Oct 20 2013 – Eega means Fly and this subtitled Indian film (Telugu language to be exact) is quite a fantasy trip. Clocking in at 133 minutes the viewer is taken on a lengthy ride about a man reincarnated as a fly to protect his love. As is common in Indian movies there is some singing as the characters express their emotions and that may be the only unpalatable part for North American audiences but make no mistake this is a damn good movie directed by S.S. Rajamouli. A man reincarnated as a fly to get his revenge on his killer may sound like a very absurd plot but this movie is done so well that the viewer will enjoy this Ghost meets The Fly style offering.
Set in the context of a father telling his son a bed time story we meet a man named Nani pursuing his dream girl Bindhu (Samantha Ruth Prabhu). Early on we also get acquainted to skirt chasing gangster Sudeep (Kiccha Sudeep) who seemingly seduces hotties with his eyes. Turns out Sudeep needs to donate money to the charity Bindhu works at for money laundering purposes and the pretty lady meets the gangster.
Although the beautiful Bindhu seems not interested at all in Nani it is very obvious she is just playing hard to get, and this does not go unnoticed by Sudeep who kills Nani. This bad ass gangster does not accept losing the girl he wants – his solution is to kill the competition. Just at the point where Bindhu finally accepts Nani and texts him “I love you” our protagonist takes his last breath (sorta). His soul exits his body and the essence of life transports to a fly egg floating on a leaf.
At around the 40 minute mark we leave the character development part of the movie and get into some wicked CG centering on a bug’s life type of view of the world from the eyes and perspective of a fly. Major awesomeness! You ain’t seen special effects till you see a fly trying to deal with being stuck in a bucket of iced tea. The rest of the movie is all about revenge as our fly has to fight to be recognized by his true love as well as extract revenge from his killer. We have all dealt with an annoying fly buzzing around our head and food at a picnic but give that fly a consciousness, a revenge motive and you get the idea.
Verdict: 4 out of 5 -A fantastic movie that has no cultural bounadries – it will appeal to movie fans all over the world. The violent ending scene will remind viewers of Scarface as a barrage of bullets fly fast and furious as the ultimate scene of revenge is played out. I will never look at a fly hovering around my ears the same way ever again!
