtedly one of the most innovative and experienced of
directors that the country have today. Best remembered
for his tie up with Kamal Hassan to bring us some gems
like Pushpak, Appu Raja, Avvai
Shanmughi etc, Rao is once again ready with
yet another project that promises a lot!
The movie, titled LITTLE JOHN. is being
made in three languages simultaneously ((English, Tamil,
Hindi) and there shall be no dubbing business like some
of the usual south indian projects.
Little John essentially is a folk story put into modern
times and brought out with advanced film making
techniques including what promises to be spectacular
graphics.
Bentley Mitchum the hero was so engrossed in this project
that he actually did take the pains to learn Tamil and
Hindi for it. He even has sung a song in Hindi.
Bentley, already has done quite a few major Hollywood
flicks and numerous television shows and serials but
immediately took on this project as it came along because
of the fascination he has to Indian culture. He was in no
way to let this experience slip away from his hands.
Keeping Bentley company is Jyothika
(Naghma's sister) who after a rather damp start in
Bollywood with Priyadarshan's DOLI DAJAKE RAKHNA has from
then on moved to Tamil movies and is already one of the
top most heroines there already and ever since she won
the best Debut award for Vaali last year, there is no
looking back for this young star.
Also featuring in this movie in an important role as the
Swamiji is the versatile Anupam Kher.
The story is about a young American lad who comes down to
India to do some research on the country, its culture,
its people and lifestyles. Here he meets an Indian girl,
Vaani who befreinds him and helps him out in his
research. John's work takes him to a remote temple in
South India famous for its miracles.
And it is over here that he meets a Swamiji in a nearby
ashram, who tells John a lot about the powers and the
evils that go hand in hand with this temple. John also
comes to know of a certain 'mookuthi' (nosering) that has
certain miraclous powers and also about an evil force
'Bhairav' who plans to steal this mookuthi. This is
because it is essential for a grand ritual to be
performed on a full moon night.
Eventually Bhairav does steal it only to lose it when it
slips off and falls into an anthill.
Meanwhile, John is accused of this theft. But he manages
to escape from prison and heads straight to the Swamiji
who helps him out by making him a six inch man. Thus you
have John going about the rest of the movie as a short
tiny figure and he has to reach his friend Vani and also
stay away from Bhairav as he reclaims the mookuthi.
This fantasy movie might not be exactly the right cup of
tea as far as Indian cinema is concerned. All previous
attempts to bring out this kind of a fantasy cinema have
always met disastrous results. Remember Ajooba,
Chandramukhi etc. Such over-the-top subjects have always
been something hard for the Indian moviegoers to digest.
However being the kind of director Rao is, we can expect
that he shall put his heart and soul into this one. All
fingers are certainly kept crossed. Let us hope nobody
ends up burning them!
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