Geetanjali movie took everyone by surprise as a upcoming hero took heavy risk to do away from regular film stuff and decided to go for more realistic, artistic love story with a filmmaker who is promising great things that will change Indian Cinema style and class. The movie lovers from1989, who saw it for the first time, say they were mesmerised to see such a positive romance being made even though the film story has leads struggling to live the next day.
Mani Ratnam proved that he can re-imagine and re-structure a romance in a way that it works big time on screen. Many films and many filmmakers start quoting scenes from the film as their favorite even today and somehow, it has an ability to let us not turn away from watching it, no matter from which ever scene, we start it. Nagarjuna took a risk in his career after trying his hand at conventional films and succeeding. He needed a separate identity and Geethanjali gave him that confidence that he can strive for it. Shiva made him consolidate his belief and become a star but had there not been a Geetanjali, people might not have accepted Shiva from this hero, so easily or Annamayya, in later stages.
To talk about the movie, the space, the vocabulary and time might not be sufficient as there is much to dig and appreciate. 31 Years too young for this classic as it feels like it was made 31 minutes back. Ilaiyaraja, SP Balu added to the feel of the movie and Girija proved that we don’t need 100’s films to be remembered by people, with her performance.