Pelli Choopulu

1- Watched the trailer and liked it a lot, made a note that I have to watch this film on the first day.
2- Music of the film was catchy with classical ragas fused with contemporary music, this increased my curiosity, again made a note that I shouldn't miss this film.
3- Music, cinematography and dialogues in the trailer induces a lot of trust in the film when you realize that it's by a new director.
4- Some films instantly attract your attention and give a hunch that there is a lot of honestly in it.

In the above four points, the director was 'Sekhar Kammula' and the film was 'Anand'.

When everyone was fighting for tickets of Chiranjeevi's 'Shankar Dada M.B.B.S.', I was hoping to get tickets for Sekhar Kammula's 'Anand' on the first day.

It was nostalgic and same things went through my mind when I watched the trailer of Tharun Bhascker's 'Pelli Choopulu'. 'Pelli Choopulu' is definitely one of the best films of 2016, it is honest in its approach.

I absolutely loved the first half and I don't remember when was the last time I laughed so much while watching a Telugu film.Graph of the second half is not appealing as the first half and the climax was like a jump cut, I guess some scenes were omitted in the editing room, but nevertheless its a total joy to watch Tharun Bhascker's 'Pelli Choopulu'. Happy weekend.

Note: Playing 'Chinuku Taake' and 'Aanandamayenu' in continuous loop, kudos to Vivek Sagar for beautiful tracks.

Udta Punjab controversy and hypocrisy of its breast beaters

The Udta Punjab controversy reminded me of a conversation in Mahabharata.

Yama: What is hypocrisy?
Yudhisthira: The setting up of standards for others is hypocrisy.

Self-righteousness born out of victim-hood rather than on unbiased and fair principles usually leads to hypocrisy. When director of "Buddha in a Traffic Jam" and others were attacked by comrades of a Central University, some of the current breast beaters for Udta Punjab controversy preferred to remain mute spectators, some had selective amnesia and some even indirectly justified violence and were visibly happy that film wasn't allowed for screening.

Some Udta Punjab breast beaters who cite "Freedom of Expression" forget that even others deserve the right of "Freedom of Expression" irrespective of political and ideological inclinations.

Freedom of Speech is not the privilege of the few who claim to be superior than others in aspects of art, its a principle which has to be applied equally irrespective of what you feel. Its plain hypocrisy when one justifies ban and violence against other films with "propaganda", "motivated" and claim their films as "creative", "realistic" and "pushing the envelope" when compared with same yardstick of "Freedom of Expression".

CBFC has rules and regulations which it has to follow , it cannot take decisions and make approvals based on the whims of individuals. Some advocate that there should be no censor board and every film should be released without any cuts, do you apply the same for films like "Innocence of Muslims"?.

I feel much more comfortable discussing with a conservative bigot than a so called liberal who applies lofty principles selectively. One of the symbol of a functioning democracy is when people use the right to talk crap openly, Ex: India turned into North Korea. Such statements are a periodic reminder that right to speech and expression in India are alive unlike in other countries like North Korea.

Before joining the chorus to support Udta Punjab, I would like you consider the below points
- Is this a publicity stunt?
- Did CBFC follow rules/regulations/guidelines?
- In supporting a genuine cause are you indirectly taking side of hypocrites?
- Will they support you when you face the same trouble if your work doesn't meet their standards?

A Aa (అఆ)

Let me begin by asking you this question, "How can I insult you?" read the question again, I didn't ask "How can I offend you?".

I belong to the part of Telugu generation which coincides with the rise of Triviklram Srinivas who have enjoyed and praised his works as a writer and director and slowly even criticized his works lately. Fraction of criticism is genuine and every film maker comes across it but its the other type of criticism which irritated me the most in last couple of years.

Punch Dialogues, "..there are no punch dialogues in the film...its not good...so its not worth watching", I feel like debating to the end how lack of punch dialogues doesn't make a film good.

Remember my question "How can I insult you?", or let me generalize it, "How can a filmmaker insult the intelligence of audience?"

Let me tell you a secret which many people don't know, you liked previous works of Trivikram Srinivas not for his punch dialogues but for the emotions which he handled in the story. Surprised? Watch those films again and you will realize it.

"A Aa" is not the best work of Trivikram Srinivas but definitely worth watching where he released himself from the slavery of fraction of dimwitted audience who look for punch dialogues and nothing related to art of film making. There are instances in the film like the suitcase scenes, that's the Muhammad Ali punch if you understood those scenes correctly.

Very happy that Trivikram Srinivas made "A Aa(అఆ)".

Climate Change Deniers

These days just being cynic towards the concept “Climate Change” is viewed like an act of blasphemy.

People who question “Climate Change” are now being suffixed with word “Deniers”, and are seen as some kind of untouchables by activists and environmental fundamentalists. The word “Deniers” caught my attention, it was a powerful word long back, it was used by religious heads at religious gatherings to punish apostates.

I have my own doubts about “Climate Change” and refuse to believe EVERYTHING what is being propagated. Not so long back we had the concept of “Global Warming”, now activists and environmentalists do not use the word “Global Warming”, they have replaced it with “Climate Change” because many sane people have pointed that planet Earth is not just getting warm but also getting cold in some places.

Old civilizations recorded temperatures for many many years and have seen rise and decrease of temperate and its not a new phenomenon and even in the recent history of 150-200 years, recorded temperatures prove that climate has been fluctuating. Just an FYI, the word climate in a sense means that something should be changing.

Indian Establishment and its Mercenaries

In politics where there is a presence of strong "establishment" it is hard to differentiate between ideological adversaries and their nescient mercenaries. It is even more difficult to define the word "Establishment" which usually holds some minor strings of power.

“Establishment” is not something which gets replaced or voted to power with democratic elections but a cabal without any democratic legitimacy but has some control or influence over the institutions, committees and organizations of a democratic and sovereign nation. A large typical establishment in a democratic republic would have its hegemony in the aspects of Arts, Culture, History, Universities, Awards, Media and other social institutions with or without the support of government.

Image Courtesy: NewIndianExpress

The 1960s and the early 1970s are important in modern Indian history.

• After the China war of 1962, India realized that they need to have a strong Army unlike what Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru envisioned.
• War with Pakistan in 1965 kept us vigil as it exposed the evil ideas of Pakistan.
• Genocide in East Pakistan which resulted in 1971 war contributed to the rise of patriotism in Indians.

Other things happened in 60s and 70s.

• Indira Gandhi, whom I consider to be a patriot with flaws made a deal with Communists due to political compulsions where she agreed to install Communists and their comrades as the heads of Indian institutions.
• Amar Chitra Katha started to become popular.
• Rise of Left terrorism.

"Bharat Mata ki Jai" and "Vande Mataram"

I told myself that I will be less acerbic in my views and ignore the ranting from the usual suspects but decided to hold it back partially due to bunkum published by Troll.in and Co.

"Bharat Mata" sounds offensive for Sharia Bolsheviks not just because it has idol form but also because it doesn't represent country as "Fatherland".

The concept of "Motherland" is ingrained in Indic thought and philosophy, this concept doesn't get total approval in Monotheism and Communism.

"Fatherland" is what Communists have been preaching for decades with very rare exceptions, some Socialists prescribe to the term "Motherland" opposing the leftish rhetoric, usually they are from a land which has rich cultural and literary heritage.

Cultures & Traditions which are not substantially exposed to organized religions and not strongly influenced by Communism refer to their country as "Motherland".

"Bharat Mata" comes to every Indian by default because the idea of a nation can be associated with a female form. No one says "Bharat Pita".

How many nations achieved freedom based on a slogan associated with motherland? Indian freedom struggle got amplified by "Vande Mataram". The slogan "Vande Mataram" was the essence of Indian freedom struggle, the origins of nationalist movement happened through "Vande Mataram". I am aware that it has became an irresistible fashion for some Urbans to support the slogan "Pakistan Zindabad" and make a mockery of "Bharat Mata" and "Vande Mataram".

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad resolved these controversies long back but they come back again with help of Left Liberals and their hatred for some individuals. I am not in favor of compelling others to say "Bharat Mata" or "Vande Mataram" as I am a supporter of Freedom of Speech and expression, but remember that these are the slogans which represent and encapsulate the ethos of India.

Interview with Satish Kasetty

Satish Kasetty is a Telugu filmmaker. His first film “Hope” won the National Award which was based on student suicides, his second film Kalavaramaye Madilo won the state Nandi award. His recent film “Terror” got released couple of weeks back which is based on Terrorism and Politics.

Many days have passed since your film got released, how was the response?

Positive response from everywhere

Did you expect such positive response?

I knew that film is good, script is good, and screenplay is good. I knew the film will keep the viewers engaged. I knew that audience would feel that they have watched a 2hrs 10min film and did not get bored. Srikanth's previous films didn’t fare well, if this film is at least little good, people will come and watch it, as audience don’t hate Srikanth. But I didn’t expect such unanimous appreciation from everyone.

There is a 6 year gap between this film (Terror) and your previous film (Kalavaramaye Madilo), I think it’s a big gap for a filmmaker, what happened?

Let me tell you this the other way. Muhurtam of "Terror" was held in 2014, later some film union strikes happened; we resumed the shoot and got the censor certificate in September 2015. We had to wait for release dates as we didn't have theaters to release. Totally it took 2 years to get "Terror" released. For the remaining 3 years, after I completed “Kalavaramaye Madilo”, couple of producers approached me but I didn’t have scripts. I started writing my scripts, I was in writing mode, as new ideas kept coming, and I went on writing and decided to complete my scripts.

The movie was scheduled to be released on March 4th but it got advanced to February 26th, any specific reason?

11-12 movies are getting released on that week. So the producer decided to advance its release date.

Happy Women's Day

Being a self proclaimed polemic, I like to add my comments over this picture which is being shared by prominent people on social media.

The problem with analogies like the one in the pic is that it obfuscates history and exposes how Indians are still in colonial hangover.

Chess was invented in India, and the old stories say that it was invented by Ravana to charm his wife.
Indian Chess didn't have the "Queen" till it traveled to different parts of the world. Indian chess had "Mantri" or "Minister" and not the "Queen" or "Rani" as some Indians today call it.

The introduction of "Powerful Queen" happened in Europe. The Spanish Queen was not amused the way chess was being played and ordered the rules of the game to be changed. To please the Spanish Queen, the rules of Chess were slightly changed and it finally accommodated the "Powerful Queen". 

Prominent people should be careful while citing examples and analogies which have a fractured and dubious history. Crackpot Feminists love today's chess for obvious reasons, teach them the history of Chess and Indian Chess especially to Desi Feminists.

If you want to please women or feminists today as today is "Women's Day", tell them that quite often Ravana's wife Mandodari used to defeat him in the game of Chess.

The Wolfpack - few thoughts.

It is almost impossible to find a compelling reason to watch a film which is a documentary about 6 New York boys with long hair. Crystal Moselle's documentary film "The Wolfpack" is about children who are brought up in a quarantine environment of their apartment.

"The Wolfpack" is a Sad, Funny and Intriguing documentary with lots of Innocence. Whether its the guitar solo which they play, enacting the scenes from their favorite movies or dancing to "Tarzan Boy" in their apartment with New York City lights in the background, it exudes energy and lot of warmth.

The narration of their stories is kind of hypnotic and on numerous occasions it is funny and there are some wonderful moments, for example when the boys come out, one of them says "This is like 3D, man" and when they watch one of their favorite film "Batman Begins" in a Movie theater for the first time, "I play that guy in The Dark Knight.".

Cynics may doubt that this cannot be a real story, if that’s true then please give them best acting awards. "The Wolfpack" is disturbing on many levels because of stark reality but beneath it contains hope which has to be cherished.