Rangasthalam

When Raymond Chandler criticized Agatha Christie in "The Simple Art of Murder", it was criticism from a peer where Chandler makes an interesting point - "Fiction in any form has always intended to be realistic".

Sukumar's "Rangasthalam" is different and distinct in many ways. I fail to recollect when was the last time a top director made top stars appear in a period village drama in Telugu Cinema.

Sukumar has always been audacious right from his first film "Arya" where the hero introduction scene is - emerging from a crappy manhole, in "Jagadam" where the design of lead character goes against standard conventions, in "Arya 2" the hero is embedded with unprecedented grey shades, in "One: Nenokkadine" the hero has a psychological problem. In "Rangasthalam" the protagonist has hearing impairment but the audacious part of "Rangasthalam" is that it is set in the 80's.

The first top view zoom shot where Chittibabu is in a hurry tells the viewer that Sukumar's approach in Rangasthalam is going to be different when compared with his previous films. The post death ritual scene emphasizes that it has to be taken seriously, the suicide attempt - rescue scene underlines the approach of the film, the scenes of antagonist played by Jagapathi Babu gives the hint of the overall plot and politics involved in the film, the scene where President name is revealed, tell us that Sukumar has many such surprises in the film.

The most striking among the brilliant performances by actors is by Jagapathi Babu, it reminded me of Krishna Vamsi's "Samudram" and RGV's "Gaayam". Like his previous films, Sukumar comes with his trademark? item song, which increased the weight of my complain about stretching the movie beyond its potential and the target audience.

In "Rangasthalam", Sukumar doesn't shy away from escaping into humor whenever possible, doesn't feel shy to adapt melodrama, doesn't feel shy to exploit death, doesn't feel shy to use the obvious shortcomings of a village guy and also doesn't feel shy to emphasize the "thread" worn by antagonists.

Journey of "Rangasthalam" was with hiccups, definitely worth watching for its audacity, probably it will fill your mind in next few days with scenes from the movie but this still bugs me - "Fiction in any form has always intended to be realistic" or ‘Realism in art in any form has always intended to be Fiction’ or it doesn’t matter in Telugu Cinema?.

అ! reminds me of 'ఏడు చేపల కథ' - 'Story of 7 fishes'

For very long I have been detesting the reasons given by many who support mediocrity in Telugu cinema. Below are some of the reasons.

- Navarasa

- Common man works hard and expects to see a masala film which relieves him of his tensions.

- Indians expect a package in a movie.

- Navarasa:

The reason to bombard movie goers with mediocrity comes the lazy reason of "Navarasa", Indian art form does talk about Navarasas and Indian epics contain Navarasas but when and where is it commanded that Navarasas have to be sandwiched into a 21st century film? 

- Common man works hard and expects to see a masala film which relieves him of his tensions:

Probably the pukeworthy reason to celebrate, foster and perpetuate crap and mediocrity into Telugu cinema. This reason is indirectly implying that Telugu (Indian) audience aren't good enough to appreciate art and also an offending remark which insults the intelligence of the viewer.

- Indians expect a package in a movie.

This is a silly excuse. Yes, Indians do expect packages, they like their lunch to consist of different dishes with different tastes. But, remember that Indian breakfasts and snacks are not thalis, they do not come as a package, instead they have their own delicious unique tastes.

అ! reminds me of the popular Telugu children's story 'ఏడు చేపల కథ' -'Story of 7 fishes'.

In 'ఏడు చేపల కథ', the plot has seven layers, each of it is linked to the other layer, the philosophy of is very captivating but broken into different parts, but connected with the main narration and thesis. The same is done by writer and director Prasanth Varma in అ!

Some people might want to avoid అ! Awe going by some reviews and also might suspect that the film may be devoid of Navarasas, lacked masala or it isn't a package - I have to say that అ! has Navarasas, masala and comes as a package if the Telugu viewer is willing to find it like the philosophy in 'ఏడు చేపల కథ' -'Story of 7 fishes'.

25 years of Aapadbandhavudu

I don't think one needs to look beyond K Viswanath's "Aapadbandhavudu" to get a glimpse of Chiranjeevi's talent.

Aapadbandhavudu was released 25 years back, like many other people of my age, I watched Aapadbandhavudu on TV.

Arjun Reddy - Nostalgia isn't the same anymore.

I will not pretend to be hysterical and at the same time I will not shy away from strongly recommending Sandeep Reddy's "Arjun Reddy".

It is like an extinct mammal coming back to normalcy as the average appetite of Telugu audience to digest 3 hours of celluloid work without regular songs, group dances and anti-gravity fights is a rarity.

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)".

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.

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.

Baahubali and the unwarranted criticism.

I loved watching S. S. Rajamouli's "Baahubali" and came across a little of constructive criticism made by some people who pointed out some genuine loopholes. I stopped writing lengthy film reviews long back because the congested free time which I got was only showing the mediocrity in my writing.

After watching "Baahubali" I thought of doing a detailed scene by scene analysis when the dvd of Baahubali gets released as there are many things that have to be said but decided to write this post in the wake of some negative criticism. The unwarranted criticism can be a product of the below.

• Enviousness
• To achieve orgasmic fame for being distinct.
• Watching the film in the way it was not meant to be.
• Sensibilities got hurt.
• To exuding the "cool" slipshod attitude by criticizing the film without tangible reasons.
• To spread negativity no matter what.

It seems that few people were offended with S. S. Rajamouli's "Baahubali" and have seen lot of unwarranted criticism in the form of memes accusing Rajamouli for not meeting certain standards when these blokes cant even imagine in their brains what Rajamouli was able to show everyone on the big screen.

Some were disappointed with "Baahubali" as their sensibilities were hurt, I will mention them with my take on them and its for them and for the other readers to decide if they still feel the same or not.

Multiple occasions my sensibilities were offended; man tries all his life but only a woman's form inspires him to scale d heights #Bahubali

Shivudu is a jovial man who like scaling heights and very importantly that particular height, but to achieve any goal in life there has to be some inspiration and especially for wanderers the inspiration usually comes in the form of a woman, not in the form of a man. To dig deep, inspiration and mental strength comes from a woman and the physical strength and strategic thinking comes from a man, this has been the case for great people like Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Tenali Ramakrishna and many others.

Few more points to note:

• The female form(inspiration) is named "Avantaika".
• She resides in the heights.
• She is a rebel.
• She possesses ravishing beauty.

Woman who supposedly is determined to fight for a cause melts minute she meets Hero Prabhas, then Mission taken over by Able Man #Bahubali

One doesn't seem to comprehend what Rajamouli did here, he explored the inner sensibilites of a woman, not before everyone but only before herself. Accoring to Hindusim a complete woman possesses स्त्री/స్త్రీ Sa, Ta and Ra qualities. The deep, private and sensual emotions of Avantika were shown here. Avantika is a beautiful young women and at the same time she is on the process of becoming a complete woman. Its the art of story telling and structure of plot which connects the mother and son, Shivudu has to eventually rescue his mother Devasena, that's his job and it gets achieved with help of Avantika.

I understand it's only a fictional film; yet I couldn't see why hero's foot atop head of elderly man was needed; why enemies were all black

Even I was a bit uncomfortable when Shivudu kept his foot on the head of Kattappa, but Rajamouli cuts the scene when Shivudu was an infant and was being fondled by Kattappa, where the tender foot of Shivudu touched Kattappa's head. You cannot cut a piece of scene and analyze it exclusively just because it made you uncomfortable, the scene has to be comprehended in its entirety.

"Enemies were all black". We were told in the film that the army headed by Kalakeya is a ruthless and belong to a tribe, and its obvious to represent that an outside army will be presented as a single tribe unlike a heterogeneous Mahishmathi kingdom and regarding the complexion of the Kalakeya Army, aren't we becoming hyper critical on issues which dont even exist. If I comprehended correctly, Kalakeya's are worshipers of "Spider" and it seems that it was apt to go with dark complexion.

The Kalakeya's are not the enemies, its the 'fair' Bhallala Deva who is the prime antagonist.

I watched "Baahubali" only once, may be a second watch might make things more clearer. Some feminists may be happy and some of them may not be happy about "Baahubali", anyway Hinduism has no relation with Feminism as I said here. For people who are eager to spread negative criticism and invoke useless controversies can use the below.

• Is it right for Shivudu to break the Linga?
• Why is Shiva going towards Ganga and not the other way?
• Why was Bhallala Deva wearing the sacred thread?
• Why was a bull killed by Bhallala Deva and not an another animal?
• Why was a handicapped person 'Bijjala Deva' portrayed in negative role?
• Wasnt a woman 'Sivagami' good enough to occupy the throne of Mahishmati?
• Dig more....you might find many more..

Beloved Sisters

Perhaps, "Beloved Sisters" is one of the delightful films which I have seen for a very long time. Its like watching series of episodes of your favorite TV series, yet doesn't bother you with time - its fast in its pace of storytelling - yet it maintains the intimacy, doesn't exude the periodic visibility on screen but still captures the essence of history

Enemy - Lurking around Darkness

"Enemy" by Denis Villeneuve starring Jake Gyllenhaal is one of the few films in recent years which sticks to its charm of darkness without overplaying the card of testing the viewer with the perplexed plot which reveals itself as the film progresses.

Denis Villeneuve manages to push me into this uncomfortable zone of darkness right from the beginning with the edifying and encapsulated screenplay assisted with cinematography which doesn't let your brain to escape from cramped space of murkiness.

The plot of the film looks perplexed, adds the beauty, but its the recurring theme of chaos which is the connotation of the film and arguably the pivotal part of the film. I was so mesmerized with the gloomy effect of the film that when I watched the film for the second time, I was thinking "How did I miss all these things".

Luc Besson's "Lucy"

Like his previous films 'Nikita' and 'Leon', Luc Besson's "Lucy" has a female protagonist played by  Scarlett Johansson who gets trapped into the murky dealings of drug mafia and accidentally Lucy gets extraordinary powers which are not possessed by normal human beings as normal people use just 10 % of their brain where as Lucy gradually increases the utility rate of her brain to the greater good of sharing knowledge to the next generations.

The above plot may not come closer to any of Luc Besson's previous works but "Lucy" has Besson's signature where Sci-Fi elements gets involved with nature. "Lucy" has the style of Luc Besson approach, its just that here we have a Sci-Fi element.

Finding Vivian Maier

Sometimes people may ask these questions to you regarding the non-official or part-time work which you are doing.

• Who is going to read it?
• Who is going to watch it?
• How can it make a difference?

The above questions does make one ponder, but some people do things which they feel like doing even though they are sure that it will not bring fame, money etc...

A Facebook status, a tweet or a blog post may seem to be worthless and merely a time waste but those small things in the long run do make a difference, same is the case with the photographs of unknown Vivian Maier who was recently discovered and stunned the photographic lovers all over the world. Finding Vivian Maier is a film which tracks the history of mysterious woman Vivian Maier. I wont say its a must watch documentary but definitely a good one.

Her

Its hard to even imagine that a film can be made based on such an artificial premise - a guy falling in love with his Computer Operating System, which converses with a female voice. Spike Jonze has been devoid of the acclamation which he deserved for his previous films "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation" among casual conversations because its gets taken over by Charlie Kaufman.

Theodore Twombly played by Joaquin Phoenix wears colorful shirts, trousers without a belt and like many of us he is an ordinary man who has feelings of love, anger, sadness and also possessiveness. "Her" is about ordinary emotions of an ordinary man juxtaposed with an artificial voice of an Operating System. The relationship between a normal ordinary man with his female voice Operating System touches all imaginable weirdness but it is handled with mushy gentleness.

One thing which has strongly captured my eyes is the film's Cinematography by Hoyte van Hoytema. Every frame of the film is almost perfect --- the streets, the skyscrapers, the rooms, the workplace, the lights; and each color is explicit on the screen, as if they have a point to make, of course this could not be done without the help of director. Her, gives you a totally different experience.

The Past

I had humongous expectations on Asghar Farhadi's "The Past" as his previous Oscar winning film "A Separation" was a sweet blow to me. I don't remember the works of any other director who has given me the experience of thrill while watching films of 'drama' genre. Like "About Elly" and "A Separation", "The Past" is also a thriller which revolves around issues of marriage, divorce and suicide.

Asghar Farhadi's alacrity in expressing the emotional pain of all the characters including the children is confabulate and at the same time it is blunt to the point. The first scene where the couple talk to each other with signals at the airport with a glass in between them and the last scene where life and love is tested, encapsulate the essence of the film. I think Asghar Farhadi is one of the best writers in World Cinema. "The Past" is a must watch.

Blue Is the Warmest Color

You may not like the genre, you may not like the theme, you may not like the style, you may not the taking, but can you stop yourself from not liking the performance of Adele Exarchopoulos?. "Blue Is the Warmest Color" is easily one of the best films of 2013. The film right on to your face without any regard for your inhibitions and it would take time for a normal viewer to get adjusted to the explicit material in the film. Abdellatif Kechiche pulls off this extraordinary stunt to capture the minute emotions in this non-typical narration. Watch  "Blue Is the Warmest Color" for mesmerizing performance of Adele Exarchopoulos. No wonder she was awarded the Palme d'Or at Cannes.

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