Head Bush

Shyam Prasad

The best-known film on the underworld in Kannada, Om, starts with the murder of MP Jayaraj, considered in criminal lore as the first underworld don of Bengaluru. Nearly three decades later, we have the first of a proposed three-part biopic series on the criminal boss.

Now Head Bush is not exactly on the way to become a cult classic like Om. It tries too hard to become both a classy tale like Aa Dinagalu and Edegarike which ‘Agni’ Sreedhar wrote and a hard-hitting commercial extravaganza which appeals to a broader set of audience.

Sreedhar has managed to do his job well. He provides enough material to the director in the form of good new scenes, incidents, bold dialogues and surprising elements. However, the manner in which the story is narrated leaves a lot desired.

This film, set in the 1970s, starts with the prime minister agreeing to the formation of an organization named after her in Bengaluru. The Indira Brigade is ostensibly formed to implement the land reforms but is made up of rowdy elements that can be the muscle power of chief minister Urs’ (Devaraj) son-in-law Nataraj (Raghu Mukherjee).

The film does not mince words and boldly names real-life personalities with their own names. It is not difficult to miss who they are referring to if you know even a bit of political history of the 70s. This boldness extends to cuss words which accounts for the A certificate issued to the film.

This, first of the three parts, basically establishes Jayaraj, how he was groomed to take control of the underworld in Bengaluru by the powers that be and his own conflicts with his friends and lover. Dhananjaya as Jayaraj and Yogish as Ganga are the highlights on the screen.

Dhananjay plays the part well and conveys the mannerisms of the don well. Not exactly a lavish set-piece, Head Bush still manages to convey the mood of the times with clever use of props. Old radios, tape recorders, dial telephones, sideburns as fashion all set the time. What it fails to capture is the space.

Everyone from the politician to the rowdies are either smoking or drinking all the time. Poor fellows were not provided any snacks to go with it. The indoor setting is colourful but too poor. The meeting chaired by the prime minister or the chief minister’s office does not look the part at all.

Another sore point is how the narration tries to be quick by discarding all attempts at conveying the emotions. There is a rush to show as many scenes as possible without elevating each scene. Though each scene has meat, their wings are chopped off on the screen.

Except for a couple of scenes while introducing the character of Jayaraj, the other scenes are rushed. A few clever twists to the existing screenplay could have helped. The straight time-arrow narrative does not induce even a bit of suspense. Since it is a trilogy, the story is left hanging halfway.

Gangster movies have moved ahead and audience expectations increased manifold after the KGF series. KGF was set in the 80s and also had a female prime minister taking on a local rowdyturned-don. Comparisons are inevitable. If the 80s of a fictitious underworld element was so lavishly mounted, why shouldn’t the 70s of a real don look like a poor cousin? This could hurt Head Bush.