Ganda Hendathi(2006)

From an interview with producer Shailendra Babu:

Do you mean to say 'Ganda Hendathi' is for wide section of audience?
Definitely! Even if it is adult certificate, the boys and girls, married couple and the elders can view this film for message in it. It is not enough if you tie the Mangalasutra. In case the husband and wife step on different path what happens in life is the theme of this film. The film has meaningful end.
Source

His remarks remind me of the time when, just before Showgirls was released, Joe Eszterhas urged underage kids to use their fake IDs to sneak in so that they wouldn't miss the film's "message", or some such hilarity. Maybe it's just my family, but I can't imagine any of my older relatives, parents included, sticking around long enough to decipher "the message" behind Thilak and Sanjana's numerous--and often eyebrow-raising(for me, anyway)--make out sessions. For instance, the scene where Thilak smears ice cream on Sanjana's face and licks it off would be enough to make them vow to never watch another movie with me again.

I, for the most part, don't have a problem with skin show, so I enjoyed the movie. **grin** I mean, how could I not love an unintentionally funny, almost scene-by-scene, song-by-song rip-off of Murder? As soon as I saw Thilak fake falling to his equally fake death in front of an obvious blue screen, I knew that my $9.93 had been well-spent.

I would describe Ganda Hendathi as "awesomely bad, and delighfully sleazy". For me, it's right up there with Hawas(2004) and Fun(Can Be Dangerous Sometime) in terms of unrepentant skeazyness. Murder may have had better production values, but I like the Thilak-Sanjana pairing better than the Emraan-Mallika one. The former appeared to genuinely enjoy each other(although, a couple of times, Sanjana appeared hesitant and/or uncomfortable). If they actually hated one another during filming, then they're better actors than I initially thought.

"Oho Nasheyo" and "Nidiregu Raja" don't get stuck in my head as often as their respective Hindi counterparts, "Kaho Na Kaho" and "Bheegey Hont", so I'm automatically partial to them. Plus, the picturisations are sexier and more in-yer-face(e.g the ice cream licking scene I mentioned earlier).

Sanjana is cute, but I wish she'd ditch the blue contact lenses. Yeah, they're her eyeballs and she can stick whatever she wants on them, but personally, I prefer the way she looks with her natural eye color.

I...like Thilak, to put it delicately. And his hair makes him look like "he belongs in a Pantene commercial", to quote a YouTube commenter.

Vishal Hegde looked like such a sad sack with his flat hair and specs that I felt sorry for him. At least he wasn't quite as forgettable as Ashmit Patel. (I have nothing against Ashmit, really, it's just that I honestly forget that he was in Murder.)

I think I'll watch this tonight. I need to take my mind off the stupid-idity going on right now.