Mata (2006 film)

Mata is a 2006 Indian Kannada-language black comedy film written and directed by debutant director Guruprasad. It has an ensemble cast starring Jaggesh, Vaijanath Biradar, Mandya Ramesh and others. The director himself had a cameo in the movie.

Mata is a black comedy film. The movie primarily revolves around the events that occur within a contemporary matha/mutts, which are revered as sacred institutions in India. The movie depicts that enlightenment is only possible if emotions like anger, lust, desire, etc. are overcome.

With this movie, Guruprasad rose to fame in the industry. Mata is the 100th movie for Jaggesh and the 200th movie for Biradar. After the success of this film, the Guruprasad-Jaggesh combo's next movie Eddelu Manjunatha was released in early 2009.

Plot
The movie starts with a taxi driver Venkatesha (Jaggesh) welcoming Sister Martha (played by Pari) to Bangalore. He needs to drive her to a matha in Thirthahalli and he starts narrating a story to make the journey interesting, interspersed with sub-stories.

The fore-said matha has an asylum taking care of handicapped orphans and a rare temple of Lord Brahma. He narrates about this matha, whose chief is a skirt-chaser and goes to the extent of playing the flute to girls over the phone just to impress upon them. Soon enough, the chief decides to part with the post in order to join his wife back.

In unique circumstances, the manager and administrator of matha, Appayya (R. N. Sudarshan) advertises in newspapers declaring vacancy for "Chief of Matha". At this point, breaking the fourth wall, R. N. Sudarshan enacting the role of Appayya declines to read out the dialogues about placing a newspaper ad about vacant Chief of Matha position. Director Guruprasad makes a cameo entry bombarding Appayya to enact his role.

The introduction scene of the film involves all the characters are invited with vedic hymns, "Asathoma Sadgamaya", which signifies the light in all directions.

The characters are neglected by society, their quest for a societal status and food drives them to do all kinds of things to just remain in the training period as they want to avoid destitution. Givne that it is a multi-layered plot, the narrator (Jaggesh) infuses tit-bits of stories to the viewer and seamlessly weaves them with the main plot. For example, the comedy scenes involving Nagaraj Murthy as a desperate king, who wants to build a mausoleum for his wife, are hilarious and signifies the hold on making the audience waiting for the intuitiveness of the next scene. Sudarshan has given a modification of a cool head who always emphasize Dharma, manager's role orchestrated by Sadananda, who is at his comical best.

The story progresses through the many travails of all the six apprentices, who fight for their place under the sun. This process takes them on a journey which transforms their previous meaningless lives into a completely different dimension. The plot also explores the many illegal activities that run behind the scenes in a mutt.

In the end, Jaggesh and the others realize the true meaning of life, and they each adopt a profession best suited to their personality. Sister Martha is revealed to be a guardian angel for the financially ailing mutt when she donates a substantial amount of money for its betterment. The movie ends with Jaggesh thanking sister Martha, and Guruprasad and Sudarshan sharing a small but lively conversation about the outcome of the story.

Production
The film began production on 14 January 2004 and was in production for two years. The film was shot in a matha near Thirthahalli during the monsoon season. G. V. Iyer and Vadiraj were supposed to be a part of the film but due to their untimely demise, the former was replaced by R. N. Sudarshan. Former police officer Girish Mattannavar was paid ₹1.25 lakh for his two day role.

Soundtrack
The film has six songs composed by V. Manohar and Udayaravi, with lyrics by K. R. Sitaram Shastri, V. Manohar, Chaturmukha and Kaviraj. They were sung by C. Ashwath, Gurukiran, B. Jayashree, Hemanth, Chetan and Chaitra H. G.

Critical reception
It got favorable reviews from both fans and critics alike. In 2022, a critic from News18 wrote that the movie was like a true vision of unrighteousness happening in a monastery and praised Jaggesh's performance.

Controversy
This movie took on a controversial color when Jaggesh was presented with the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. Jaggesh publicly expressed his disappointment that he was chosen for the award for best supporting actor despite playing the lead role and decided to reject the state award.