TWO FILMS IN A ROW.....AND AM UPSET NOW

Did I ever tell you guys that if I had been offered a little more, I would have been in the film making side of media. I had a day job as a journalist and I was living in a hostel and just about making ends meet. I was doing an evening course in Film Making at the St Xavier's College, Bombay. And just to let you all into a secret, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and I would be back benchers. He was not very talkative but we did not need to be because we got to see some of the most fabulous films back then. And no I did not get in touch with SLB ever. I also made a terrific friend for life. Niren Dutt would take me around on his bike to all these fantastic places, which in retrospect were a tad shady but back then it was adventurous and I gave a damn. Niren left us during the covid times. And he is missed.

And once we finished the course, I have no idea of what the other people did, but Niren continued with his marketing job with some packaging company and another friend Annu spoke to someone and I was offered a job with Basu Bhattacharya as his assistant, but it would only pay me Rs. 500. I did my arithmetic and sensibility took over my passion and I stayed in journalism. Why am I telling you all this is because ever since I took that course, I have always watched a film with a different set of eyes. And earlier I would sometimes watch a film a second time just to enjoy it.

So, I watched Bheemla Nayak and RRR within a span of two days and I am extremely surprised that I am still sane and talking and writing about it. What world do we live in, where people spend crores making unbelievable films and then walk away to the bank with a big smile? I am not insisting that the film be factual, but so a hero is allowed to ride on all wild animals? And the treat of the day of course was that one of the heroes got to wear the best designer outfit out of saffron coloured flags, which were just there in the forest.

When there is an obvious lie a saying in Tamil says 'kaadula poo vekade' (don't put flowers in my ear), as in Telugu which says `chevulu puvvu petaku', but movie directors these days don't care a damn, eh? That there was no plot of any sorts is another issue, but I must say it was a pleasure to sit in a theatre, eat my popcorn and watch NTR and Ram Charan dance on that large screen. That bit was awesome. But the rest was really tiresome. If you have to make a fantasy film, go to the `Avataar' genre or the `Avenger' kind, where since all the planets are involved, all kinds of masks, looks and adventure is allowed.

And what is Pavan Kalyan up to? With his awful dialogue delivery through his grit teeth, other than the fact that he really looked young, the poor fellow really got dumbed down before Rana's presence. Rana did not fight shy in his role of the villain and the veshti look suited him totally. But poor, poor PK, did not know what he was doing. And do tell me who these tribals were, with such bright faces and such shiny jewellery. And what was Nithya Menon doing there? And did you see the house they lived in? Good lord, talk of being picturesque. 

I watch films because I breathe. Sometimes I watch because a song took my fancy as it did in Bheemla Nayak. But I now think Sid Sriram should stop singing and give it a rest. His high pitch voice grates on you after some time, with due apologies to `Sreevalli', which seems to have caught the imagination of the public.

While there is not much talk of Bheemla Nayak, RRR is taking the general public by storm. So, who am I to comment about it. But it did get a bit overwhelming when I saw these two films, one after the other.