What I learned from RGV

This weekend is filled with the total slaughter on RGV which probably might have influenced the TRP of the so called people’s channel. Well it just shocking and appalling to see the state of telugu media. Not only it hurts the people who are watching it from a view that it is a new channel but also it turns and twists the whole concept of having media.

RGV was one director who went from rags to riches without any “rein forcers”. Before calling him a creative director and a talented maker on should also realize the toil he had to reach the zenith of filmmaking. It’s not by the gauge of success of a film is the directors potential based! It’s the level of confidence and space of being comfortable one can be assessed as an ACE film maker. I bet he can make a movie about any genre and any emotion in the film world. He experimented with fear, anxiety, love, sentiment, drama, comedy and action.

And all of his composure is seen in his interaction with TV9 when he starts listening to their stupid and irrational comments and answers them with what he wanted to day. It’s the Freud in you that makes you come out with irrational emotions when you are attacked verbally or physically. Then the way your ego is brought up translates these irrational emotions into rational thoughts and words. But we see a lot not worthless politicians getting back to these animal instincts when they are perturbed about any of their decision or action. They end up cursing and ranting with all the vocabulary not being expected from a dignitary. However Varma was so rational and started explaining the people the reason he protested their program.

Everyone should learn on how to behave with the media after watching his reaction to them. Media is not a place where a couple of take booze and attack at each other in the most primitive way as possible. Media is a platform for reflection of what is happening in the country. It is going to be a memory of our country, state or region at that chronological point. It’s great that he brought the point that the crew involved in the movie definitely spends a far more time in preparing, executing and presenting the movie rather than a person who comes to watch it for entertainment.

Movie is not just a so called entertainment media! Movie is a director’s dream to nurture and explain a series of incidents. It’s the work of the script writer and the director to get the whole concept out using other people as the enhancers. However the plight of out industry is that its more seen as a hero’s movie rather than a directors movie. That could be a greatest factor contributing to the stupid idol worship of the big stars which has a negative influence on the society.

We should really be proud of being reared up in an environment where we believe Babas can produce vibudhi, politicians can provide us free food and education and entrepreneurs can see at India as a developed country. But we have a disagreement with a person who makes movie for himself and all he takes from you is a 50 bucks of money and 2 and a half hours of time.

Whats is love........

After many days of relentless staying aloof from this world I felt lonely. Are we living in a world which is filled with love or are we just pretending we are in love? Be it a phone call I received after many days, be it the orange movie I watched or be it thinking about myself I don’t know but it made the difference. I feel lonely!

Love is not a calculation or it could have been so easy like cardiac output! Love is illogical. We don’t know why we love something. We have a reason for our relationships. But love in the relationships is unconditional. So it doesn’t really matter on how we love, how much we love and how many people we love. We spend a lot of time in our lives to find relationships and maintain them. However we forget that relations don’t define our mind, but love does!

Love is so abstract that it can only be felt. Today even though I live thousands of miles away from my home I can feel the love of my parents and grandparents. It just takes someone to express love and someone sensitive to grasp that expression. What cannot be defines is how many people you love and how long you love them.

There are two kinds of love…One is the destined love and the other accidental love. Destined love is what you share with people you have a blood relationship with viz, your mom, dad, brother, sis, relatives etc. It’s destined because you don’t get to choose them. The other is accidental which you have with people you meet in your life viz friends, lover, wife etc. The difference is that accidental love has a known and visible impact on you whereas destined love has a silent and indolent impact on you.

The third kind of love not found in all human beings is unconditional love. Love for people whom you never had a real good relation with or you never met or you are no one in their life. Love for the movie stars, celebrities and crushes are a kind of this love. People who love themselves so much cannot enjoy this kind of love. It can be both constructive and destructive!

Now to just summarize what caused me to burst these emotions is probably the fact that I like the Hero’s character in Orange movie. Not only he tries to explain that unconditional love has no conditions but he tries to show it practically. The movie is not as well executed as the hero’s character but however it managed to convey the message. The best thing about the movie is the photography and the novelty in the story. I wouldn’t say it’s an honest story but definitely is a fresh one.

Nenu Nuvvantu vere vunna naaku ee vela neelo nenu unnatuga anipistuvunde vintaga na kosam nene vetekentaga

Do you and me exist as two different ones cause it shocks me when I start searching for myself in us!!!!

Vedam…… malli puttani naalo manishini……

“Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum” is the mantra of the age. Vedam in one word is all that took seenu gadu to go to a school. Primary education in US is like a fundamental right given to all the citizens. But it is a luxury out there in India and we should be the fortunate ones. Now that we have a chance to sit before our laptops and surf about all the where about in the world is a fruit of various sacrifices made from people of various levels in our country.

“Vaddu lekka baga kattadu ra…….chadvukoni!” was the concluding remark made by the evil money lender at the closing scene and a child id shown hopping along with his grandfather with the rising sun on the background. Standing ovation to Kris one for creating a thought and intuition about how it feels when we see such things and two, for filling my eyes with tears. It has been a while I cried….I mean cried for others. We are filled with such struggles in our life that we hardly see people who are really suffering around us.

Good thing about Vedam is that you would not see the lead cast... you just see the characters. Cable Raju was so good a material for being the protagonist. He did have the mischief needed and was so natural that you could relate every other person. “Thooo (as if spitting)…. Jevitam” is his uutha padam. I was amazed in the way Kris made this pessimist who was never happy about his birth in a slum and aimed at things in an unethical way a hero. It’s ridiculously true that heroes need not be born with real charm, strong character and sensibilities. Singer Chakravarthy is just a reflection of any one of us. He is intelligent, decently wealthy and career selfish. You could see the two shades of him as an angry young lad and a sensible lover. Weaver Ramulu is the depiction of a poor weaver who works his sprits off to bring his hand to the mouth. “Illu kattina vadiki manchi illu vuntunda…..” is the dialogue uttered by him and perfectly reflects his status.

So these are the main cast of the movie but to add the commercial flavor there is the character of Saroja, a voluptuous prostitute who tries to go on for an own business where there is no one to dictate her. So the theme of this story was also to set her free from all the shackles of the world which would come for a person like her. Also is the mingled story of Khureshi a discriminated Muslim due to an officers bias towards a group and decides to leave the homeland to live free.

Why Vedam is ONE of the best movies made from tollywood so far…?

Ø The flow of the movie is so professional that you don’t see any distracters like scenes needed for comedy, fights etc

Ø Although a lot of people had complaints about music I personally feel that the background and songs are of high values. One requires being a diverse music lover to get the spirit of the song. And the background score is awesome. I would ask you to relook just one scene to know the music’s beauty. You remember the scene of Anuska and Brahmanadam and must have realized how good the veena sound is used when required

Ø Every character is etched so naturally that it brings a novel feeling after watching this movie

Ø Dialogues are so apt and intellectual rather than just trying to add to rhyme.

Ø Camera, Visuals and shades are so properly used and don’t dominate the movie.

Why Vedam cannot make it to the wide international arena like Oscars……?

Ø The narration concept of Vedam is a borrowed one from Crash, Pulp fiction etc. However the narration aspect of it never excelled these movies. I am a personal fan of non linear narration but coz I have seen all these movies I feel the narration is not as great as those

Ø Commercialization by having the character of Manoj, Anushka and Bajpai. You may feel it weird but it true! The basic story of Vedam is just with the Weaver and Cable raju. All other characters are placed intelligently to improve the commercial scope and still have the touchy feeling of the moving. This is completely inacceptable in the international arena. If Kris wanted to show poor man’s plight about education it is okay with Vedam. If he wanted to show a prostitutes plight it could have been the other story. Also if he wants to get the discrimination he would end up in another story. All these characters have nothing to converge except that they are involved in an attack in the hospital. However if he wants to get the perfect grip then he needed to twine these three stories to converge them and that would be acclaimed screenplay writing. He just managed to converge them physically at a geographical point but not mentally at a particular emotion.

Ø Bajpai’s fight with ganesh puja workers was unnatural and cheap. The RSS guys bullying Manoj and his girl friend was also a typical movie styled evil depiction.

P.S: Rs 40,000(approx) is the money required for a couple to spend at a lavish party of vintage wines and mouth watering food. It is the same amount of money needed in a day for a slum boy to impress his rich girl friend. It is the money given for a day for a prostitute who is good and had no experience. It is the money to free a child and let him resume his education.

Let’s think once again before spending our money on luxuries about the underprivileged people who are our brothers and sisters. Malli puttani naalo manishini……………..

How education ruined me….!

Long time ago people used to practice a barter system of trade. They used to exchange a commodity they possess with another one they don’t. Trade was pretty simple at that time as everybody knows the value of the thing they don’t have.
Flying forward to thousands of years where we stand right now, we have a judgment on which is valuable and which is not. We tend to quantify things based on the value. So we have a cost for things we see, feel and use. So a watch has a value and so do a diamond. Ironically a watch which had something cutting edge to make it precise, small and beautiful (SMART!!!!) has an abysmal value when compared with a DUMB diamond which in contrast has nothing except the fact it can look really beautiful. I have just one point to make ….. It doesn’t take how much of the knowledge or understanding you have; it depends on how much you show that you have some stuff.
Why am I talking all this crap is that, I wanted to make a wish! A wish for a world knowledge is respected as it is! Rather than counting on how much money it can earn. As a child I always wanted to become an astronaut (sounds familiar right!), just for some of my lovely personal reasons. I wanted to escape from the homework, tyranny of adults, clichéd world of chaos and also explore the dark(not having knowledge about the moon). I imagined on how long it would take to go there and how if I run out f the commodities during that time. Now when I have a recollection of such events I feel so funny and childish. Funny because there were logical explanations to all my difficult questions at that time and childish because I know it is not going to happen.
As a grown up I dreamt of becoming a doctor and I don’t feel funny or childish about that. So what does it take to be a doctor….I recalled
Why internal medicine???
Coz I am have an aptitude for it.
What aptitude
It’s kinda I think like a doctor and could act like a doctor…(Smart answer)
What is like to think like and act like a doctor???
I want day to day challenges, complicated cases, intellectually stimulating stuff and to daily updates.
But believe me if every day is going to be different and challenging then
One, you can never get a perfection
Two, you would pull your hair off due to the stress…
So, what being a doctor teaches you is not think and act like a doctor but rather to imitate and simulate other doctors and practices. Just copy them!!!!
So you are left with no other process of getting a stimulating thing..rather you get a simulating thing.
So my point is simple Education doesn’t teach you to go for crazy things. It lets you run with the rest of the world. The world would have been the same without crazy things.
Never are any great inventions done by people who wanted a place for their publication in a research journal or wanted to earn money for their luxuries.
It’s a passion and we ALL have it. What happens in the course of educations is that it gets dampened…
You would be exposed to the lure of the world and you want to have them. So the next way is earning money to get them. Finally you end up struggling to get the bucks you are worth as you invested most of your productive age in learning about what other people have invented….
You bartered yourself with what you think is the priority (money)!!!
“na choraharyaM na raajaharyaM na bhraatRubhaajyaM na cha bhaarakaarIvyaye kRute vardhate eva nityaM vidyaadhanaM sarvadhanapradhaanam”
Not stolen by thieves, not seized by kings, not divided amongst brothers, not heavy to carry. The more you spend, the more it flourishes always - The wealth of knowledge is the most important among all kinds of wealth.
So strive for knowledge and not education…….

ye maya chesavo.....

“Badha ante naaku istam….ee bada nannu padaneee”. This dialogue underlines the complexity of the heroine’s character. Not that they both belong to a different religion, not that he is younger than her but the fact that the whole thought process of the heroine is complex is enough to be made into a movie of two and a half hours. I would admire Goutham for his relentless desire to make protagonist narrate most of the movie. You see the whole movie in the way the main character sees. That’s the reason we remember Maddy (cheli), DCP Ramachandra (Gharshana) and now Karthik…..

If you ever imagine how it would be like to talk with your EX girlfriend after some years of separation then you would find a wonderful portrait of it in this movie. Some parts of the movie moves you along with it…You could find Karthik within yourself loving Jessie and admiring her every inch of being a woman. If a girl could dare to stop her marriage owing to the pain caused by her confused feelings what more does a guy who has no expectations expect. So beautifully depicted that you find yourself in a 3D movie adding the visual, auditory and nasal stimulations (fragrance of love)!

So what went wrong with this movie? It was with Karthik. Chaitanya is too young to get such role on his shoulders. Or it just that he doesn’t suit it. All throughout the movie I was thinking of how Shimbu would fit like a glove to the role of Karthik. That was one of the biggest flaws in the movie. Samantha is like an angel in the movie. Sometimes her expressions resemble Trisha which is perfectly understandable as she is her Tamil counterpart. Some part of the movie especially in the middle lost the grip with the narration.

If this movie is like a painting floating over water Arr’s music is like the smooth stream under it. Not only it gave life to the movie but also had many interesting parts to make it memorable. Strings were used with large variations during key scenes. Songs were so apt but not all were picturized to suit the melliferous music underneath it.

“Manam confartble ga vundali. Aa freedom manaki kavali” and “22 years nenunna oorilo nuvvu kanpinchakapothe undaleka poyanu” are the dialogues which strike the chord. Overall this is just an average movie but for some parts which are really honest and memorable. As K.Balachander wrote in his letter to Goutham that he said “I love you” to his wife after watching this movie, everybody comes out from this movie with a lovely feeling……

P.S: The climax in Tamil is meant to say that the lovers didn’t meet whereas in Telugu it is tailored to make them meet for marriage. I strongly discourage this type of change as it would mar the spirit of the movie. Let people realize that marriage is not an ultimate solution for any relationship….. Let people realize the fact!

5 years ago....

Five years ago I wrote this story which I feel so close to my heart. I wanted to share it with you and would like to request your comments and suggestions. Just excuse my grammatical mistakes as it needs a final correction. But do tear me with provoking comments on its substance. No smooth comments please and I want to see bash me with whatever you think......

Prologue

This is a story of two humans who act, talk, behave and look human. So here we have Pramod and Niki who have different understanding about the levels of privacy.

Every body’s life starts and ends with the childish tinge but here is the story of kids who retained their kid dish nature

Feigning to be foes

“You’ll start feeling better. You’ll slowly get acclimated to this world”, whispered God to Pramod when he was small. “Small” is so small that he is not out of his mothers uterus. He was having warm, wet, wistful and wild moments there. Of course he doesn’t remember them anymore. But the wanted to imagine them whenever he comes across a lecture, essay, elocution, dissertation or dissertation on topics like “conception” or “parturition”. Nothing seemed to impress him: his medical education, his friends, his teachers, and the city in which he lives as much as Niki. Don’t go into delirium wondering who she is! She was also a ‘fetus’ (Doc language!!) when he was so. She too grew up like him but some sensitive changes marked them into two different entities called the male sex and the female sex!

And this was one of the reasons why he loved her so much out of the many others. But to note is that this is the PRIMARY REASON! (Even if this is violated there are words in vocabulary to describe that). Apart from loving her he is also a triple ‘m’ lover, the three being movie, music and match (cricket).

And our protagonist is such an ordinary person that he isn’t fit to be so (He isn’t even as fit as a fiddle). He doesn’t have any conventional movie protagonist properties like rage, mercy and sacrifice (the most essential!). He is human, so human! He is a student of medical college in Vizag, which claims its name to be Andhra Medical College. Of course, he has 149 more co students who study in the same class.

Niki is one of the 149 more students. She boasts of her amateurism in singing, dancing and reading books. She leads a very boring life, so boring that it bores the reader if I start penning about it. She is human, so human!

So everything was fine until the fourteenth of February. Calendars call it the ‘valentine day’ (not a couple of years ago). But stars seemed not to have favored it. His over wit seemed not to have worked out. And now he is despondent dying for hope. But he’ll be normal because he is human and humans forget their blues!

It was a funky Friday morning (Feb 14) and he was in the ‘Archie’s Gallery’ for selecting a card. He had a thought that e-cards are better. But somehow cards seem to be more solid and less virtual. “She will touch it, no!” He chose a pink colored card. The cover strip showed roses with dew drops photographed with great skill. They appeared so real that they eliminated the need of third dimension. “Of course they are beautiful! But not as beautiful as Niki! She is more gorgeous”, he thought. The inner matter read...

“Like dew drops and roses we are there

They can be separated

But each loses its identity if so”

He brought it for Rs 20 and that may be the reason why it was wrapped in a yellowish-brown cover which was dazzling. As he walked out he was least bothered by the mourn of a vagabond craving for bucks. He started the bike. The smoke emitting from the rear of his vehicle seemed to propel l it forward. The bike read

“Yamaha RXZ”

As the hoarding passed by his memories flashed back.

The first day he saw Niki was really exciting. She is a stunning beauty of her kind. At that time he was so naïve at skulls in tackling wonderful women, fastidious females and gorgeous girls. He tried hard but couldn’t remember a word he spoke to her. He might have not talked to her then. He just passed beside her….err! She passed beside him. He didn’t find wind blowing her hair and she wavering her fingers to touch the face.

He then asked his pal how she was….Yeah! He remembers who it was. ‘Sus’. Susruth. Susruth is omniscient. “No yaar! She has some defect in the pelvic girdle” Susruth replied blatantly. Somehow Pramod’s eyes aren’t tuned to be so sensitive as to observe a 10 degree deviation of the pelvic girdle. She appeared perfect. “No buddy! She has the least blemish and she is PERFECT”, Pramod said too late to realize that Sus wasn’t bothering his words. He was preoccupied with something else. It’s from then he wanted to know about her. He wanted to know more about her. MORE!

“Creeeeek” his brakes screeched as he applied then involuntarily on the advent of the signal. On one side are two mavericks. They seemed to not have the relevant papers needed for driving a vehicle. Pramod started wondering whether he had them or not. Confirming that he had the necessary paraphernalia he waited for the signal confidently as a ruffian passed by him begging.

“More” to know was difficult if not impossible. It was easy if not difficult. So like a stream he moved for the day “destiny” had chosen. It was the fifth of June. June is supposed to be one of the romantic months filled with vigor. The first talk was rather a confused one. Niki asked him whether they are conducting a class on that day when both were late for the class. His reply was “yes”.

From that day they conversed many a times, but not very significant. Mostly they were rhetoric questions and one word answers like yes, no, yeah tec. And finally on one day...August 20^th he saw her in a restaurant. And there was his first long talk with her having a nut of substance that the next day was her birthday. That night he felt like writing an essay titled “My first talk with Niki” mentioning his special thanks to the restaurant which helped him so, The Green Park.

So that night at 12.00 am Niki received a call least expecting it to be Pramod.

The rays of love christened him to be a lover. He started seeing a different world. He started believing in the theory of relativity when he started doing everything w.r.t (physicists abbreviation of with reference to) Niki. As he entered the class the first sacred thing he does is to rummage for her. Ah! He finds her and the slicing end of smile shines on his mouth. He started explain to his friends about her assets so much that they pester him uttering her name. He even enjoyed that! “She is compassionate, clever, loving and optimistic” are the words used by him. He sees the blue sky of the morning, steel sky of the afternoon and the red sky of dusk only to end up with a monotonous saying, “she is far more gorgeous than this sight!”

So he had a day when she offered to give him a birthday party a couple of days after her birthday. (Wondered why it is called a birthday party?) He talked with her on that day to his heart full. He started to know MORE about her. Her complete name is Nikitha Visna and her father is a doctor. Her mother is a house wife. She had her schooling at “Oxford Public school” and the college that boasts about her is ‘Vikas’. She had a special corner towards music and singing. She reeds books and people’s minds (she claims!). She loves pets and plants. She is a sister of two brothers.

When it was Pramod‘s turn he left no stone unturned. He desperately wanted to propose to her with a rose that was on the table. “Oh my god! She is more beautiful than the rose”.

As they were talking wax began trickling. The liquid wax started flowing down and got solidified. This demonstrated that most of the things in this world are reversible. So reversible that it is impossible to call them irreversible! So is friendship, love, marriage (uh!) etc.

From then they started meeting often. They met and talked. They talked even on phone to extend their bucks to the service provider. You needn’t wonder why they got mobiles after this incident. They talked, talked and talked! They talked about friends, foes, family, feasts, fests, likes and dislikes.

Pramod at times found time to talk to Dinesh. Dinesh was very patient with speakers but is a sieve with regard to the confidentiality. He can’t hold much! So all the other 148 colleagues came to know about Pramod and Niki, so secretly….!

So with the pros and cons as the relation is going on Pramod received the first blow on the thirteenth of February. On that day for some silly reason Dinesh yelled in the classroom, “Niki” and as she turned back he shouted “Pramod! She is looking for you ra”. Blush appeared on the cheeks of Niki and her eyes glowed like embers. She stared at Pramod’s eyes and he lowered his head sensing guilt within himself. That day was disgusting! Yesterday was disgusting!

Now he is there trying to forget that and heal the wound that erupted. All these thoughts flashed in his mind as he was travelling on his bike. He headed towards the college.

He slowed down and took a right angle turn to enter into the college. Everything seemed ne and the climate appeared wet. The air was heavy. So heavy to make its presence being felt!

As he entered the main campus he was greeted by many familiar faces. He finally entered the library. He tucked the greeting into his book and went to the place where Niki was sitting. He smiled and sat in front of her only to find her reading seriously (!) for half an hour.

Finally he asked her to come out for a break. She was reluctant at first but finally got up and walked out with him. They were outside the library under a tree when she finally blurted “I didn’t like Dinesh‘s behavior yesterday. He was howling like a wolf. How can he shout my name out?”

“Yeah! He may be out of his spirits. But who bothers him” replied Pramod.

“I bother him. You told him something and that’s why he was.”

Pramod felt the sharp shrill of her voice pierce his heart like a spade. “No” was the answer.

She walked away. He stood still with mouth gaped like a pig ready to be served.

“Niki” he called.

Swoosh. She turned back flying her tress. “She looks gorgeous” he thought.

“Happy Valentine day” he said giving the card. She immediately smiled and said “thank you”. On taking the card she left. Pramod wondered whether she would see it or not.

That night was sleepless for Niki. She was thinking of the card Pramod gave her. She for some reason was crazy about him. She liked the way he talked so sweet, innocent and yet sex. She felt like kissing him whenever he praises her. She likes his honesty. She likes honest people and she has her own “Circle of trust” (like Robert de Niro in the movie “Meet the parents”) in which she dwelled.

She relied on her parents and brothers until she discovered that one of her brother was feigning about his girlfriend to her. From then he was out of her ‘circle of trust’. She doesn’t believe him anymore but just feigns so. She lives in a life in which she is either attached or detached to the extremes form anyone.

Thant night she was cursing Dinesh about his slogans. She believed that Pramod didn’t say this matter to him. “How could he have known it? How?” were the questions that helped her to stay awake for the rest of the night.

The dawn threw its golden light over her face and she woke up to find the day to be the fifteenth of February. She woke up and picked up her brush to walk to the bathroom. As she was going she heard the discussion of some of her friends. She started to eavesdrop only to find dreadful things ahead.

“So what do boys do generally in the hostel” asked one of them

“Chatting about us” replied Anitha

Anitha is a kid at heart who tries to act like a girl. She has 149 more co students two of them being Pramod and Niki. She was recently growing close to Sus and so was laden with a lot of information about boys and their whereabouts.

Anitha continued “You know Pramod always blah blahs about Niki and the moments that spend together”

Niki felt the slight sensation of fainting. How can Pramod talk about her to his friends?

“Do you know the other day she said to Pramod that she would rear him as her pet” added Anitha.

This was enough for Niki. Tears rolled from her eyes but she tried to control. A person in her ‘circle of trust’ betrayed her. In fact he said everything to everyone.

“So Niki is crazy about him?” asked a girl.

Niki felt like a blow on her ego and she rushed into the room. On seeing her everybody was dumbstruck. After regaining conscience they started teasing her about the statements she said. She smiled and left.

In the bathroom Niki was down with tears. The tears glared her vision. She hates Pramod. He committed the sin of betrayal. As she couldn’t see anything she cleared her tears (and memories too!)

That evening the breeze seemed to not have affected the small plants in the campus. It was blowing unnoticed by anyone. Niki was walking slowly and before her she saw Pramod greeting her with a smile. She turned her face away. He moved slowly towards her like a shadow and she started moving away from him.

“Niki” he yelled “What happened?”

“How could you do this?” she busted out.

“What?”

“How can you share with everyone our moments” she continued

Pramod felt the pungent pierce of guilt. The whole environment became heavy with cacophonous abuses of Niki. Everything seemed as if it were under the water. Other sounds appeared low pitched, short and precise. His spirits started feeling shameful.

“I shared it only with my close friend” he said

“Don’t bluff you consummate liar”, she replied.

Pramod was dumbstruck. He stood there speechless. He wanted to say her a lot but couldn’t. “Where listeners are dumb there can never be a song”. After a moment he came to his senses and said

“I didn’t pretend but...”

“Don’t overreact. You can never be so open. You crossed the limits of privacy. You even exploited my privacy” Niki started to cry.

“He is my friend yaar.”

“So is the total of our class” she said sharply.

He caught the glimpse of the peril. She continued

“You and I share everything and anything. But this is not meant as a show for your or my friends. But you add this stupid publicity tinge to everything. Do you understand?”

The stress on the last word made him understand.

“I am sorry but I don’t like to live in hype” he murmured.

“Then have your own world where everything is openly acknowledged. Bye and Bye forever” she said moving back.

“Niki” he whispered

“To hell” was the reply

Then he found a place to retire and it was his room which was better than hell. He slept and thought about her. “How could she be so mean?” All these scenes moved before him. The first time he saw her, the first talk, the expression of her tastes, the lovely moments with her and finally the rage in her.

So he stood there at a place where the demarcation of right and wring hardly exists. He was wondering about whose methodology was correct.

Form the next day he would come across her only to receive a small smile without much life from her. He also had a good answer for it. The same smile back! From then there was no much intimate between them. They didn’t talk about friends, foes, family, feasts, fests, likes and dislikes. They would rather talk rarely with their bailiwick being studies and bits of professionalism. They are classmates… just classmates… nothing more….just feigning to be foes.

Epilogue

And one day Niki was watching the rose which was dry without a single dew drop. She loved the sight of it. “So fresh without a dewdrop “, she thought “it not only got its identity but looked splendid so”

And the same day Pramod was strolling at the beach road at dusk. The sky was pink and was flashing lights. The horizon was glowing like a lantern with boats emerging from it like flies. The color was blue and one would be just blown away with the sigh of that. Adding to the sight was a thin drizzle. The whole panorama was so pleasant to be seen or felt.

“The sight is beautiful. More beautiful than Niki! Yeah it is!” he thought.

Just then a beggar passed by him asking for alms and he tossed a rupee coin to him. The beggar sensed the drenched coin warm…..

subhash

Leader......a new generation

Yesterday I happen to complete watching the movie Leader. Of course if there could be some sort of bias due to watching the fake print over the internet I completely agree to that. But I just want to share some excerpts of the movie….

Leader is a very powerful title to start with and should have been used only if the movie demands so. Yes, that this movie deserves it but no that it didn’t live up to it. Sekhar was one of the new leagues of directors who try to modernize the Bapu and Viswanath. If you think working with an US based film institute improves the skill of screenplay writing and the judiciously effective use of background score I would completely honor it.

But what does it take to reach the id of the viewers? “Happy days” was targeted to the audience who had some sort of college education. So did it reach them? Yes, not just because the story was set on it or the screenplay was so interwoven to delve into the sensibilities of the five friends. It is because it had the final feel of nostalgia, substance and an excellent realistic portal of characters.

Long ago I did watch a movie “Janani Janmabhumi” a balakrishna starrer under the direction of Viswanath garu. It bombed at the box office not because it didn’t have good components of a meaningful movie but it wasn’t targeted to any group of audience. I think the same phenomena happened here as Leader would just cater that urban audience who has a very basic knowledge about politics and a group of masses who believe in messiahs. It just requires you to know that if you cast a vote you could be a reason for a leader to be elected. I don’t think that this group would be enough to take the movie to the next level.

With reference to the use of Leader title the protagonist is just portrayed as the title in the last 10 minutes. People come to watch what the Leader does and not what he does as a politician till the end to watch him just convert to the Leader ending the movie. Also a feminist to the core, Sekhar tried to (again) exploit the female rape issue to form the bone of contention when there a lot of other issues that could be shown.
Why that issue??
Because half of the viewers are females! The same trick used by “GREAT” directors like Mutyala Subbiah, Dasari and Kodi. To conclude I would say that Leader is like an essay written by a primary school kid in the moral science lesson to reflect how idealistic thinking should be even though it is not practical. With the advent of freeze frame shots, non linear narration and slap stick comedy where are you Sekhar….. Wake up!!

P.S: Sekhar is one of my favourite directors and I would term Godavari and Happy days as one of my all time favourites.