Matta - Review

Review of Matta
Starring : Jaggesh
Director: Guruprasad

A very unique movie.
The movie begins with Upakathe Govindu [Short story Govindu] - Jaggesh - narrating a story of the Matta to a sister (Christian) who is visiting that Matta. His story starts with the Mattadeesha (Head of the Matta) giving up his position and sansyasatva to enter grihastaashrama. The head priest of the Matta now has the responsibility to find another Mattadeesha. The first part is definitely picked from SL Byrappa's Grahana. But then from here on it deviates from Grahana. The head priest (Sudarshan) picks 7 unemployed and wasted people to train them for the position. Each of the 7 people have a story that shaped them into what they have become (You realize the significance at the end of the movie. So when you watch the movie, do remember each of the stories). Every person is symbolic of a vice. The other characters are Daridralaskhmi - who is symbolic of the wretchedness of the Matta, a dog symbolic of the conscience guarding your decisions and blind astrologer symbolic of blind beliefs. The story is about how these 7 people help eachother to stay at the Matta. The last 5 minutes is when the symbolisms unfold. The movie has a strong set of dialogues. Useless songs, but they are not the forte of the movie anyway. The main story is interspersed with other interesting short stories irrelevant to the main idea of the movie. I am too tempted to tell you more about the story and symbolisms, but I shall let you watch the movie. The VCD is available in Landmark. It is a must watch Kannada movies because intelligent movies are hardly made in Kannda movies.