Movie Review: Eega (2012)

Eega (2012) co-written and directed by S. S. Rajamouli

Nani (Nani--no really, that's the actor's name!) is in love with the cute lady across the street, Bindu (Samantha Ruth Prabhu). She's been playing hard-to-get with him while she works at a charity that donates school supplies across India. Since she's always looking for donations, he brings her a check for 15 rupees, basically pocket change. She meets with Sudeep (Kiccha Sudeepa), a corrupt businessman who is quite full of himself. He thinks he can make any woman fall in love with him and has his eye on Bindu. She has her eye on Nani, who has his eye on her. This situation infuriates Sudeep, who goes to the extreme of killing Nani. The big plot twist comes when Nani is reincarnated as a house fly and is dead set on protecting Bindu and getting revenge on Sudeep, who has a major business deal with the government that needs to go through or his company will fail.

So, the premise is bonkers. The filmmakers lean into the ridiculousness of the situation. They are quite inventive in coming up with ways for the fly to make Sudeep miserable. Thankfully, they do not have the fly talk, there is not even an inner dialogue of the actor speaking. The character expresses itself through physical gestures and occasionally using the environment to write things. The CGI is lackluster but forgivable because the story is a lot of fun (I am not sure viewers would want a highly realistic-looking fly protagonist). The actors are charming (except for the despicable villain) and a fun time is had by all (except for the despicable villain). The director is the same guy who made RRR and Baahubali, so if you liked those you will probably like this. I love over-the-top, creative movies so I had a great time watching this.

Recommended.