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.

Movies, Art and Ideology

Do not praise a movie just because it is morally superior, possesses a righteous outlook and ethically correct. A movie is a piece of art, its not just about values.

Vishal Bhardwaj's "Haider" which has unbearable stench of Left Liberal agenda, driven by misrepresentation and lies to suit a particular narrative is definitely a superior movie in terms of art than Neeraj Pandey's "Baby".

Throughout the history of cinema it has been the case where ideologies are infused into Art, but Art in its form cannot be put behind over an ideology or an agenda.

Bernardo Bertolucci is one of my favorite director, who constantly expresses his romance with Communism on screen but I have been careful not to influence my views towards his work with his ideological inclination.You can add Oliver Stone to this list.

Many aspiring young film makers seem to be more concerned about ideological inclinations ignoring the art in film making. If tapestry of film making is confined to a narrative than film as an Art is bound to perish.

Its not just film makers who have to be honest with film as Art but its also the viewer who has to be honest with his/her expression towards the film as an Art.

Your right to eat beef..

Before asserting your right to eat beef, just have a minuscule thought about the animals right to live.

I am aware that above statement might be misunderstood. Let me explain.

Every animal has the right to live, my problem is with the assertion that eating something by taking a life is seen as "Right". I am against the argument that killing of something should be seen as some kind of fundamental right.

I am all for eating meat, but don't call it as some kind of fundamental right with vulgar display of your left liberal ostentation. I even support human cannibalism if you want to extend the debate to a stratospheric level.

Indian Frontier Policy - Tournament of Shadows

"Tournament of Shadows" as many called it was the rivalry of British Empire and Russian Empire in their pursuit to dominate Central Asia.Though history text books seldom mention the "The Great Game" (Tournament of Shadows), as a history lover I felt that it is an interesting topic to ponder over as for over a century, Central Asia still remains a Geo-political-strategic mystery. Tournament of Shadows had similar features like Cold War and doesn't have a precise starting date. The end of this quest to dominate Central Asia was followed by World War 1, World War 2, Start of Cold War, End of Cold War and "War on Terrorism", all the previous event which got mentioned had active participation of Russia and Britain either as an ally or a foe.

Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) which devastated Central Europe culminated with the 1649 Westphalian sovereignty where European powers agreed to respect the sovereignty of their neighbors didn’t transcend into Central Asia and the Indian sub continent. India was a precious territory and European powers were more than enthusiastic to posses India.

When keys are handed over to the new owner of 10 Downing Street, there is an unwritten custom where the predecessor passes on vital verbal advice to his successor - for example "Keep your hands away from Central Asia". Lessons learnt by Soviet Union for their misadventure in Afghanistan are now being taught to America. White House is calculating the number of days left for American soldiers to leave Afghanistan a midst the incomplete goal to destroy Al-Qaeda, unresolved aim to stabilize the democratic government of Afghanistan and unachieved target to confiscate the presence of Taliban in Afghanistan.

India was British Empire's jewelry which it used to flaunt proudly before the world but they were constantly on vigil as they feared that they can lose their precious possession if they cannot contain Russia in Central Asia.

North West frontier of India was dominated by Sikhs, but their decline started with Sino-Sikh war followed by the results of first and second Anglo-Sikh wars, where the British eventually got hold of small but crucial part of Central Asia. John Miller Adye was a British General who served during the Crimean War (fought between Russia and Britain), India's First War of Independence (1857) and he took part in British Empire's progress in India’s North West frontier. General Adye gives an awe-inspiring description of British Empire's policy in India on the North West frontier in his book "Indian Frontier Policy" first published in 1897