Committee Kurrollu: Yadhu Vamshi’s film blames reservations without addressing caste

Is Babasaheb Ambedkar the reason for divisions among communities? Director Yadhu Vamshi of Committee Kurrollu would like you to believe so. In this story of a group of friends who part ways over a fight, tearing the entire village apart, the once peaceful village is now divided due to reservations. Simply put, everything leading to this event is fundamentally blamed on caste-based reservations.

The once close childhood friends suddenly encounter their caste once they are about to pursue higher education. Among the friends, Ram Babu from a marginalised community, who secures a seat in a premier institute, despite having an EAMCET rank of 70,000! But a studious friend among them loses out his seat in a government-aided university, though he is ranked at 1500. The ‘culprit’? His ‘forward’ caste. As ridiculous as this premise is, it simply does not matter to the director, who wants to further an anti-reservation agenda.

Actors Sandeep Saroj, Sai Kumar, Goparaju Ramana, Yaswanth, Eshwar Rachiraju, Trinadh Varma, Prasad Behara, and Manikanta Parasu star as the members of the friend gang, among others. The plot follows Shiva (played by Sandeep Saroj), a young leader who intends to put an end to the corrupt rule in his village of Purushothapalli in West Godavari. He desires to contest in the village Sarpanch election against Bujji (Sai Kumar), but the election is on hold until the village’s jathara (festival), which has been pending for the past 12 years, ever since the gang had a fallout. It is through his recollection of the past that we are introduced to the backstory.

Besides the anti-reservation agenda, the director seems to blame Ambedkar for “creating” divisions among communities. This gets established in an aerial shot where the camera follows these friends driving on two bikes. The road slowly parts into two, with Ambedkar’s statue positioned at the centre of the diversions. The shot is repeated when these friends eventually get back together– their paths converge when they move past Ambedkar's statue. 

Committee Kurrollu tries to address the “problem” of reservation using Purushothapalli as a microcosm of India. But it mostly avoids addressing the problem of caste. Reservations did not sow divisions in Purushothapalli or among these friends. Caste did. A violent incident just aggravated the tension between these communities. But the film is adamant about blaming everything on reservations, without addressing the root of the problem.

Speaking about the barbaric nature of villages, Babasaheb Ambedkar, in his Constituent Assembly speech on November 4, 1948, said: “What is the village but a sink of localism, a den of ignorance, narrow-mindedness and communalism?” This was said in response to the criticism by the Gandhian members that our Constitution was drafted on the Western model of the system instead of the ancient Hindu model of a state, or specifically, a village, an ideology glorified by MK Gandhi.

Prophetically, for anyone glorifying villages, he said, “The love of the intellectual Indian for the village community is of course infinite, if not pathetic. It is largely due to the fulsome praise bestowed upon it by Metcalfe who described them as little republics having nearly everything that they want within themselves, and almost independent of any foreign relations…”

Even if we keep the film’s anti-reservation bias aside, Committee Kurrollu starts on a weak note. The motivation for Shiva to narrate his childhood story is unconvincing, and the way he tells the entire story in one go in the first half of the film does not actively engage the audience. Both the writing and screenplay fail miserably. Besides, the story also meanders, as Vamshi cannot seem to focus on a single character. Though Shiva seems to be the main focus, the director struggles to highlight the arcs of the others. Eventually, not a single character becomes memorable. But contrary to the first half, the pre-climax has some really interesting episodes with brilliantly choreographed scenes and smooth transitions. 

Debutant Sandeep Saroj delivers a decent performance as Shiva, while actors Sai Kumar and Goparaju Ramana prove their versatility. However, it is Prasad Behara who steals the show with his performance.  

Committee Kurrollu attempts to mask its anti-reservation propaganda with cute, nostalgic events, accompanied by Anudeep Dev’s breezy music and Raju Edurolu’s camerawork. Though they manage to salvage the film, the problematic politics is very obvious.

Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film’s producers or any other members of its cast and crew.