Ganeshana Maduve (ಗಣೇಶನ ಮದುವೆ)

Rating: 3/4 (Anant Nag in a stressfree romantic-comedy movie set in a vatara.)

Ganeshana Maduve (ಗಣೇಶನ ಮದುವೆ) is a popular Kannada romantic-comedy movie that was released in 1990. Produced on a low budget, it stars Anant Nag and Vinaya Prasad (in her movie debut) and is directed by Phani Ramachandra. The plot is somewhat similar to the old English movie The Shop Around The Corner, except that the setting here is a vatara in Bengaluru city. Ganesha (Anant Nag) is a rabble rouser who lives in the vatara owned by the petty dad of Adilakshmi (Vinaya Prasad). Not a day goes by without Ganesha and Adilakshmi going hammer and tongs on each other. Using the penname of Y. G. Rao, Ganesha has been secretly exchanging letters with Shruthi, a singer on All India Radio (AIR). Shruthi is actually the penname of Adilakshmi, who has been secretly singing on radio. Ganesha and Adilakshmi’s enemity turns to hatred when their parents decided to get them engaged to each other. They undertake devious methods to turn their parents’ on each other, only to finally discover that they have been in love with each other through their letters. Ganeshana Maduve must have aired innumerable times on Kannada TV channels. It stands up to repeated viewings with its funny setups in the vatara environment. Anant Nag is at his rom-com best here and the rest of the cast complements well. Kudos to the writers on creating a myriad of entertaining characters, the cricket-fanatic mother of Ganesha for example. To be frank there are sections of the movie that are very dated. The item numbers and the misconceptions on AIDS stand out. And the low budget has not really helped in the picturization of the songs. In any case, the music and songs in the movie are forgettable. Despite this, Ganeshana Maduve is a ribtickling comedy that easily stands up to repeated watching.