There is one thing I hated v. much about Vijayakanth and Rajnikanth - too much focus and importance given to them in their movies. Indians will watch anything and everything done by such stars on the screen. In one of the movies I saw Vijayakanth getting tied to a chair and given electrical shock by a Terrorist who verbally profanes India. Immediately our Hero becomes so angry that he sends reverse shock to Transformer by which the Transformer bursts ! Then he breaks his chains and says "If anyone profanes India b4 me, my Body can give an Electric shock to a Transformer !"* This electric scene set the slab in my mind for being the dumbest one ever made. Sometimes we are too sure of ourselves. Why ? Read on ..
It so happened that once I traveled from Chennai to Bangalore by a video coach bus in which the conductor started playing a Telugu movie (I’ve heard they all are masala crap and nothing else). In the opening scene, there was a scene of very gore and useless violence ....
They just mercilessly attack each other. I comforted myself thinking sth interesting would come later (but how wrong I was). Then we see some Rayalaseema (portrayed as strategic as Washington DC, Tokyo or London) in Andhra Pradesh where a girl from a royal family gets married to a man from another. During their first night, the girl decides to poison her husband and does it (such a faithful wife, isn’t she?). Then rises enmity between the 2 families turning them into rivals. There is again violence resulting in many deaths within their families.
Later came a scene that struck me the most - a Police Inspector who enters a house questions something to a lady (I didn’t understand as there were no subtitles) - then as usual the lady becomes furious and replies sth like
"Hey Inspector, how dare you say so about my family ? Not one but there are so many Reddys here. Let me call them one by one. Hey you xxxxxxx come here ...... (hearing this someone comes and stands heroically then she says) see .... This is xxxxxx Reddy. "
Similarly so many Reddys come and stand proudly like Schwarzenneger, Obamas, Sarkozys and Bushs. But it seems none of them is the heir to their family’s throne. So the village people are deeply worried and concerned. Suddenly a boy who’s just returned from school appears and screams,
" I’m the one - I am Indra Sena Reddy ".
Saying this he removes the heavy school bag from his shoulders and throws it away - this frame is frozen while on foreground is flashed proudly in Telugu
"I N D R A"
with the background music being a slow chorus hum "Indra Indra Indra Indra Indra" (dashing ...... even 007 title scenes are defeated I thought to myself). The boy comes and sits on a throne leaving all villagers clap and celebrate shouting "Long Live Indra Sena Reddy" (Oh Jehovah ! Even Jews wouldn’t celebrate so much once their expected Messiah appears!) !! "What an opening!" I thought.
Few years later, heroine Sonali Bendre believes the person who takes her chain will be her husband in future. She dips in Ganges and loses her chain. Somewhere about a few kms away our hero dips in the same river and emerges to find .....guess what ...... the heroine’s chain on his neck (Maybe I forgot that chain with gold never sinks!). Then, our heroine who’s the Governer’s daughter loses her heart for Chiru and lives with him (maybe live-in is traditional in Andhra....lucky guys). Our hero has a humble heart and is an Auto Driver sacrificing all luxuries in his village. During one scene, Chiru tries touching Sonali Bendre’s tummy and even b4 a physical contact she goes with Chiru to Switzerland where they both shake their bodies and romance (the credit goes to the editor). Then the Governor gets angry asking which Auto Driver kidnapped his daughter but upon learning it’s Chiru he apologises and worships him (....is it bcos Chiru brought freedom to India from the British or fought in ’99 Kargil war ? No bcos he is the Telugu Superstar !). Then Chiru’s sibling falls in love with Puneet Issar’s sibling and there’s clash between the two as they’re of different beliefs. During this Chiranjeevi opens his chest and receives all the whippings that someone else deserved ( Maybe Gandhiji learnt Satyagraha from Chiru !! ) ! Then Issar visits Chiru, weeps and apologises to Chiru hugging him. Seeing all this my eyes were filled with tears ..... not bcos it impressed me but it failed to impress me! Later their friendship is like Fevicol and using his help Chiranjeevi uses a Helicopter to protect a female traveling by train !!
Chiru then reaches his hometown. Later another heroine (Arti Agrawal) jumps in the "heroine bandwagon" and lusts for Chiru but Chiru hates her as she comes from his rival family. She too goes to foreign countries in her dreams with our hero but he’s defiant till the end refusing to lend her his heart. Her brothers incl Raza Murad are double Chiru’s size and are his arch rivals. Frightening? Indeed !! At last this girl’s love turns sour for him and she too is his enemy. Somehow I didn’t like it. By this time, I quit weeping and started sleeping as I couldn’t control my mixed emotions. Later I woke up and saw some man released from jail who joins Arti’s brothers in the fight. Then during a temple function, only bcos Chiru worships the God of Rains opens heavens and pours water on dry land (Now look, I’d definitely recommend Chiru to solve India’s water problems - maybe he can start praying for Tamilnadu so Karnataka can relax ! ). Next, our immorortal Chiru smashes villains who are double his size with ease ant they fly in air like cotton. Sometime later I saw Chiru opening a dam in Andhra. Now Chiru leads a flock of people who all walk heroically with hope of being under a savior. At last our hero kills all the villains and becomes the leader of the village. What a movie !! From the beginning till end I could only see one thing - Chiranjeevi heroism. Anything else? Absolutely not. Does he have any looks? No ..... only an ugly face and figure which knows only dancing well with heroines and performing wild stunts. Guys you want to have a nice time with your friends on some weekend? Then get together and watch Indra ...... you’ll have lots of fun !
And oh yes, upon enquiring about this movie to my roommate who’s from Andhra later I got shock from some statstics:
This is one of the highest grossing Telugu movies of all times !
He traveled for 500 kms from his village to watch this movie bcos he’s a Chiru fan !
How long will India be like this? On one hand we see Abdul Kalaam, Chandrayaan and Slumdog Millionaire and on the other, youngsters wasting time on fan clubs for Rajnikanth, Chiru and Vijayakanth who become superstars then Ministers to only deviate our money into their lockers. Our movies are either copied directly from Hollywood flicks or are crap like Indra or Padaiyappa. Why? Because movie-makers have no brains? No...bcos audience prefer these movies over standard ones.
Indians movies will never change.