Eega

aka ఈగ aka Naan Ee aka Eecha aka Makkhi

2012
Written by Janardhan Maharshi and S. S. Rajamouli
Directed by S. S. Rajamouli

Eega is the best movie of 2012, and I will argue this fact until you are blue in the face and die and are reincarnated as a fly. And I’ll be right, because Eega is a rocking awesome flick that keeps you entertained and has fun with it’s crazy story.

The concept of Eega is so utterly brilliant I am surprised it isn’t used more in films from countries where belief in reincarnation is more mainstream. But beyond the general idea of revenge lasting beyond the grave because the victim is reincarnated, which far too often is just depicted as boring old ghosts, Eega takes that and turns in into an awesome tale where the murdered victim reincarnates as a fly, and must take down a powerful and evil man while one of the weakest creatures on the planet. Flies are even used as a punching bag by bullies, as they say things like “what was that, a fly?” when hit or other such taunts. But a fly can be powerful, especially when backed by the intelligence of a human and the benefits of a micro artist fashioning tools and weapons for the insect.

Eega literally means fly, and when Nani is reincarnated from an underdog in love to an ultimate underdog, his hero arc is at one of the lowest points in cinematic history. How many heroes come back from being killed off in the first act? Only Bill Cosby and Patrick Swayze! But Nani returns in fly form, and his revenge builds from irritation and protecting the woman he loves to vengeance upon the man who ended his life because he stood in the way of getting said woman.

Eega was filmed in Telugu (as Eega) and Tamil (as Naan Ee – the name I first heard of this film as), and later dubbed into Malayalam (as Eecha) and Hindi (as Makkhi). All of these words can be seen flashing on the screen during the final musical number.

Bindu (Samantha) – A visual design sculptor that does micro art as a hobby. Bindu works for Project 511 charity helping educate underprivileged children. Nani has the hots for her, and she’s spent the better part of two years teasingly ignoring him and his advances as part of a long term game of hard to get. But this has tragic consequences when the night she finally professes her love is his last on Earth… Samantha also goes by Samantha Ruth Prabhu and has become one of the top South Indian actresses recently. Sudeep (Kiccha Sudeep) – A corrupt businessman and womanizer, Sudeep even killed his wife for her money, though he’s not beyond using her memory as emotional manipulation. Sudeep enjoys killing his enemies beneath his bare feet, feeling the life drain out of his targets. Sudeep is the living embodiment of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. Nani (Nani) – A nice guy hopelessly in love with Nani, though she secretly likes him back. Nani donates the tiny paychecks he earns from his firecracker business to her charity just to get excuses to talk to her. Nani is his stage name, his birth name is Naveen Babu Ghanta. Also Nani is so close to the word Naan Ee it makes his choice as star be even better, even if Nani is only in 1/3 of the flick. Nani Fly Form (CGI) – “Come into my parlor” said the spider to the fly. The fly then kicked his spider butt! That fly was Nani, who has reincarnated in fly form to take down the man who killed him and save the woman he loves. And Nani the fly taunt Sudeep by wiggling his fly butt throughout the pic!

Make no mistake about it, Sudeep is evil. A corrupt businessman, not above dating the wife of a potential business partner just because he can. No one stands in the way of Sudeep. He takes what he wants, when he wants it. If anyone dares stand in the way, his many resources will soon result in the person having an unfortunate accident. We can see his smooth operator technique in action as the gun range. Sudeep is first seen blasting away with his giant phallic symbol, and soon becomes engrossed by a hot lady also firing away. Sudeep sweeps in to show her how to shoot correctly, the two forming together and blasting the big gun in a display that shows censorship is easily defeated by creative souls.

Sudeep masks his lothario ways behind the facade of the good businessman who donates to charity and puts on a charismatic displays of generosity. Becoming friends with the women he targets so he can sweep in and take them off their feet and then leave them by the wayside when he’s through with them. This leads to his interaction with Bindu and the charity she works for, Sudeep only paying attention and money to it so she’ll be around. His seduction technique is so direct it is almost laughable, though it is required to be that obvious to show how Bindu isn’t paying attention to it in the slightest, distracted by Nani being his adorkable self.


Sudeep then goes full on evil, his eyes so red with rage I think Sudeep might develop long term eye damage if he keeps irritating his eyes like that. Intense smoking that’s somehow more evil, and shaking rage. Shoving people aside to get a better view of Nani, the reason he’s being denied. Sudeep’s ego cannot take the hit that some random guy is succeeding where he is not. He must destroy Nani. Nani must die. Nani gets squashed like the bug he becomes, beneath Sudeep’s feet.

Sudeep now has no rival to the the woman he set his eyes on, who he wants only because he can’t have her. And an upcoming charity trip that Sudeep managed to get just the two of them going to is the perfect excuse for him to have his way with her.

But hope is not lost, for Nani’s soul is transported to a fly and he hatches in full grown mode the next day (I was wondering if we’d see Nani as a maggot and eating trash, but they just skip that!) Nani has to get used to being a fly, a great sequence of him flying around in constant danger of being squashed or swatted by oblivious humans is a crash course in a new life. But true love does not forget easily, and soon Nani remembers who he is and who he cares for. But he is so weak that Sudeep doesn’t even feel him crashing into him at full strength.


What’s a fly to do?

Though still a fly, his human intellect is there in full effect, and flies can still be irritating. Flies can even cause awful accidents as the irritated human tries to swat them and causes problems. One of the best and most Twilight Zone scenes in the film is when Sudeep crashes and flips his car trying to squash the irritating fly, who then writes on the dirty windshield “I will kill you”. Sudeep rightfully becomes insanely paranoid, as would anyone when a bug is attempting to murder you.

Nani finds Bindu’s home and manages to convince her that the fly is actually Nani returned. He literally writes with her tears, tears she sheds over the loss of Nani. He tells of his murder and his plan of revenge, and Bindu wants to help.


Did you ever think you’d see a movie with a fly training montage? Okay, maybe if the Rescue Rangers had a feature film. But not a real life fly. Nani trains to build fly muscle mass (if you are still in this for tactical realism, you are doing this wrong!), Bindu fashions him goggles to protect against bug spray, and tiny pointy weapons to use to irritate Sudeep with scratches.

Sudeep’s paranoia begins to have a toll, it is affecting his business life and personal life. The fly that cannot be squashed is ruining everything, and Sudeep is taking care of wrecking the rest. Sudeep sinks so low he teams up with dark forces, and by that I mean an actual dark mystic who creates some zombie birds to battle Nani the fly (which leads to some awesomely thrilling scenes!) But can Nani’s revenge be gotten? Can true love survive if one of the participants is a fly? The answers, my friends, are contained in Eega, just waiting for you to watch them.


Eega is a rocking film, and the Eega song will be stuck in your head far after the film has finished. The plot never spends too long on any one section, it is constantly moving and keeping the film interesting. The longer running time will seem to go by in a breeze.

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