Today I watched Kahaani starring Vidya Balan along with a few friends and our better halves. I was initially apprehensive about watching the movie when my wife suggested it. However it turned out to be an awesome movie. Typically when any of our intelligence agencies are depicted in films the agents are depicted to be James Bondish characters who rescue the nation from the clutches of the evil antagonist and win the heart of the heroine. Seldom do we get films in which they are portrayed the way they were in Kahaani. I wholeheartedly recommend the film to anyone who has not seen it yet. Do not be put off by the picture of a pregnant woman who seems to have a Durga-like portrayal on the poster. Watch the movie and understand the symbolism behind the poster.
After coming home while flipping though the channels on the TV I happened to come across what was probably the audio release function of a movie. This movie features the son of a very prominent actor. I was immediately struck by the sycophancy that goes into making Telugu movies. The hero is everything. One punch, and the villains go flying. He is invincible. The very elements tremble when the hero is in full flow, whether it is an introduction scene or a fight with the villains. The hero has to come out unscathed. Take for instance a movie called Tagore which featured Chiranjeevi. I was told this was the remake of a Tamil movie called Ramana. In this movie the hero sets up an anti-corruption agency which executes the most corrupt person in government departments. Apparently at the end of the Tamil movie the hero was hanged. Had this been the end of the Telugu movie the director and producer of the movie might probably have been lynched by fans. In Tamil films Rajnikanth has a similar fan following. Further there is intense glorification of violence in Telugu films. The hero, on the side of right ends up killing a lot of villains by the end of the movie.
I wonder till when this extremely unrealistic portrayal of life will continue. When will the Telugu film industry get a movie like Kahaani consistently? I must say that there are some Telugu films also of late which have a story to speak of. I just want the age of sycophancy to end. I want good movies to be the rule rather than the exception.
2 comments:
Btw, a lot of Germans keep asking me if violence/killing is common in AP. Then I ask them why they even think so. For which they reply, "oh we saw a few films where the hero keeps thrashing/killing people just like that".
Watch Vedam,Gamyam,Prasthanam,Magadheera.. Good movies unnai... :)
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