“Butta Bomma,” which means a traditional basket toy, is a remake of the Malayalam film “Kappela,” written and directed by Muhammad Musthafa, starring Roshan Mathew, Anna Ben, and Sreenath Bhasi. This film, directed by Shouree Chandrasekhar T. Ramesh, is also a romantic drama starring Anikha Surendran, Arjun Das, and Surya Vashistta that takes a drastic turn when a third person starts meddling with the couple. What is the motive behind this stranger trying to stop the couple from spending some quality time together? A Telugu-language romantic drama with a twist is something not many have come across. A film that fits this genre in recent times is “Arjun Reddy” by Sandeep Vanga Reddy. The couple in question in “Butta Bomma,” meets in a rather unusual way, and things fall into place, or do they?
Spoilers Ahead
Satya’s Quest
Satya belongs to the small town of Dudekonda in the state of Andhra Pradesh, where she is the eldest daughter of her parents. She is a quiet woman who was raised with the utmost care, safety, and security. Satya is the kind of woman who stays bound by the rules meant for her. She is scared of her patriarchal father and makes sure not to break any rules that would harm her and her family in the long run. She helps her mother run a tiny tailoring business, for which she has to travel out of town to buy materials. Satya is aware of what she is supposed to do for herself and her family. That’s why she makes sure to stay within the boundaries made for her. Satya’s quiet demeanor is reminiscent of the era of women who had all their ambitions crushed out of them and were pushed to the toe line all their lives, never once acting for their own gain. Women are expected not to be selfish and to be wary of everything around them. They are especially expected to think of their family first before making any decisions for themselves. Satya is molded to be that perfect woman. She is shy and soft-spoken, and she makes sure she never goes out of her way to make anyone angry, especially her parents. Her friend Lakshmi, though, is also being raised in a strict household. Though she has a boyfriend, to whom she speaks through Satya’s basic Nokia phone daily, Satya is not carried away by it, and she gladly stays away from pursuing anyone or letting anyone pursue her.
Satya is asked to make all the cloth-related purchases for her mother in the city, and she obliges, doing everything her mother requests her to. Her father, being a traditionalist, does not encourage her to head out of the house during odd hours and berates her if she comes back home late. Keeping all this in mind, Satya makes sure to stick to the chores assigned to her. The only time she has for herself is when she heads to offer her prayers to Lord Krishna, who is placed right in the middle of some small bushes near her home. This is the only time Satya feels at peace. Satya comes across as a woman who has been shaped in such a manner that nobody who knows her might expect her to go out of her way to do things that were never expected of her. One day, Satya is approached by a prospective groom, Chinni, who is from a well-to-do family, but Satya makes sure not to lead him on in any way for him to think she is interested in getting married to him.
Satya, one day, in a hurry to call a client, ends up calling another number by mistake, and the number belongs to Murali, who is a rickshaw driver in Vizag. Curious to hear Satya’s voice from the other end, Murali starts pursuing her by calling her back. Initially, Satya is rattled by a stranger trying to speak to her and getting in contact with her. Satya, being her usual self, initially does not encourage Murali’s behavior, but slowly she starts letting her guard down. Satya stops being her usual self with Murali, and they both start spending plenty of time on the phone speaking to each other about things they love and life in general. Murali starts speaking about his life as a rickshaw driver and having two sisters to take care of, and Satya opens up about her life in the village. They start falling in love even though they have never met each other. All of this is new to Satya, and that’s why she is hopeful that this relationship would fruition into something meaningful. Knowing her family’s outlook on her life does not stop her from falling for Murali, who lives miles away from her, and they have not even seen each other’s photograph. She looks him up on Facebook only to find no profile there.
Murali, on the other hand, is new to the city of Vizag and lives in the suburbs, helping the people in his surroundings in all ways he can. He is a good friend to other fellow rickshaw drivers, and unlike them, he does not indulge in any vices. He is the one who helps everyone in the community without expecting anything in return. Murali, to Satya, is someone who is a kind-hearted man who is willing to listen to her and understand her concerns. She does not have any big ambitions for her life, but she wants to live on her terms. Satya believes somehow Murali understands this side of her, which even her parents are not trying to figure out.
‘Butta Bomma’ Ending Explained – Did RK Make Sure Satya And Murali Don’t Meet?
Satya’s family is approached by Chinni and his mother for a marriage proposal, which Chinni’s mother is against because she thinks Satya’s family does not match their status. Satya, too, is not keen on marrying Chinni, which she conveys to Murali. Murali, being a logical person, asks her not to take so much pressure because alliances will come and go, and all Satya will have to do is say no. Her parents will not go against her wishes. Satya is aware of how her parents would react to Chinni’s proposal. They would accept it if Chinni and his family showed extra interest in Satya, and they would not need Satya’s consent to agree to the marriage. Murali requests that she keep rejecting the alliance until they both find a way to meet. Satya is anxious at this point, but to her happiness, Chinni’s mother rejects the proposal, which gives Satya and Murali time to meet at some point. Murali comes across as a logical person, but Satya is under pressure too, which she makes clear to him. But her happiness is short-lived when Chinni’s mother accepts the marriage proposal on Chinni’s insistence, which puts Satya in an awful state of mind. Satya is impatient and wants to meet Murali before she makes any lifetime commitment. Her parents go out of town for a few days after her marriage is fixed, and it is during this time that Satya lets her friend Lakshmi know about her plan to meet Murali in Vizag. Keeping her in the loop, Satya travels to Vizag without any other agenda in mind. All Satya wants to do is meet Murali once and see where they stand when it comes to their relationship. With her mind completely made up and no idea how Murali looks, she heads to Vizag with the only hope Murali will help her sort out the issue of marriage in her life and maybe start a life with him. Murali is made aware of her travels, and he is waiting for her to come by.
As Satya reaches Vizag, she is followed by two strangers, and just in the nick of time, she is saved by another stranger. She assumes the man is Murali and starts conversing with him. Murali, though, quickly locates Satya at the bus station, and the man introduces himself as RK, apologizes to Satya, and leaves them be. Murali apologized for reaching out late because his phone got stolen, and RK was the one who got it and gave it back to Murali. RK turns out to be a good Samaritan in the beginning, but as Murali and Satya start spending time together at various public parks, RK shows up at these places, unsettling them. Murali confronts RK, and they have a tiff right in the middle of the park, which soils Murali and Satya’s clothes.
RK, or Ramakrishnan, is a local rowdy who loves being angry, another version of Arjun Reddy, who goes on a rage fueled rampage daily. He has a girlfriend who is a teacher, and she has requested he get a job if they ever plan to get married. RK comes across as someone who is a rebel, and he has a bone to pick with the status quo. RK starts following Satya and Murali, and there is a reason behind it that RK is not conveying. A few hours before his encounter with Satya and Murali, his job interview went for a toss when he was asked to pay the company some amount to secure a job and get the company some girls for their company to grow. RK is angry at this point, and he has no clue how to move forward with his life. This is when he comes across Satya and Murali. Murali’s tiff with RK enrages him more, which pushes him to follow the couple. RK enlists the help of one of his friends to track down Murali and hopes to have a showdown. RK is on the hunt for something that is not made clear. He wants to make sure Murali pays for hurting RK’s pride and ego. RK is on the prowl and makes sure he gets what he is looking for.
Back in the lodge, Satya is approached by a woman who introduces herself as an acquaintance of Murali. Satya is not surprised but is taken aback by the candor with which the woman introduced herself. The woman turns out to be a madam, and Murali also turns out to be a man who supplies women for prostitution. Satya picks that up from the conversation the woman has with Murali in front of her. Satya is horrified by the innocent face Murali put up all this time and the disguise of love and affection that he showcased. Satya’s first instinct is to ask him to leave her at the bus station. Murali, picking up on Satya’s behavior, starts forcing himself on her. She is soon rescued by RK, who beats Murali black and blue. It is later revealed that Murali slyly approaches women by helping them, taking advantage of their coy nature, and eventually pushes them into prostitution. Murali’s game plan was to lure Satya into coming to the city and using his charm; he would convince her to head to another town and push her into prostitution. He would receive money for selling women.
RK confesses that he had sensed there was something wrong with Murali, and that’s why he was following them around to get a sense of what Murali was up to and what his game plan was with the woman with him. All RK wanted to do was save Satya from the wretched hands of Murali. Satya is glad to have been saved, but she is still in shock at what Murali was willing to do to sell her off as part of the flesh trade. Satya did not realize how naive she was to have fallen for the trap laid by Murali. RK’s girlfriend also pacifies Satya and requests that she forget this incident as something that happened and not ponder further over it. RK also lets her know that it is easy to get over love but not easy to get over betrayal caused by someone you love. In the real world, betrayal is more common than anything around us, and it is better for Satya to just move ahead and consider this a blip. Satya and Murali may have been meant for each other, or that’s what Satya thought of the relationship she shared with him. For now, Satya went back to leading her life, and Chinni was hoping to hear a yes from her. Satya asks him to give her time so that she can decide for herself.
RK turned out to be the mirror Satya needed from the guarded life she was leading, which led to a near calamity. RK also did not turn out to be a bad person, as he was projected from the beginning. His only intention was to save Satya from an unspeakable fate. Murali turned out to be a man with two faces. He put up a façade of being a clean man who was willing to help everyone, but behind that façade, he was a monster who is willing to sell women just for money and unwilling to make any amends in his life. Satya is exactly like the doll she adores: tiny and innocent, but unlike the doll, she will not break once she falls. This makes Satya a stronger person and someone with a purpose from now on.
Final Thoughts
The message of this film leaves the audience confused. There is no clear-cut answer or conclusion at the end of the film. The original film “Kappela” has a disconcerting message where the woman is supposed to safeguard herself from harmful elements around her. This implies that women are responsible for things that go wrong for them at any point in life. The message in this film only stuck to how a betrayal caused by love is hard to get over, and at no point was Satya blamed for crossing the line and doing what she thought she was doing for love. The direction was just not good, the narration was not effective, and the editing was equally erratic. The screenplay, too, did not elaborate on why RK behaves the way he does. There is a not-clear-cut arc on why RK is short-tempered. It is just established without any backstory, which seems very forced in the narrative. There is also no explanation for why the film shows Satya was attached to a doll in the beginning, but there is no mention of it in the later part of the film. A subplot was introduced, but there wasn’t any conclusion to it. “Butta Bomma” would have been an engaging watch if the screenplay in the second half did not feel so rushed.
“Butta Bomma” is a Telugu language film, now streaming on Netflix with subtitles.
