Strip down all your cloths and accessories - everything and anything that is man made- and stand in front of a mirror. The creature that you see in the mirror is what you are, the image society is trying to hide from you since innumerable centuries. Strip down all your sophistications, you are one of the creatures of this nature. You are supposed to live a natural life and play your part in Darwin's theory of evolution - That 'you' is Arjun Reddy. He is in every creature of this planet. But, at the same time, he is no more in every creature.
Arjun Reddy is the main character in the movie Arjun Reddy. It is advertised as the story of a college student who has anger management issues. But Arjun Reddy character is more than that. To give an overview of story-line, he is best at whatever he does - academics, sports, love and even best at living life of a love failure.
From the story point of view, I did not find anything that can create such a havoc. There is something other than story that made audience like the movie. Though everyone who watched the movie say that acting is good, direction is good, etc., I did not find the justification enough to explain the response for the movie. Industry veterans are comparing the movie's craze with the 1989 SIVA. There should be something more the movie has achieved that made it a hit. It showed us what we truly are - raw emotions - and if applied brain for a moment, we also realize how far away we are from our true selves.
It is your story if there has never been something called as "Govern-mentality" by Foucault. Arjun Reddy is someone who fails to understand rules. He only respects nature and thinks that following nature is the only way of life.
We, humans, are slowly killing our emotions. We do it first by categorizing emotions into good and bad. Bad is bad, so we try our best not to show those bad emotions. So, we are half successful in killing our emotions just by categorizing them as bad. "Anger Management Issues" seems to be a major problem when spoken about a person. But what that person is trying to do is merely portray his or her natural emotion. But we tag it as an unacceptable emotion. But, is there an alternate emotion that can replace anger? We humans, through centuries have set up rules for ourselves to "not to do or not to be" in a particular way in a situation. But there is no rule saying how to behave in various situations. Because emotions are mutually exclusive, you can not replace one emotion with another.
In the movie, society treats Arjun Reddy as a person who is having anger management issues. Society failed to domesticate him. That is where audience tries to see themselves in him. Every time you had to control your emotion because of societal pressures, you actually wanted to be Arjun Reddy. Animals do not laugh. You do not want a smiling game with your opponents. You want to win what you feel is yours at whatever cost. When you enter any event where there is competition, you want to go back to Darwin's world of "survival" of fittest, not fittest is the "winner". You want to win by surviving. If winner "survives" at the end, you can only imagine the situation of the one who lose the battle. But, society has made you to cheer, clap and show good gestures to your opponents. Deep down these domesticated stuff do not make you feel alive. It is the adrenaline rush that makes you feel alive. The animal in you that makes you feel alive. Arjun Reddy lived that life - the life we only dream but are never able to.
Arjun Reddy proclaims to everyone who her mate is - typical to animal kingdom. In animal kingdom, males try to impress the females and the female chooses the most impressive one. But, in humans, females are treated as property. They are to be possessed. They are to be taken care of. He claims ownership on her among other males and decimates the competition. And then he tries to impress her. Even his display of love is animalistic. There is no way one animal can show love to another animal without physical touch. It is we humans with our consumeristic minds created different ways of showing love. Love can be shown in only one way and he does that. But, society has put restrictions on the only one true way of showing love and made it a taboo. As said, society failed to tame him, so he does what is natural to any creature. Our minds are currently governed in such a way that, we are planning something so natural like child birth. Arjun Reddy tries to conveys the same message to the modern humans when his brother says they are not planning kids for another 2 years, that kids should happen naturally, out of love.
Female animals like to be won as a contest among males. Arjun Reddy is someone who would win any contest. This part of my blog might have some controversial statements, but they are true. We are the nearest to our animal selves when we are young - from adolescent till society starts to put burden on us. Any love story that happens at this time is purely animalistic - raw and without constraints. Qualities girls expect in their boyfriend are diagonally opposite to qualities that they expect in their husband. They like adventurous boyfriends but stable husbands, because love is natural and marriage is a societal invention. Requirements change with age-only among domesticated humans. One age, you need adrenaline rush and at other age you need stable life. In this regard, Arjun Reddy is dream boyfriend for any girl - when she is nearest to her animal self. So, no wonder college going female audience going gaga over the movie.
Arjun Reddy despises all man-made modern "controllable" emotions. Family planning doesn't make any sense to him. Typical nostalgic feelings at the end of college life irritates him. He understands the nature created relationship between love and physical intimacy. So, to move away from love, he tries to get intimate with others. Even after living such a disconnected life with modern humans, he knows that the core of human nature doesn't change and hence the realization that his father misses his grand mother more than himself.
Arjun Reddy is topper in college, champion in sports. He has clarity on what he is doing in life. Being an MBBS student and knowing the harmful effects of smoking, he still doesn't stop smoking. This portrays his risky nature and his preferring risks to controlling his natural desires. Did psychology tell that the more riskier the opposite sex is, the more attracted you are to them? For him "I" matters. Everything else is secondary. He is an individualist. He accepts the fact that smoking is dangerous and doesn't try to dodge it. The only thing he is proud of is his career which is a result of his own hard work. He is an ideal hero of Ayn Rand. No wonder RGV liking the movie. The movie is highly unrealistic and at the same time, gives you a feeling that it could have been your story, if only for the successful domestication of society. Speak of paradox ! To be Arjun Reddy is frustrated modern man's ultimate fantasy.
To domesticate a person, give them responsibilities. The intelligence of the story teller is displayed by his choice of positioning the end of the story. Arjun Reddy takes up the responsibility of the family. Movie ends well before Arjun Reddy experiencing the consequences of his responsibilities. I am very much interested in the response of audience if a sequel is made where we see a domesticated Arjun Reddy.
P.S: There are many other things that make the movie kick-ass, but they are out of scope of my analysis. E.g: portraying Arjun's life as a love failure, characterization of his friends.
P.P.S: You called it a coward's love story when the Man in the relationship failed to show spine. You call it male masculinity glorifying movie when Woman in the relationship failed to show some spine. It is no more a meme joke. You cant argue with feminazi.
WARNING: DO NOT TRY TO REMAKE THE MOVIE. Movie worked only because of the team. Strip them off, it is empty.
