Bettada Hoovu

Bettada Hoovu
Bettada Hoovu
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	N. Lakshminarayan
Screenplay by	N. Lakshminarayan
Story by	Shirley L. Arora
Based on	What then, Raman?; by Shirley L. Arora
Produced by	Parvathamma Rajkumar
Starring	Puneeth Rajkumar; Padma Vasanthi
Cinematography	B. C. Gowrishankar
Edited by	P. Bhaktavatsalam
Music by	Rajan–Nagendra
Release date	1985;
Running time	148 minutes
Country	India
Language	Kannada

Bettada Hoovu (transl. Mountain Flower) is a 1985 Indian Kannada-language film directed by N. Lakshminarayan, based on the Shirley L. Arora's novel What then, Raman?. Produced by Parvathamma Rajkumar, it stars her son Puneeth Rajkumar in the lead role.^[1] Puneeth plays Ramu, a young boy born into a poor family, who is fond of reading books, but is forced to discontinue his studies and support his family financially. His performance earned him the National Film Award for Best Child Artist. Deccan Herald rated the film number one among the best "children's movies in Kannada".^[2] The film won three Filmfare Awards South. The movie was also screened at Tehran.^[3]

Plot

Ramu is a young boy born into a poor family, living with his parents and two siblings in a hill station. His parents hardly make ends meet; mother working as a fruit- and vegetable-seller, and father running errands in and around the village, often as a help to the visiting tourists. However, Ramu likes reading his books and going to the school. He even friendship with a healthcare worker, who teaches him English after school. He is fascinated after watching a screening of the film Sri Ramanjaneya Yuddha in his village and also upon seeing Kuvempu's Sri Ramayana Darshanam at a bookstore, both based on the epic Ramayana, and wishes to buy the latter to read. Costing ₹10, he begins working towards it.

Due to an off-season when tourists return home, Ramu's family situation becomes dire and his father has to move to the city in search of work, leaving the responsibility of managing the family to young Ramu. Ramu is now forced to drop out of school to and to earn for his family. He starts doing little chores around the village, while saving a part of his earnings towards buying the book. He begins selling wildflowers to an American teacher, who is writing a book on Indian wildflowers. He earns ten rupees, enough to buy the book, when he brings an orchid flower to the teacher. However, when he goes to buy the book, he has a rethink. He has to make a decision between buying the book or a blanket to comfort his family members from the chilling winter cold. In the end, he decides to get the blanket, much to the happiness of his family. But then his dream of buying the book is shattered.