#eega

Like, first there's the fact that he actually takes the time to get us to know human!Nani (henceforth known as Hani) before he becomes fly!Nani (henceforth known as Flani). (I'll use "Nani" to refer to the character regardless of incarnation). Through Hani we learn that Nani is ingenious (opening scene where he makes the spotlight so Bindu can finish her microart), devoted (same), funny, stubborn (his entire relationship with Bindu), respectful (because when he truly believes Bindu doesn't want him there, he leaves), good at picking up cues (relationship with Bindu again), impulsive (but not in a bad way), and a lot of other characteristics that make us like him and sympathize with him. Most "murderous animal" movies don't bother with making the murderous animals actual characters, but Rajamouli makes sure Nani was humanized, literally and figuratively, through Hani, for the first third of the movie.

That part is sort of obvious, so I'll move on, but I want to point out also that all of these characteristics will be extremely important for Flani later. Half of them are important to help him manage to actually murder one of the richest men in the country as one of the most fragile animals in the world, and the other half explain both how he manages to communicate flawlessly with Bindu without words, and also why we as the audience still understand what he is thinking.

We already know Nani when he reincarnates, so that helps us relate to and understand the fly. Hani also serves a purpose, one that will serve a very important purpose later: body language. Hani has very expansive and unique body language, which, when transplanted to Flani, serves the double purpose of 1- making sure we easily transpose Nani into the figure of Flani, because when it has the same body language as him, it's easier to associate the two, carrying on the humanization that he expressed in the first arc; and 2- making Flani extremely expressive. A combination of very outward and easy to understand body language with the association of his figure with Hani's makes it easy for the audience to attribute feelings and relate to a creature that has very little to offer in terms of facial expressions, and nothing in terms of verbal language. Flani relies entirely on body language to communicate his feelings to the audience, and the fact that we're already familiar with it helps us care a lot more about him. It's basically the opposite of the Lion King "live action" remake.

The fact that Hani has his own arc also adds to that purpose. Hani's relationship with Bindu serves to show us he has the powers needed to defeat Sudeep in the form of a very small and defenseless animal (resourcefulness, intelligence, a knack for improvisation, stubbornness, being annoying enough that it constitutes torture), and, of course, to lay the groundwork for their revenge partnership later on, but it's also an arc in itself. The first third of Eega could be its own romcom movie. We watch him care deeply for Bindu and we watch them play their give-and-take game, and, particularly after being shown that he really would leave her alone if he thought she wanted that, and after seeing how much she enjoys their game together, we root for them. We all but forget that he's going to get murdered anyway, and we find ourselves caring for this arc. And then we do get to see Hani finally get what he wanted (in a very beautiful way that I might write about later because I'm crazy), he instantly gets abducted and dies. Not only does he get abducted immediately after seeing Bindu finish her necklace and go talk to him, but he hears her first "I love you" to him, from Sudeep's mouth, a second before he dies. The happy ending between the two of them we knew was coming from the start gets cut short before it actually happens, and we, as the audience, feel cheated, even though we knew he was going to die.

And because we feel cheated, we want revenge on Sudeep just as much as he does.

Had Hani died after getting to be with Bindu, or even before, it wouldn't feel so much like betrayal and spark such rage from the audience. But we were cheated out of a story we couldn't help but care about right when it was about to get good. Immediately after Eega's first (and arguably only) full musical number too. We were all on one wavelength (which the fact that it's a musical number really helps, like, there's a rhythm), and suddenly the genre shifted. We weren't even there for a romcom, but it was a good one, and Sudeep didn't even give us the decency of letting us finish that arc, or at least leave it fully unfinished, before we were dragged into the revenge. That helps us hate him, and our hatred helps us care.

Finally, there's the first sequence of Nani as a fly. The first, like, three times I watched the movie (don't ask me how many times I've watched Eega, it's not important) I laughed at that scene. Like, the way they do the trope where they obscure his face for as long as possible before introducing him is laughable but it also does serve the purpose of establishing him as a main character even if the audience fully realizes how comical it is to do that to a fly. But most importantly, we then get treated to eight straight minutes of Flani having near-death experiences, all in extremely mundane ways. I counted 16 near-death experiences in that sequence, which is just ridiculous. And his possible deaths include almost being swallowed by a kid who was blowing bubbles and getting stuck to a golf ball. Like, come on.

But! That scene is still very tense - like I said, we care about Nani, and therefore we don't want Flani to die immediately after being born, even if we are still not as attached to it as we are to Hani -, and, most importantly, it really conveys the helplessness of being a fly. What all his near death experiences, with the exception of the one where he was being chased by a bird, have in common, is that the person or being responsible for almost killing him wasn't even aware that he was about to be killed. And what all of them, bird included, have in common is that they would present no risk to a human being. No human worries about being swallowed by a kid, or almost getting stepped on by Rajamouli's cameo, or being eaten by a small bird. The only thing that looks threatening to a human is the very first almost-death experience - nearly drowning. A tsunami certainly looks very scary to a human audience. And so, when the water rushes to meet him, we fear it right along with him, only to be reminded that it's the tiniest of problems - just a dropped soda can. We felt small and helpless just as he did, faced with something that's relatably scary to us all, only to then realize that it isn't all that scary to us.

That helps drive home how exceptionally fragile Flani is, while keeping us, the audience, tense. It also establishes the genre shift from romcom to action, after 16 fucking uninterrupted near death experiences for the main character, whom we also just watched die helplessly for real only seconds prior. Hani was already too weak to face Sudeep, as much as he wanted to, and Flani seems even worse in comparison. That helps the audience care for him, want him to survive, to do well. And then, when he meets Sudeep again, that again serves a double purpose:

Make us hate Sudeep even more for putting Nani in such a helpless situation, which helps us be on board with fucking killing this guy ASAP;

Establish Flani as the underdog character of all time.

A fly killing a human sounds impossible. A regular human killing one of the richest, most powerful men in the country sounds impossible. A fly killing one of the richesst, most powerful men in the country sounds straight up insane. Therefore, Flani is as much of an underdog as he possibly could be. And everyone loves the underdog, because everyone sees themself in them. Before we know it, we're hooked.