Awe (film)

Awe
Priyadarshi Pullikonda Srinivas Avasarala Murali Sharma
Cinematography	Karthik Gattamneni
Edited by	Goutham Nerusu
Music by	Mark K. Robin
Production company	Wall Poster Cinema
Release date	16 February 2018 (2018-02-16)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu
Budget	₹5 crore[1]
Box office	est. ₹25 crore[1]

Awe is a 2018 Indian

.

The film was released worldwide on 16 February 2018 and received highly positive reviews from critics and audiences. At the 66th National Film Awards, the film won the award for Best Special Effects, and Best Make-up.^[2]

Plot

Shiva is a watchman and an aspiring scientist who is building a time machine to meet his parents whom he hasn't met for years, when Parvathy, a woman, suddenly shows up and claims that she is his future-self and has traveled back in time to prevent their parents' death, which she claims will occur in an hour.

Nala is a down-on-his-luck man who applies to be a chef at a restaurant. While he does not even know how to cook, he just follows instructions in

in the kitchen, which both surprisingly can even talk and he is the only human that can hear, understand and communicate with them.

Radha is with her parents waiting for her partner, Krish. When Krish shows up, Radha's parents are surprised to see that Krish is a woman whose full name is Krishnaveni, and she and Radha are lovers. Radha's parents strongly object to Radha and Krish's relationship as they cannot accept same-sex marriage. However, Radha's parents are moved when Krish, a psychiatrist by profession, tells them that Radha hates men due to horrific incidents she faced in her childhood, which later prompted to change her sexual orientation towards women.

Moksha is an 8-year-old girl who works at her mother's restaurant and performs magic tricks to the customers. Yogi, an egoistic magician, visits her restaurant. He humiliates Moksha after watching her magic show but ends up being humiliated by someone claimed to be a magic master, who may actually be a soul or even God Himself.

Mira is a barista at a restaurant who is also a drug addict. She and her boyfriend Sugar are gearing up to loot a rich investor whom they expect to come to the restaurant soon. Mira accidentally finds a necklace inside a tree in the restaurant and wears it. She serves a regular customer Raghuram, whose wife, according to an old staff in the restaurant, was buried alive years ago under the tree where Mira found the necklace. Mira is frightened on seeing the ghost of Raghuram's wife.

A young unhappy woman named Kali prepares to shoot herself. She signs an organ donation document and a death note which reads, "I am going to conduct a mass murder, and I plead not guilty."

The above stories occur in parallel at the same restaurant.

Sugar conducts his plan to loot the investor but fails when his partner Mira is scared by the ghost. On being neither caught nor suspected, he sits naturally, waiting for another chance. Later, Moksha plays a magic trick for Sugar's target. Seeing this as a distraction, Sugar attempts to steal the money but is caught by the investor. The frustrated Sagar takes Moksha as a hostage to go away, only to bump into Yogi, who messes with him with magic tricks. Yogi and Krish try to seize control of Sagar's gun, but Radha is struck by a bullet when the gun goes off and she falls unconscious. A frantic Sugar attempts to run away, but is knocked down by Nala (encouraged by Nani) with a nearby stick. Krish and Radha's parents try to take Radha to the hospital, but Shiva and Parvathy prevent them with Sagar's gun, saying that if anyone leaves, their parents will die. It is implied by Parvathy, the future Shiva, that she had travelled back to this specific time numerous times to save her parents, with the time machine Shiva builds in the future. However, she fails every time because someone finally makes a way out of the restaurant one way or the other. Meanwhile, lights flicker and tremors occur in the restaurant with all inhabitants unable to get control of the situation.

In the end, it is revealed that Moksha, Radha, Mira, Nala, Shiva, Krish, Yogi and Parvathy are the multiple personalities of Kali herself, who suffers from

and they reflect the various phases of her life. Kali shoots herself in the head to ease the burden she has been carrying in her mind, and simultaneously, all the virtual characters die with her.

Cast

Production

The film features an ensemble cast, which includes

was brought in to play as the second of the two voice-over narrators, featuring as the voice of a bonsai.

While

and Gautham Nerusu were reported to be the cinematographer, art director and editor respectively. Newcomer Mark K Robin was hired to compose the score and songs.

Themes

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The film deals with mental illness, abuse, gender and sexuality. Kali (played by Kajal Aggarwal), is the main protagonist who is suffering from multiple personality disorder, in the end of the film. MPD is a mental illness characterized by alternating between multiple personality states and memory loss.

The concept of

In an interview with Haricharan Pudipeddi of Hindustan Times, Nithya Menen stated that "When Prashant pitched the character, I was absolutely excited. As artistes, we come across many stories but something like Awe doesn't come often; it's rare. I didn't see it as a lesbian character. I accepted the offer because I thought it'd be exciting and challenging. I love doing different, edgy roles."^[8]

Music

The film score and soundtrack were composed by newcomer Mark K Robin. Initially, the film features only one song titled "Theme of Awe" which was played in the opening and end credits of the film. The song was digitally released in YouTube and other streaming platforms on 9 February 2018, while it was launched at the Radio Mirchi FM Station in Hyderabad on 13 February 2018, in the presence of the film's cast and crew.^[9] Sung by Sharon, with lyrics written by Krishna Kanth, The Times of India stated that "The song is tailor made for the movie."^[10] Lahari Music released the opening credits and ending credits video on 30 June and 1 July respectively, which features the theme song. Both the videos were released on two different YouTube channels.^[11]

Marketing

The pre-release event took place at B. R. Ambedkar University Grounds at Hyderabad on 31 January 2018, where the film's trailer was released and received positive responses.^[12]

Release and reception

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Awe was released worldwide on 16 February 2018. The film was premiered exclusively in the United States, a day before its original release, on 15 February 2018.^[13]

Neetishta Nyayapati, from The Times of India, rated 4 out of 5 stars, and stated that "Go watch this film if you're looking for something definitely out of the box and fresh, 'Awe' will not disappoint you."^[14] The Indian Express gave it 4 stars stating that "Awe has high entertainment value, strong emotions, progressive characters, thrills, chills, comedy and some philosophy. Prasanth could have even made this film work without big actors or fancy sets in it."^[15] Hindustan Times rated the film 5/5, summarising that the film is "technically brilliant".^[16]

In a contrast review, Firstpost rated 3 out of 5 and stated that "The moment you figure out an answer, you will know whether Awe! is 'Awesome' or 'Awful'. The truth lies somewhere in between."[21] Indiaglitz rated 2.75/5, and gave a verdict: "AWE is a crafty anthology movie which relies too heavily on the strength of its climax. Too psychological, too poetic at times. The lengthiness of many scenes makes one say, 'It's more of the same'. Genre shifts were an oversold idea. The performances are praiseworthy. Technical departments put up a solid show."^[22] Sify rated 2.5 out of 5 stars, stating that "Awe is psychological thriller of a traumatized woman told in episodic stories. There are many individual episodes that are strangely funny but the overall drama seems too far-fetched. The final twist in the tale is unconvincing. Second half is mostly bore."^[23]

Legacy

Celebrities such as actors

World Congress of Psychiatry in Mexico, by an Indian medical student from the US who presented at the conference as "Dissociative Identity Disorder in Indian Cinema."^[26]

References

External links

• Awe at
  IMDb