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.

Trump's speech signals a change of USA's Pakistan Policy

"Civilization begins with distillation". Long before Bharat became the frequent target of invaders from Central Asia, Afghanistan was under the Mauryan Empire where special alcoholic drinks were prepared and exported to the rest of the continent.

Distillation is necessary in some aspects of present day Afghanistan, especially when it comes to approach of United States. Observers of Donald Trump’s speech on Afghanistan and South Asia may categorize it as:

• Continuing the interventionist policy of USA.
• No clear policy on withdrawal of troops.
• Change in stance on Pakistan.
• Nothing more than rhetoric of American exceptionalism.

The other one, often missed by editorials of American newspapers, is the dilution of post-cold-war attitude of USA towards India with respect to geo politics. For many years after the Cold war, USA has seen India with old lens as India was close to Russia during the Cold war.

Rage of the Elite – Hindi supremacists

Shudras humbly display scars of their rock hard hands, Warriors carry their wounds with pride, Merchants exude their acumen by saving gold, priests effuse with their chants and the jobless elite breast beat their pomposity for nothing.

At the risk of offending the elite, allow me to say that justifications given to impose Hindi on others has changed with time from normal decibel rhetoric to the cacophonic rage of the unworthy elite.

It starts with the India’s elite family, where Jawaharlal Nehru made sure that Hindi is the blue-eyed boy of Independent India snubbing other languages. It followed by official push for Urdu in Jammu and Kashmir over other local languages. If hadn’t been for the sacrifice of Potti Sreeramulu which led to division of Indian states on linguistic basis, Chahaji could have imposed elite Urdu in Telangana and Andhra because Telangana was under Nizam rule for quite some time.

Language supremacists and desert cults share some commonalities; both want to impose their beliefs citing "majority", claim civilizational superiority and divine superiority.

Before appropriating Feminism, understand its recent rhetoric and actions

विना बुद्धिः ईषदपि स्वीकरणं अनुचितं (Mindless appropriation of anything is bad)

Any ism that claims to bring a change in society deserves to be criticized; any ideology that deliberately misrepresents itself citing its own history deserves to be put on trial, any ism that claims to be superior should be subjected to scrutiny.

There is a silent agreement among spectrum of Indian intellectuals when it comes to criticism of Feminism - all of them have decided to take a sympathetic approach towards its analysis and criticism snubbing its precarious actions in the recent past.

One should not have a sympathetic approach towards an ideology that has the tendencies to confiscate individual rights; one ought to have the gumption to ask uncomfortable questions when it comes to “Feminism”, as questioning “Feminism” can make one infamous and unpopular instantly and probably this is the reason for many to take a lenient stand towards its perilous rhetoric.

Let me put this upfront, today’s Feminism is not about equality of rights, self-proclaimed feminists shouldn’t be excused, when they equate Feminism with a definition that is half a century old. We do not see “Jihad” as an internal fight for peace, in today’s context it is a holy war which mercilessly kills innocents based on hatred, bigotry and delusion, words have remained the same for decades but the way they got transformed over years have to be kept in mind.