Underplayed Gems

Kappu Bilupu (1969)

Kappu Bilupu poster
Original title
ಕಪ್ಪು ಬಿಳುಪು
Directed by
Puttanna Kanagal
Genre
drama
Country
India
Runtime
2h 23m
Rated
U
Rating
7.0 of 10 from 1 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More films like this

How it feels

This Kannada film tells the story of twin sisters with very different personalities and values. One sister embraces a simple rural life while the other seeks a more glamorous but consuming city lifestyle. Their choices create tension with the elders around them who care but cannot fully help.

thoughtfulcontrastingquietmelodramaticmoralisticsimplemovingdomestic

What happens

Kappu Bilupu ( transl. which means Black and White) is a 1969 Indian Kannada language film directed by Puttanna Kanagal. Based on a novel of the same name by Aryamba Pattabhi, this movie revolves around the contrasting behaviuors of an identical, yet distinct pair of twins. The film stars Kalpana in dual roles. Puttanna himself remade the movie in Tamil as Irulum Oliyum and in Telugu as Iddaru Ammayilu. Puttanna used the movie as a medium for speaking to the youth of the ideals he derived from Vivekananda. The settings are simple and mostly rural. The story is about how domestic peace is better than a glamorously consumptive lifestyle. The juxtaposition of the two sisters played by Kalpana in a black and white background is a clever trick. H R Shastry and Balakrishna play dignified elders who, in many ways, are sympathetic but helpless. There were a couple of simple but moving melodies. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.