‘Harom Hara’ movie review: It’s time filmmakers look past those giant-sized guns

Harom Hara, the Telugu film written and directed by Gnanasagar Dwaraka, gets its title from the ‘harom hara’ chants of devotees to their favourite deity Subramanya swamy or Murugan in Kuppam, Chittoor district. The central character, Subramanyam (Sudheer Babu), is nearly worshipped by the locals after he takes on the goons. The period setting — a few decades ago in Chittoor — brings back memories of Pushpa and the presence of Sunil accentuates it. There is also a KGF-style plot point of an outsider becoming people’s saviour. Here, it is the father who encourages him to make a lot of money. How far can this Pushpa-meets-KGF style of narrative work? Until the oversized guns, which have become a cliche, are used in key action sequences. 

The film opens with a confrontation between a police officer (Akshara Gowda) investigating Subramanyam’s (Sudheer Babu) illegal gun manufacturing and trading and Palani (Sunil), a cop who is also Subramanyam’s accomplice. While she argues that an illegal gun trader cannot be revered going by mob mentality, he narrates how he took on the rakshasas — the political and criminal nexus. 

The initial portions carefully build the world of Harom Hara. Arvind Viswanathan’s camera often captures Kuppam on rain-soaked days, with the blue-grey skies adding to the brooding atmosphere. Familiar tropes come into play. Farmlands are usurped, women are exploited and anyone who dares to question is murdered. Many inhabitants have left the region for a better life elsewhere. Subramanyam is an exception; he arrives from another village and works as a lab assistant at a college. His ease with manufacturing and production design sets the stage for the things to come. 

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We learn that Subramanyam is stubborn, does not back off when confronted and has a skewed moral compass. In his need to survive, it does not matter to him if what he is doing is deemed right or wrong. Even when he scales up gun production, he does not give serious thought to how all this can backfire on him. An abandoned cinema hall (with a poster of superstar Krishna) becomes his workspace and things go smoothly until violence comes knocking at his door. 

A few sparks in the earlier portions on character development are eclipsed in the overdose of violence and bloodbath in the later portions. The romance track featuring Malvika Sharma is superfluous. Post intermission, Harom Hara plays out like a collection of violent ‘mass’ action episodes across different locations. Coconuts are broken on someone’s head, axes deliver deathly blows or chop off a few heads and then there are the guns. Plenty of them. The guns are curiously named after NTR, ANR, Chiranjeevi and Amitabh Bachchan. 

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In the thick of things, when a character calls for a pause in the name of God, it seems out of place. More violence and bloodshed follow. It is not over until the protagonist uses a giant-sized gun. In this film, it might seem like a natural progression since he is a gun manufacturer. But as a tool for action sequences in mainstream cinema, these oversized guns have become a cliche. It began with Kaithi and Vikram and later we had KGF, Jawan, Animal and other films. In Bhagavanth Kesari, Balakrishna even joked about such a gun.

The ammunition at Subramanyam’s disposal and the relentless violence that follows is mind-numbing. The desperate attempt to bring in mythological references — of rakshasas, Tarakasura and Murugan — does not give gravitas to this tedious narrative. Sudheer Babu shows off his superfit physique and his angst in times of turmoil is effective. But neither he nor seasoned actors like Sunil and Jayaprakash can salvage this film.