Here's How The Brilliant Usage Of Cinematic Techniques Make Pelli Choopulu One Of The Best Contemporary Films!

Whenever a debutante makes a film, it leaves the audience with mixed opinions. Some say that the point is good and execution is bad. Some say that the director needs more experience. And most of them leave the audience without any impact. But, this Tharun Bhascker Dhassyam's Pelli Choopulu made a lasting impression on every one who has seen it. Not only in Telugu, but also in other languages. People out there were ready to remake this film. How did this regional small budget film reach out to so many people of differenct languages and different cultures? The obvious answer is, Pelli Choopulu did not just speak through Telugu, but, beyond it. That is the language of Cinema. To mark the excellence in the language, I would like to mention few points. Three intelligent and perfect cinematic additions, which made this movie very impactful. Here we go. 1. Color Sense : It's simple. In the color pallette of Cinema, there are three primary colors. Red. Yellow. Blue. These three represents various emotions and when we mix these, we get million more emotions. Out of those three, all the colors between Red and Yellow are basically more aggressive and powerful. Coming to Pelli Choopulu, Chitra is more powerful than Prashant. That is quite brilliantly established in the very first interaction of both the characters.

Through out the movie, whenever the scene required Chitra to be aggresive/dominating, she's seen in Yellow/Dark Yellow/Red/Orange-Red. But, surprisingly, Prashant is always shown in either White or Normal Yellow. Pelli Choopulu is a perfect travel of these colors.

When Prashant and Chitra collaborate to start the Food-Truck, they start to develop a relation. Now, what should colors do? Yes, they combine. Yellow and Orange mixup and give us a golden flavour.

When Vikram comes to apologize to Chitra, her command in this situation is marked by Red. Red indicates her strength.

This cinematic technique is mostly used by legends like Mani Ratnam and Sanjay Leela Bhansali. I'm not comparing Tharun to those people, but, clearly stating that, the adaptation of this technique is nicely done by him. It's like a rule he's followed. Not just those two colors. Even blue and black is explored to an extent. If I talk about them, this article will just keep getting bigger. Just look at these images and the actors' costumes. You'll understand it better.

As someone who is watching the script from outside, I may not understand the usage of few colors here and there, but, I really think, Tharun has his reasons. Good work went in there. **Have you ever seen such yellow fire?**

2. Sound Design : Another fascinating piece of work in Pelli Choopulu is the design of Sound. I'll tell you a few scenes and the reason for the sound in that. Take this one. Here, Prashant and Chitra talk. Chitra expresses her wish to start a Food Truck with Prashant as main Chef. It's basically a career proposal to Prashant, who is lazy and aimless. To take the design of sound in that scene, it is basically a weird humming. A girl hums a tuneless sound. It is as aimless and devoid of clarity as Prashant. Sound is conceived that beautifully.

Another example would be this. Throughout the movie, Prashant listens to his friends twice. Once, when Prashant decides to make prank videos on Youtube and the second time is when he runs out of money to cook food, Kaushik gives him an idea to just order the menu at a restaurant and serve the same. Interestingly, in both the scenes, sound of a man who just blabbers non-sense is played. That voice is just as non-sensical as Kaushik's advice.

Not only this, Prashant's and Chitra's travel throughout the film is presented musically. When the boys work on the old truck to make it stylish, a remix/stylish version of 'Raalupoola Ragamala' is played in the background. So, they basically have a strong reason to place a remix song in the album.

Sometimes, when the characters speak their hearts out, the very same woman who hummed aimlessly, sings 'Sakhiye' with so much depth.

Such an intelligent work. We may not know the importance of this work when we watch the movie directly. But, somewhere, psychologically, all of this is responsible for us to like the movie. 3. Scene Choreography : To tell you about the intelligent way of scene design, I'll give you two perfect examples. One, when Prashant and his team come to Chitra to start the makeover project of the truck. And two, when Prashant and Chitra talk to each other in a coffee shop almost towards the end. In the first scene here, Chitra stands on the terrace of her home and the boys are on the ground floor. In that scene, Chitra basically gives them instructions on how to modify the truck. In that scene, her character is commanding. Her voice is stronger. Just to translate that visually, Tharun made Chitra to stand on the terrace, on higher ground. Her position justifies her dominance. So, Prashant and his team will have to look up and talk to her. Her command can be seen even in her costume color.

This sort of visual play of power is seen in Mani Ratnam's Iddaru/Iruvar. Watch the scene and you'll understand my point. And in the second scene, Chitra and Prashant talk to each other in a coffee shop and her friend informs them and audience about the radio interview of these two. Basically, after we travel that far into the movie, we're more bothered about the discussion between the lead actors on how they would take their next step as they have a conflict going on, than the radio show that will feature these people. To translate that into visuals, just look at the way he composed and edited this scene. So, he establishes the location through a long/medium full shot. It shows Chitra and Prashant opposite to each other from outside through a glass wall.

Next, we go in. Medium close of both of them.

They start to talk and the friend comes in between. After few seconds, again the camera is placed outside to showcase three of them through the glass wall.

As soon as the friend leaves them to buy a club sandwich, we go in to medium closes (much closer this time) again.

My question is WHY? What does that edit signify? I'll tell you. As we're not bothered about the friends character in that scene, he may have felt that, it is unnecessary to involve that character in between the pair. But, audience should know about the radio show that will air the next day. What to do? So, interestingly, whenever that character talks in that scene, only her voice is heard or the camera is placed outside the discussion area. When the friend's voice is heard, we know that someone is speaking and we cannot see that person. That glass wall adds that separated feel to it. So, when she leaves, camera moves into the discussion. Intelligent way of composing a scene. After its success, a lot of people said that, Pelli Choopulu without Kaushik is nothing. I would totally disagree with that. Because, Pelli Choopulu is almost perfect as a movie. I know, it still has its flaws here and there. But, who's perfect in the first attempt, right? It is led by a director and his presence is clearly seen. So, when there is a commanding director to a movie, all the comedy and the entertainment is just a sauce on the deliciously cooked food. And, after receiving the National Award, a few thought that it is over rated or did not know the reason for its win. So, this could be one of the prime reasons for its win and for people who doubt its worth, I have something to ask. Seriously, which other Telugu movie that came out last year, was made this passionately? Pelli Choopulu, according to me, is the Romance of Colors in a Cinematically etched (almost perfectly) World. We're watching you Tharun.