‘Makkhi’ Review: Revenge comes in all sizes!

Shomini Sen

This one could easily be passed off as yet another south Indian pot boiler had it not have a fly as its protagonist. And Makkhi scores simply because someone had the brainwave to think of a film from a house fly’s perspective. SS Rajamouli’s hugely successful ‘Eega’ is served in a dubbed version as ‘Makkhi’. While the title may make your squirm in disgust (I mean, why would you want to watch a film about a house fly) you are in for a surprise when you start watching the film. The story is a basic revenge saga. Jaani (Nani) a good-for-nothing fella’ is in love with micro artist Bindu (Samantha Ruth). While Bindu harbours feelings for Jaani, she shies away from expressing it. Meanwhile, business tycoon Sudeep (Kannada film star Sudeep) is in love with Bindu and when he finds out about Bindu’s love for Jaani, he murders him. Jaani is reborn as, not a human (like all typical rebirth stories) but as a house fly. Yes, a house fly. The revenge of Jaani’s death is then taken by his reincarnate version and story is of how the little obscure fly manages to make Sudeep’s life miserable and convince Bindu that her lost love has come back. Being the lead protagonist, the fly is your quintessential lover who will fight till the end and protect his girl from the lascivious advances of the villain. In spite of its absurdities, the film narrates a hilarious tale of a how a reincarnated housefly envisages to seek revenge and protects a human from another human. The moments where the antagonist is tormented by a fly to such extent that he insists on sleeping with an insect repellent in one hand makes for a good laugh. Kannada superstar Sudeep plays the role of the villain to perfection who is almost driven to insanity by the fly. But the film works mostly because of two reasons - its creativity and to make a mundane run of the mill revenge story so appealing. The film has some brilliant animation which has the ability to think from a housefly’s perspective. The first few scenes when Jaani reincarnates himself and reborn as a fly and discovers the world and surrounding around him is simply brilliant. Everything, including a small little tennis ball seems magnified because we get to look at a world from a fly’s perspective. The film also pays homage to Rajnikanth and infuses his dialogues from the film Sivaji as an introduction to the fly. With some heavy dose of violence in the climax and dollops of comedy in most part of the film, the film manages to thrill the adults and the kids alike. Watch it for its uniqueness. The new age hero of Indian cinema will not disappoint you – in fact it will make you think twice before you swat that irritating fly hovering over your nose. Ratings: Three cheers for its creativity!