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MovieMavenGal
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  • 4.5/5

I was captivated by Dulquer Salmaan from O Kadhal Kanmani, and on Tumblr had seen lots of GIFs and recommendations for the Malayalam movie Bangalore Days. Turns out Dulquer is one of the three leads of the film.

It's only on einthusan.com which was the problem. I will try never to watch a relatively popular movie on that service again on a Friday or Saturday night. UGH! It kept crashing repeatedly, or showing the film in fits and starts. It was super super frustrating. I finally got it to work on my iPad and finished watching the movie tonight.

The movie is a coming of age film romantic comedy about three cousins who are as close as the three musketeers. Their dream is to go from their little village to the big city of Bangalore. There is naive Kuttan, who is moving to Bangalore to be a software engineer, but who is nostalgic for the simple farming life of the village. Divya, who dreams of getting an MBA, but whose parents arrange a marriage for her. And finally Arjun (Aju) played by Dulquer. He's the rebel, school dropout who wants to be a motorcross bike racing star. Yes, really Motor cross in an Indian film!

Sort of like Dil Chahta Hai each of the three has their own romantic story, but thankfully there is a girl in the mix this time. Her arranged marriage is in trouble from the start -- on her wedding night that isn't the hubby takes a work video conference call. She learns her husband had a past serious relationship that he is not over, and her young cousins are her support and solace. While her husband flies away on business trip after business trip, she goes out and has fun with her wild cousins.

Each story is so adorable, and the three of the cousins together all grow up and change over the course of the film. Aju (Dulquer) has an amazing storyline. He falls in love with the voice of a radio DJ, who he calls in to flirt with. When he decides to surprise her in the radio station, he discovers something about her that is very unusual to see in an Indian film. I just about swooned away at the way their romance developed.

It's just a really, really good feel warm and fuzzy by the end film. The marriage with Divya when you find out why the husband has acted the way he has.....I cried. The movie player was crashing and I was crying even watching it in fits and starts. The way Divya gets resolution and healing for him.... fantastic.

I gather this was a blockbuster for Malayalam films in 2014. Each person is a whole fully fleshed out character. Even the husband who you think is unfeeling and cold, ends up having incredible hidden depths to his past.

Here's the trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-owXOnzInE

It's not chock full of songs, but this wedding one was my favorite. showing the crazy friendship of the cousins as Aju shows up to the wedding party. They're singing about the bride being a caged green bird, with a cage made of vegetables" Something is lost in the subtitles on that one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3UNpjnYquI

I'm probably going to buy this one on DVD so that I can watch it properly.

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