Nagarjuna D
Sainikpuri, Vayupuri, and Panipuri
Simple things make great things. This is what this movie capitalized on, and the audience accepted this largeheartedly. Hardly known actors with one or two known ones, Little Hearts proved that given a neat script with lovely dialogues in typical urban lingo could yield results more than expectations. In a city like Brisbane with fewer than a hundred people and the theatre packed fully, there was cheer in every one exiting after the show, and the feeling of satisfaction was quite palpable.
If parents compartmentalise themselves as conservatives and liberals, the movie would go in favour of those who believe in enjoying and taking life as it comes rather than dying to make it as it should.
Story of the 1990s, the movie perfectly matches that era and Sainikpuri, Vayupuri, Neredmet, AS Rao Nagar, and ECIL locales made the movie very nostalgic for the typical middle classes that went through the rigours of bringing up children with both parents, and kids witnessing the devil of the present and the deep sea of the future. These areas are so well known to every Telugu family, and that way, the audience could relate pretty well. The hero and the heroine are like any next-door Gen Z guys with no aplomb of silver screen known stars.
Sainikpuri and Vayupuri have a joke to share as quoted in an old issue of Reader’s Digest. A visiting lad asked a military resident from the army as to why these places are named so. The proud army officer said Sainikpuri represents those who retired from the army, while Vayupuri represents those from the air force. The boy found the logic pretty reasonable and in a split second, asked whether they had Panipuri representing the guys from the Navy. Having quoted this, Little Hearts revolves around the famous panipuri stalls that dot almost every quarter km in these areas. Panipuris seems to fulfil gastronomic love, and like someone said, the route to the heart is through the belly; this picture proved thus as its evidence.
A clean movie with typical Telangana dialogues, also satisfying the Andhra accent, the movie is a win-win for the entire Telugu audience. Songs may not be melodious for those die-hard senior citizens, but overall, they seem to gel well with a wider cross-section of listeners. The script of the songs seems to have captivated the youngsters more than the melody. The story reminds you of Tendulkar’s and Shakespeare’s in one aspect, and if you have guessed correctly, keep it to yourself till you see the flick.
Produced at a cost of ₹2.5 crores, the picture netted several times of that amount, sending a strong signal that audiences are very selective. The writing on the wall is that they demand something new, creative, and more than the good old stereotype heroes and heroines backed by oft-repeated comedians. This movie enjoyed a stroke of luck as there were no big movies projected as box office hits, which normally eclipse good movies until the viewers detect them on OTT.
Don’t miss this on OTT when it comes, but if you really have time, money, patience, and convenience, then rush to the nearest theatre because here the audience is free from other disturbing elements like mobile phones, remote control of TV, but rather have an earmarked slot exclusively reserved to enjoy a movie in a true entertainment sense.
In a month, Brisbane showed this writer two movies, one with single-digit attendance and the other with three-digit percentage. The first one had a super-duper hero with a very big cast, and this one had very few known characters. One need not hesitate to give it 4/5 if your choice is pure and clean entertainment.
