Sapta Sagaradaache Ello (Side A) movie review: Poignant, immersive and heart wrenching, deserving of nothing but love

Cast: Rakshit Shetty, Rukmini Vasanth

Director: Hemanth Rao

The heart of a romance drama lies in its music. It is the songs that give the story a soul, one that leaves the film with a beating heart. Sapta Sagaradaache Ello (Side A) is such a film. It has a tale so profound about love that it is hard to not feel the weight of all the emotions that are filled to the brim in this film. The story of Manu and Priya is simple. The two are in love, and are on their way to starting a life together. They are not financially secure as Priya is still a student, and Manu, a driver. Manu dreams of a better future for them, he wants more out of life, and his desires are beyond his reach. Priya, on the other hand, is happy where she is. Her happiness comes from singing, and if things did go as they planned, they would have been happy in their lives.

However, Manu’s desires takes the lead and pushes him to choose greed. Not over love, but for it. He believes that choosing financial security is the right decision. However, Manu is surrounded by two-faced people whose greed for money and power trounce his sincere pleas. The question now is if Manu and Priya can overcome such struggles where the obstacles seem too high for them to jump over, even when together. They do their best to be each other’s strength and in doing, give us a realistic look at what unconditional love could look like.

It is the simple everyday things that Priya misses about being with Manu when he is imprisoned, and the beauty of their story also lies in these simple things. It is probably why their story is profound. So many shots that establishes their relationship centers on close-up. The constant focus on Priya’s eyes when she calls Manu ‘Kathe’, the endearing tone that she uses, all of this places the attention on their love. As viewers, when we continue to focus on their love, and their story, we are completely immersed in their lives. To the point that it is not only Manu who years to hear Priya singing again, but us viewers as well. When the lives of such a lovely couple is turned upside down by other people, it cannot be a simple conflict.

To make it more complex, the film gives every key character in the film the time to deliberate over their decisions. Even the ones that ruin Manu doesn’t come quickly, because these decisions are all made by other flawed humans. While Manu did the things he did for love, the others do it for money or power. The time given to deliberate over their decision is what adds the weight to the story. When Priya decides to stay by Manu’s side despite everything, she takes her time. When he refuses to be a blight in her life, and asks her to leave him alone, she takes her time then too. Even when she agrees to get married to someone else, she takes her time. That one last attempt of making Manu’s favourite sweet to see if he changes his mind, while she waits amid a crowd of visitors in a jail, is one of best shots in the films.

The other being, Manu’s final goodbye to her. Of course, Priya is not aware of Manu’s decision at this point but because this may as well be the last time that Manu sees Priya, he drinks her in. ‘Drinking someone in’ is a phrase that is commonly used in romance novels to indicate the intensity with a lead character looks at their partner, and Manu, in this scene, perfectly visualises this emotion.

Such a beautiful film is not possible without equally mesmerising visuals and cinematographer Advaitha Gurumurthy has done a brilliant job. The visuals stay true to the circumstances, and yet, it feels like we are watching these characters through a rose-tinted glass. Love softens up a lot of the visuals of Manu and Priya together. When they are separated, on the other hand, we see the visuals get sharper. Then there is the sea, which symbolises Priya’s love, and the rain that symbolises Manu’s heartbreak. The visual set-up of all of these is well-thought out. And finally, the one scene that really had me by my throat is the parallel that runs between Priya’s wedding, where she walks on a path laid with flowers, while Manu, in the jail walks through one enclosed with thorns. Yet, through it all, the love that the two hold for each other is filtered through with the help of the music.

Despite how heartbreaking Sapta Sagaradaache Ello (Side A) has been, I cannot wait to see what happens to Manu and Priya in Sapta Sagaradaache Ello (Side B).

Rating: 4 (out of 5 stars)

Sapta Sagaradaache Ello (Side A) is playing in cinemas

Priyanka Sundar is a film journalist who covers films and series of different languages with a special focus on identity and gender politics.