What makes ‘Mahavatar Narasimha’ unforgettable: A 7-point journey through its magic
It was on Monday morning, by happenchance, that I learnt about a low-budget, animated film called Mahavatar Narsimha‘s release, with barely any noise or marketing. Upon checking, the reviews online were overwhelmingly positive, to my surprise. I continued to be sceptical. My fears about the film were many, but mainly that it was going to be tacky and shallow. How were they going to drag a film on Prahlada for two hours, where all it would take is two lines of storytelling, devout son of a demon king is tortured by his father for his bhakti, until Lord Vishnu saves him and destroys the demon. But what is the worst that could happen, I also asked myself. The worst possible outcome was that it would be another Adipurush, but were we not immune to such disappointments? As eager filmgoers, we would eventually dust it off and move on, like always. So I decided to take the bait.
I reached theatres in the evening and found people thronging the auditorium where this particular film was playing. Crowds for an animated film, that too on a Monday evening? It was another surprise, but I wasn’t going to get my hopes high yet.
Soon it was show time. The audience settled in and the film began to play. As the asura mother Diti sashayed onto the screen, seducing her husband Kashyapa, in the very first scene, my fears were starting to solidify. What had I signed up for and dragged my kid along too? But in the next minutes, as soon as the rest of the scene and dialogues unfolded, and the screenplay caught up, my fears were allayed. And just like that, without realizing it, in the middle of the theatre I had been lifted off by an unexpected bhakti storm, one that I had not seen coming.
It is now more than 48 hours since I watched the film, and the effect is yet to wear off. I am constantly consuming content about it on the internet, periodically checking its box office performance and playing the song list on loop. What it is about the film, that it refuses to disappear from my mind space?
