Reel Vs Real of Indian Cinema

Does real life impact the screen image of Heroes? The two key elements to be noted here, are you a Hero and are you from South Indian Film Industry. If both are Yes, then Yes.

I have been thinking on this since my friend Sukanya mentioned during evening chai, that she was a fan of this leading Hero (whose SPY movie is ready to hit the screens) from Tollywood but she changed the loyalty now to another “Power” packed star (the “ “ are for having Power both on & off screen). The reason she was mentioning to shift the loyalty was that she felt that the former hero is bit arrogant from her observation during his media interactions and little research she did. It might be vice versa for some other people basis image and caste (another social stigma).  

Few geo political incidents created great mileage to film industry people. The one tops the list is Sampoo’s (Burning Star Sampoornesh babu) participation during Vizag special status protests. He was arrested and released later but came out as a Hero out of the whole situation. Prakash Raj is known for his adoption and changing the face of 2 villages contrast to his antagonist screen presence. I don't think this gesture is helping him on screen, though. But people here own him more than anywhere. 

Power Star is more known and appreciated for his apparent reading habits, helping hand, time he spends on his field and down to earth persona rather than his acting skills. Thanks to his Mega loyal fan base, he is catapulted to be the power maker of current government in the state and voice of the people. Equations might and tend to change once he takes plunge into active politics with his Janasena, later this year. Flash back to Praja Rajyam, a launch vehicle by Mega Star Chiranjeevi and the thumping crowd in the opening meeting in Tirupati. The outcome later was different, though. Power Star walk, style and even mention of his name in any movie and public gathering is garnering mammoth response and expected to work in favor of the particular product.

The troll and dislikes were inevitable even for Stylish Star for his 2 words “Cheppanu Brother”. The wrath to his latest outing as DJ is quite evident and impacted the outcome of the movie. Now, the fun part is Balayya always tops the list to entertain us with his free fan slaps all around and funny interviews, watch the one below. This topic and the brain storming thesis here doesn’t apply to him, he is up and above all this.  Cola-Pepsi Balayya babu Sexy, fans call him that way.

Balayya Funny Interview

Few miles down south in Kollywood, the situation is more or less similar. Thala Ajit’s fan base is humongous. The Ajit-Vijay fan base rivalry is evident before each big release. Thalaiva Rajinikanth’s pan India and onshore craze is beyond his movies and acting skills, something can’t be explained. Hi is the Xerox, FedEx of Tamil Cinema. These heroes are more cautious for real image than reel. Simbu is fresh in memory for his Simbu-Nayan, Simbu-Hansika breakups than his movies. I am not bringing up his recent X rated Triple A(bit confused here about the best alphabet to succeed the word Triple...X/A). Suchi leaks and alleged involvement of Telugu film industry in Drug scandal did dent the image of few film personalities.

Further into Mollywood, Dileep who’s 2015 film Two Countries is one of the top 10 highest grossers in the industry, is under the clouds now for whole conspiracy of actress Bhavana’s kidnap. His next Ramaleela is posing a big moral question for Kerala moviegoers. He is expected to come out to explain his version before release of the movie, like the way Kattappa did before Tamil Bahubali2 release for his stand on Cauvery water dispute.

Bollywood, you don’t care, whether Salman slapped or Sanju puked. The reel vs real images are not linked the way Bandra-Worli.

We have accepted Munna Bhai after he came out of jail for 1993 blasts. Hum Dil De chuke Sanam was a block buster even though Salman slapped Aishwarya during the shoot. Hrithk is busy with Krishh4 even in the current turmoil called Kangana.

You lucky Bollywood buddies..we are little intolerant down south !!!

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Sye Ra..Chiranjeevi's #151st

Bahubali was the bench mark for stamina of Telugu Film Industry and binocular for Indian Film industry to reki the distant territories to reach audience & have contribution towards new box office phenomena of blockbuster by moolah.

Dangal was the immediate beneficiary to capture the reach, especially in main land China. Though, Amir khan has got huge fan base in China and his previous movies 3 Idiots & PK were big success, the mammoth outcome of Bahubali helped them to have different strategies for Dangal.

Post Bahubali, 3 big global scale movies were announced, all from South.

One, Sanghamitra by C Sundar (Husband of Khushboo, national spokesperson for INC). Shruti Hassan was initially on board but later dropped due to some differences. Grapevine is mini Khushboo, Hansika Motwani is in.

Second, The Mahabharata based on renowned writer MT Vasudevan Nair’s classic Randaamoozham. Mohan Lal will be playing Bheema in this 1,000 crore movie produced by UAE based Indian businessman BR Shetty.

Third, The Ramayana produced by Allu Aravind & co, where Ram Charan is playing the lead role in this 500 crore trilingual 3D format epic.

Now, there were few movies, which took a long breath to indulge in this changing dynamics of Indian Film Industry. The first one that I know in this category is “Sye Ra”, Megastar Chiranjeevi’s #151^st outing.

The motion poster released on his birthday amidst huge fanfare after the grand success of his #150^th. It was a loud announcement involving Amitabh Bachan, Vijay Sethupathi, Kicha Sudeep, Nayanathara and Jagapathi babu, that’s the recipe aimed at Tolly, Bolly, Kolly & Sandalwood. Music is helmed by Indian Mozart AR Rahman for global appeal being produced by Ramcharan (Son of Chiranjeevi).

If Khaidi #150 has eroded all non Bahubali records what Sye Ra has in store ?

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Sye Ra Motion Poster

Sairat

Why most films end with what protagonist wants? Watch Sairaat, Fandrey, where circumstances are hero & norms of the society we live in are conclusion. The graph of characters evolve in pace with socio-political, socio-economical metrics, not with Bollywood economic indices. Nagraj Manjule’s clarity of society is so well mirrored in these two films, that you almost hooked up with emotional journey of Archie, Parshya, Langdya Pradeep and Jabya (Fandray) from the word go.

Sairat now Fandray Later

A simple aspirational-musical love story with cast n class clash blend with the cultural paradigms of Bittergaon, am not sure about the intention of Nagraj to choose this name. You will understand this line post watching movie. Google quickly comes up with acidic, acrid, tart, sour, biting, unsweetened when I search for meaning of Bitter. True to the second half of proceedings of story. However, the first half is decorated with aspirations, joy n celebrations of love n friendship.

The “SlowMo”s of Parshya,  jumping into the river-the moment he hears a sound resembles Archie, deep dive into the well-to have a glimse of Archie, dancing on the way in the fields or dancing while waiting for train to cross-to meet Archie for the first time, are few heroic moments. The rest are true to what we are (I mean they are). You know what Parshya is capable of, you feel for him when he is beaten and excite when Archie confronts goons with a pistol. You know Archie as well, she rides bullet to college, tractor to fields and horse to take bath. So who is hero here?

The conversations are simple, landscapes are real and the music is heart for Sairat. Ajay-Atul compositions compel to you keep Sairat tracks on loop for a while after you watch, for sure. The music duo live recorded with symphony orchestra for the first track “Yad Lagla”. The title track “Sairat Zaala ji”is full of Indo Western beats and Piano notes. You will chorus/shout with Ajay’s rustic and Chinmayee’s sweet voices during this track. Shreya ghoshal’s rendition of “Aattach bay aka” is in the middle of the album and ratings with twists n turns. The “Zingaat” is a catchy tapori street dance number with vocals of Atul-ajay. The album reminds us of early Ilayaraja with notes of Indian flute and rousing return of symphony orchestra in Indian films. I don’t understand Marathi but when Archie asks each time“You understand Marathi or you want it in English”, I echoed each time “I will learn Marathi soon”.

Like any other love story both Archie n Parshya elope from comforts/struggles of Bittergaon and arrive in Hyderabad to face real life challenges. The work hard to meet their ends, they fight, they learn the language, they form relationships with community and progress. The agony of this part of the journey is showcased in three scenes, 1-Parshya twists Archie’s arm, squeezes her face on the pavement middle of the busy road, he could have slapped, no the pain they went through is enduring not momentary. 2-the not so whole heartedly suicidal attempt of Paryshya and 3-Archie’s realisation at the station when she confronts an old aged beggar couple.

The reunion of Archie n Parshya is now celebrated, the results are register marriage, INR 40k pay check each month (together), few smiles, a new rented house with a booking deposit for new flat and a kid. They named him Akash but calls Tatya (what Archie calls his father). Now she calls his son Tatya. I guess for a reason Nagraj (Director) wants this kid to be called as Tatya, to level the field of sufferings for both the Tatyas. Archie’s affair caused sufferings and socio-political humiliations for father Tatya, so what the redemption plan is for son Tatya’s sufferings for rest of his life.

go wild go insane…Sairat Zaala Ji……!

Sairat Musical journey here ...

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Bahubali...1,000 Crore Mania

I am reluctant to write anything about Bahubali saga, as there is plenty of information overload on every platform, possible. Bahubali created a page for itself in the history of Indian Cinema, so I am creating a page for invincible Bahubali on my blog. 

Thanks to phenomenal success of “Eega-Telugu” (Makkhi-Hindi, Naan Ee-Tamil, Eecha-Malayalam), the Beginning of Bahubali, which began as a high budget Tollywood product of Rajamouli ended up as a national level celluloid revenge drama connecting not only 4 Metros but whole nation unlike Golden Quadrilateral network as envisaged by then Prime Minister by Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2001. This “#Make in India” (current PM Modi’s mantra) Beginning product garnered Rajamouli The Padma award.

I guess, actor’s Job Description is changing these days, not only enacting director’s vision on screen but helping product marketing & distribution at times. Bhalladeva (Rana), the macho antagonist of Bahubali was a real hero who connected Karan Johan, Dharma Productions and Arka media producers of Bahubali to distribute it nationally. Rana did the same thing with “The Ghazi” attack movie. I have numerous instances where new bees are funding/pooling funds for their first ventures and established ones are capitalizing contacts to access pan India reach, we will cover this topic separately.

Awards & #WKKKB

The Part I though surprised national audience with the scale & grandeur, featured on international arena across most film festivals and ended up as the best Feature Film at 63^rd National Film Awards, yet ridiculed for lack of gripping content. Aslo, questions were raised why an unfinished movie (we love half boil egg fry down south) was given award in the category of whole feature film. However, it left the whole world with a never before asked Vikram Betal question of #WKKB. And suddenly Kattappa, loyal servant of Mahishmati kingdom became Indian obsession. At some point Kattappa almost killed Bahubali II in real life with his 8 years old Pro Tamil Cauveri river comments.

Devasena

Now, “The Conclusion” is conclusive answer to all the short comings of part I. It's mammoth and content is full of twists and turns where you feel for characters of Mahishmati and Kuntala kingdoms. Anushka as Devasena is riveting till she goes back to her Part I old draped sari days at the end. In this shot when she was entering the Mahishmati along with Bahubali, after a dream song sequence on the boat, the flag on top breaks when it hits the massive stone carved elephant with water fall. So is it a hint that there is no more scenes of Devasena’s Kuntala kingdom where she fell in love with Bahubali in elaborated sequences of wild hunting, enemy attack and a proposing song on Lord Krishna. I guess since the Bahubali brand has grown so big that no other GOD than Krishna can represent Universally, thanks ISKON. In this song, even Lord Krishna got cheated, who himself is known for mischievous acts. Each flower showered, Harathi offered are bestowed upon Bahubali indirectly, God must have been so angry here, that you get to see an enemy attack immediately after.

 Sivagami

Ramya Krishna was a thunderous this time too in her glorious Sivagami role. Sridevi missed an opportunity here, opting out for Puli (not so successful Vijay’s Tamil Movie). She is adorable in her confrontations with Devasena and her melancholy towards the acts of ruling the death of Amarendra Bahubali are true visual treats (oops I have answered the #WKKB).

Bijjala, Bhallala, Avantika & Rest

Bijjala got meaner and Bhallala stronger and effective, who was ridiculed for his stone faced expressions during his “Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum” days. What a redemption. Bahubali couldn’t have been this bigger without mighty Bhallala. His act of fondling the iron chain (with which Devasena was tied during part I) and caressing the throne during enthronement are noteworthy. Avantika appears in the penultimate scenes but nothing much to do but to help & see Devasena to walk over face of fallen Bhallala statue, in the end.

Climax

Rajamouli choreographed the whole sequence very dramatically with a big fire on the back drop so that rest everything is shadowed including faceless attackers, #we are not interested in anything else other than why & who killed Bahubali. So, you see the shadows of Kattappa, Bahubali and a stab in the back. No close up shots except the one where Amarendra pulls sword and rests his arm before his soul is rested forever and making way for the movie to storm box office with ever before seen worldwide collections by any Indian Movie….1,000 crores still counting!

The next big question after #WKKB is what next Rajamouli???....

Bahubali #3 or Chhatrapati Shivaji or Mahabharat or a small scale product to lower the expectations???

Jai Mahishmati !!!

...the boy who lost his Mega Cycle !

Ok..here it goes, a kid living in a coastal state of India, Andhra Pradesh went to watch a movie in 1997. 

This state and 3 neighboring states are known for filmy buffs, where movie watching is a culture. Films are part of any & all occasions and celebrations. Film watching is a habit and hero worshipping is an addiction here. Those days, people travelled all night in bullock carts to the nearest towns to watch the first day first show, next morning. Quite often, human pyramids are formed at the ticket counters and the one human on the top of the pyramid with his hands in the window would get the reward, the ticket(s). Torn Lungi (traditional Indian garment worn at around the waist) and vest scented with sweat were the regular attire in the theatre, since the shirt is already into pieces in the process of getting a ticket and making way into the theater to reserve a place to stand for next c.a 138 minutes. Beware, no online booking, numbered seats and Deodorants were available back then.  Of course, male and female crowd in the theater are separated by a bamboo wall separation.

Back to the story, this kid lost his cycle in the euphoria of getting the movie ticket. He enjoyed the movie till 13th reel and started feeling the pain of cycle loss thereafter, since his parents got him the cycle after his yearlong pester. After the movie, he somehow managed the loss and anger of parents. 

Now, in 2017 (after 2 decades) this kid is into movies and now a bankable star with consistent track record of hits. And, the hero of 1997 movie is stalwart of Tollywood and currently a politician by profession and a Member of Indian Parliament. His re-entry into films after 10 years in 2016 was a hurricane and shook the box office with collections. He is currently on Hot seat of MEK, Tollywood version of KBC . 

So this grown up kid is now called "Natural star" Naani and was the guest of MEK show and narrates how he lost his cycle 2 decades back to the host, Padma Bhushan Megastar Chiranjeevi, who was the hero of 1997 movie, “Master”.  Master immediately agreed to redeem the loss of his cine disciple and cycle delivered at door. 

What a 360° filmy success story, “a child lost his cycle while watching a movie and gets it back after 20 years from the hero of that movie”.

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela

Crazy Strategies of Stardom..."Cheppanu Brother"

Astonishing to see the diminishing thin line between real and reel life. Why do we have to hear all the hard work the crew went through while canning the film and why do we empathize when we hear a star is making movies just to be afloat and to make it to the shore of politics, before his boat is moored to the Quay, forever (???). Here, I am referring to the Power Star Pawal Kalyan, who was the power point for the existing Andhra Pradesh government during last electoral battle and now getting ready with Janasena for 2019.  Are these statements and confessions influence the common viewer to watch the film?

The promotion strategy changes every time, after a while. Till the recent past, the audio events have always been the biggest platform to rave about the movies & to show how unique from the rest in the history of industry. Now a days with the invention of Prerelease function sans audio event is the new platform to talk about the product. Specially, on Tamil & Telugu platforms, the hero worship is beyond comparison with any other film industry. The onstage talk nowhere matches the result of the movie at the ticket window, in most of the cases.

And then you have teaser for first look (worst part), first look, teaser, promo, theatrical trailer and numerous tweets and quotes on social media about the film and performance on YouTube views of these never ending tits n bits of film. The other day, Allu Arjun said “Cheppanu Brother” (refused to take name of Power star on stage during promotions of Sarainodu), which stirred the bigger sand storm on social media than any hero introduction (sand storm) scene in Telugu & Tamil film put together, ever. Then, fans started creating YouTube record of dislikes for teaser of his forthcoming movie DJ.

However, it’s changing again. Pawan has always shown his humble side in promoting his movies. He was always shy on dais with limited words till his Janasena avatar. Now he is aggressive and promoting his movies with a disclaimer statement to watch if it’s watchable. He admits the fact that his fans waited for 7 long years for him to deliver a blockbuster post Khushi in 2001.

Even Jr. NTR has started downsizing his reel image post Janata garage. He caution crowd to go home safe and to think of parents more than worshipping on-screen heroism.

The surprise among the lot is upcoming actor, Vijay Devarakonda who took to twitter and apologized to those who didn’t like his recent film “Dwaraka”….a new strategy again???

Blowing Woods: UTurn of Film making down south

Blowing Woods: UTurn of Film making down south: The film making has taken big U Turn down south at least. Few notables (which I have covered so far) in this category are Lucia ...

UTurn of Film making down south

The film making has taken big UTurn down south at least. Few notables (which I have covered so far) in this category are Lucia & UTurn from Kannda; Kaka Muttai, Visarane & Joker from Tamil; Pelli Choopulu, Yevade Subramaniam, Kshanam & Manamantha from Telugu and Drishyam almost all box offices.

Each one is a gem in itself and changed the way of film making down south making way for fresh talent and forcing established ones to mend ways of commercial image & cinema. Tamil and Kannada industries are known for experimenting quite often, I am excited to see the wave change in Telugu industry where Ram Charan took Dhruva route taking a back seat for making space for story and antagonist, hero & heroine met and lived happily ever after was not the case in Jr. NTR’s Janata Garage and Nag limited himself to wheelchair for 2.38 hours as quadriplegic with support of Karthi (this role was turned down by Jr NTR) in Oopiri, a French adaption of ‘The Untouchables”. Item & hero intro songs are not mandatory, separate comedy track is no more compulsory at least for now in most of the Telugu movies.

The stories of these film makers behind making these off beat movies are equally fascinating.

Pawan Kumar (Lucia & UTurn) pulled off Lucia on first ever Kannada crowd funding. UTurn was made on a real story of where a guy jumps off 13^th floor and emerges unhurt because his dead wife saves him after her death (with daughter) in an road accident on Bangalore road owing to common mistake people make to move road blocks.

Rakshit Shetty of Ulidavaru Kandanthe fame (English translation, As seen by others) who admits that he used to work on his theatre/film projects during his office hours, as he always managed to find couple of leisure hours during 9-5 window, honest confession, is isn’t it? This movie makes you to form your own climax basis different perspective of 4 characters you travel with during the film and leaves you unanswered of your own questions

Chandra Sekhar Yeleti worked on his Manamantha project for good 3 years especially on tightening the screenplay (must be record time for a Telugu director) to make a compelling climax at the airport and struggled to find artists with no Telugu commercial film baggage to make this story realistic.

Manikandan’s outstanding debut is all about aspiring story of two kids to taste Pizza at the newly opened hut in the slum grounds, where they used to play and steal eggs (their main source of protein) from crow nests on the only tree, which is now cut down. Manikandan says, why we judge people by appearance and colour, even we don’t spare animals & birds. Interesting timing here to match idiotic comments of Tarun Vijay racism row: ‘We’ve south India... we live with black people’. Always admire the beauty of parrot but now crow….that makes the title “Kaka Muttai” (Crow Eggs), finally crow gets its glamorous filmy touch and film won National award for Best Children’s Film of 2015.

Why should the parrots & white have all the Glory?

The story boards of these movies leaves me to recite a poem of great Telugu poet Sri Sri (Srirangam Srinivasa Rao)

Kaadedi kavitakanarham kukkapilla, sabbu billa, aggi pulla (Nothing is inappropriate for a poem - a puppy, a bar of soap or a matchstick)....

Blowing Woods: The Ghazi…backstory

Blowing Woods: The Ghazi…backstory: This guy (all of 23) out of Film school in Australia came back to Hyderabad and built a submarine with all his money (INR 30 lacs) and...

The Ghazi…backstory

This guy (all of 23) out of Film school in Australia came back to Hyderabad and built a submarine with all his money (INR 30 lacs) and started shooting a (short) film, which eventually couldn't take off due to lack of funding, while his parents were still in shock that their lad was not graduated from B school but from a film institute. Building a submarine for a short film, grabbed the attention of many film makers in Hyderabad including Rana (actor and heir of Suresh Productions), they immediately called him to present the story board. Here is the twist, he presented the whole story board on temp 3D animation, which is pretty new practice in Tollywood. He did this to hide his incompetency to narrate the story.

Production house was so impressed that they decided to make this movie on National level and tied up with Dharma Productions. The initial start cast of Surabhi Theatre group were mostly replaced by main stream actors. Further, Cinematographer Madhi, Editor Sreekar Prasad were onboard to anchor "The Ghazi". Stalwarts of industry Amitabh, Chiranjeevi and Surya, provided the narration part of Hindi, Telugu & Tamil versions respectively. The end product resulted as a profitable venture with more than 300% in revenues commercially and tonnes of critical acclamation for the whole team & Sankalp, the Captain of Ghazi the movie.

What a platform for Sankalp to showcase his skills, who started a film (initially short) with INR 30 lacs, realizing that he wouldn’t go far and now landing in the laps of Karan Johar.

…..back story behind the story, why did he built a submarine?...because he wanted to film a story which can start and end at the same place to make best use of resources with shoe string budget.

Well, Sankalp has just started off his journey towards western filmy coast of Mumbai from coastal Andhra.....