Home!! That place in world where Man feels the most comfortable, that place with which he identifies himself and his surroundings with.. And homecoming, that very relaxing and emotional ritual, that sense of memories rushing in.. It has happened to all of us, at some point of time or the other..
And that is exactly was transpires with the chief protagonist of Hyderabad Blues, Varun(Nagesh Kukunoor). Coming back home to hometown Hyderabad after twelve long years in the US, where he is employed with pesticide(?!!?).. umm sorry Coca-cola.. As soon as he lands in India, he is hit by the unchanged environment prevalent in his city, before he had left.
Back home, he is greeted by the typical family reunion, wherein masses of relatives you never even knew existed gossip about the factualities and actualities of the visit, discuss the contents of the over-laden US returned bag, compare the gold content of the jewels displayed by the far-off aunties, admire the intricate embroidery of the Kancheevaram saree, do everything but let you live in peace. Same is the case with Varun.
Varun's dad is the normal practical Indian father, thinking but at the same time orthodox, strict but lax, coaxing but providing leeways about, while Varun's mother is the typical Indian mother, who is concerned about the foreign food, about the eating habits, about the coming to marriageable age of the son, about the complete disdain shown to the Indian cultures shown by the son. Along with these typical characters, Varun also has two typical friends, Sanjeev and Harish. The former is on the threshold of matrimony while the latter has already taken the plunge.
Varun finds it difficult that his buddies are willing to marry someone whom they have never met before, someone they don't know anything about. Though these are cultures that have been around for centuries in India, Varun had not thought about them or questioned them, until he saw the completely different American culture, which allows one to be oneself, which does not have complex traditions, traditions that have no answers, that cannot and should not be questioned. Facing immense pressure from home to find a homely and cooking-ready bride from the same region, same religion and same sub-caste and creed, he finally agrees to accompany Sanjeev in the latter's quest for his life-companion, so that he can get a feel about what marriages happen in India.
During one such visit, Varun meets Ashwini. She is the best friend of the homely-girl, whom Sanjeev had come to see. She serves them tea and catched Varun's eye. Sanjeev decides(?!?) to marry this girl and coaxes Varun to get himself introduced to Ashwini. During the marriage as well, Ashwini serves Varun tea when he finally manages to get started on his get-to-know-you ritual.
Ashwini hates anything remotely American. She hates the foreign returned accent, hates the know everything attitude, hates the super-sophisticated aura, hates the I am-superior-to-you feelings, hates Varun. The remnant of the movie deals with how Varun manages to come to terms with the culture shock he faced, how he tries to woo Ashwini, how he seeks his identity...
Hyderabad Blues, released in 1998 during the IT boom time, probably heralded the coming of the multiplex-movies and the hatke plots. Made on a shoe-string budget, it proved that big star casts and multi-crore budgets do not a movie make. With most of the work outsourced (pun intended :-)) to family members and released at low costs to select centres, the movie made it big.
The confusion experienced by Varun is depicted very well, so are the situations he finds himself in. The movie does not try to demean India or her cultures, what is depicted is plain, simple facts.
India, undoubtedly, is the only place in the world where cattle can cause a traffic jam in city rush hours, where your cousin's uncle's daughter's brother-in-law would qualify as a close relative, where Rs.101/- would count as a round figure as an offering to God, where a non-existent police commissioner uncle would allow you to break laws, where prayers are shouted by one so that his/her prayers are heard first by God. Yes, India is all that. But India is also the only place where humility is an equivalent of beauty, where festivals exist for every occasion, where all are happy even if they are not the most well to do, where food tastes the best, where Mother Nature showered her choicest blessings. India defines me, defines the way I act, the way I think, the way I emote. India is in my heart, always was and will be.
Hyderabad Blues is very natural in that nothing seems unbelievable.. Excepting the ending, which was a literal showdown and let-down, almost a hurried ending, the movie is very well made... The conversations between Varun and his friends are filled with the typical expletives and crass gestures, the indifference Ashwini feels towards Varun initially is completely justified by her ideas and the slow acceptance by Varun of the Indian cultures.. Very humourous and ver real, Hyderabad Blues spun off a range of desi movies like Dollar dreams, American Desi, but none of those could quite ride the tidal wave that this movie able to ride.
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