Ten little Aachaars!!

Ten little ‘Aachaars’ : My quick take on movie “Aachaar & co”. (Amazon prime)

A plain vanila feel good movie , fit for a family viewing, however movie missed a great chance of becoming a worthy successor to “Malgudi days 2.0”. It’s a PKR production’s product, a dream production company started by Late Puneet Raj Kumar to promote budding artists and movie makers. Written and directed by Sindhu Sreenivas Murthy , she has even acted in this Retro family drama.

After getting pleasantly “pickled” in this Aachaar & Co for nearly two hours, you are bound to have a conflict in your mind as to ‘was it because of great writing or was it because of wonderful direction or was it because of some exemplary performances or was it because of transporting you to 1960s’ or like a tangy Aachaar it was due to a perfect concoction of all that you thoroughly enjoyed the movie.

Plot is set in 1960s in ‘namma Bungaluru’ , where a highly productive Government Civil engineer Madhusudan Aachar is staying with is huge kabila of 10 kids. The story spans nearly one and half decades and makes us go through the dreams and aspirations of the family members. It can termed as an inspiring story of woman empowerment, fight against age old patriarchy but all this is done without making it a melodramatic movie. Take a bow Director.

It's wonderful to hear that Bindhumalini's music in "Aachaar & Co," including the "Bengaluru Suprabhaata," adds depth to the film and helps set the era. The attention to detail in capturing the transition from the 1960s to the 1974s through elements like fashion, hairstyles, and background music is a testament to the film's dedication to creating an authentic and immersive experience. It seems like a well-crafted movie with a keen eye for period-specific details.

Like Aghata Christie’s Ten little Nigers, this plot too hovers around Ten little Iyengaars (Achar’s) , with too many characters around , I felt that writer could not give emotional depths to each of these 10 Achaars, this was the only blemish in what otherwise can be termed as an impressive screenplay. Secondly, the climax too looks very hushed up, which in my view had enough scope of improvement. I also felt , had the makers shot the movie in sepia tone or used the yesteryears ‘Eastman color’ pallet, then it would have improved its authenticity quotient. However it is the performances and overall feel good factor which makes you overlook these glitches.

Overall, this Aachaar is worth tasting. Looks like Kannada movies ke acche din aa gaye 👍.

Watch it , it is available with many language options.