GrahaNam [Telugu] in context.
A wonderful celestial positioning since 2005 has helped the Telugu Film Industry to wake up from its slumber and look at itself with renewed interest. From ChandraShekhar Yeleti’s Anukokunda Oka Roju to this year’s Berlin win Rajnesh’s Vanaja we have within reach a horizon that beckons towards serious,thought provoking and finally world class cinema.
One saw A Film By Arvind [ Shekhar Suri ] , GrahaNam [ Mohan K Indraganti ] and Godavari [ Shekar Kammula ].
All three as different as Bleu Blanc Rouge,nevertheless connected,as if by a tenuous thread.Of wanting to try innovative themes.What started with Nagesh Kukunoor a decade ago has been left to this handful of directors in the state of Andhra Pradesh,to take up cudgels on behalf of the Telugu language,culture,literature and most specifically deal with the glaring dearth of original ideas in its mainstream persona.
Despite starting very early,as far back as 1922 with Bhishma Pratigna followed by the first talkie in 1931 – Bhakta Prahlada , [ while the Hindi and Tamil film industry had already taken off by 1913 and 1916 respectively] the Telugu film industry concentrated itself mostly with mythologies and socials.
Which they made well.
At the time when the whole country was ecstatic with Chopra’s Ramayana and Mahabharata, most Telugus were laughing at the serials’ shoddy production design and bad costuming.
They had been fed on a diet of supremely crafted and mellifluously rendered musicals such as Maya Bazaar [1957, dir K V Reddy, a stalwart in the Telugu field] and they were not going to be impressed with cardboard cut outs for chariots.
As also the Tamil audience and its industry,since most Telugu Films at that point were being made in Chennai and more often than not made in both languages simultaneously.
For some reason the twin assets of language and literature which Telugus have in plenty has been relegated as the responsibility of the classical arts. A language that is termed the ‘Italian of the East ‘ by linguists both here and abroad has been neglected for years now. Just as Italian lends itself to Operatic Writing, Telugu is most suitable for poetry and music.
This fact is appreciated much more by a Tamilian learning Carnatic Music than by a Telugu himself. Most composers of classical carnatic vocal music wrote in Telugu despite belonging to other regions, speaking totally different languages.
Maha Vaidhyanath Iyer,Patnam Subramania Iyer,Tiruvottiyur Thyagayya, Ramnad Srinivasa Iyengar, Muthiah Bhagvathar,Mysore Vasudevachar all wrote in Telugu though it was not their native tongue. Given such a history one would expect more films from AP using its unique cultural advantages but for some strange reason this has not been the case.
This is what Theodore Baskaran, a noted film historian has to say about Telugu Cinema.
“Telugu cinema started like Tamil cinema with an emphasis on mythology because drama companies were very active here. Film-makers found it very easy to adapt the dramas. What they did was — they placed a camera in front and shot the drama. Soon the nationalistic wave influenced the industry and produced some very interesting films.
One such film was H M Reddy’s Rythubidda (1939). It was about zamindarism, oppression, etc. He also touched upon Gandhian ideals, which was part of the reformist movement. For example, Rythubidda, pokes fun at Westernization. At that time it had a lot of problems with the censors. With Rythubidda and the nationalistic flavour it had, Telugu cinema attained respectability. Unfortunately,after Rythubidda, Telugu cinema continued concentrating on entertainment alone.
In 1977, when the Naxalite ideology became well-known in India, Mrinal Sen made a Telugu film called Oka Oori Katha. The movie was about the oppression suffered by the peasants, workers, etc. Another interesting feature was that he made Gaddar, a well-known revolutionary poet and singer, sing some revolutionary songs. So, this political film is very important in the history of Telugu cinema. But political cinema and realistic cinema did not catch on in Andhra Pradesh like it did in Kerala or in Karnataka.”
Another essay points to the same malaise.
Telugu Movie Industry — Past to Present
by Toleti Srinivas
http://www.teluguworld.org/Movies/movie_history.html
“The telugu people even though they can appreciate off-beat movies, evident from the hits like “Sankarabharanam” to “Abhinandana”, cannot see their favorite hero in a different role. Case in point Chiranjeevi starred in the movie “Swayam Krushi” which was a moderate success due to Viswanath’s name associated with it. But the movie “Rudra Veena” which had a more social theme with less fights was not accepted by the public. It won the 1988 Nargis Dutt National award for best picture towards National Integration. Even his movie “Aapad Bhandavudu” where he gave one of his best performances was a flop at the box office. ……….”
With this background it is exciting to see works like GrahaNam being made in Telugu.
This film is important since it is based on a literary work of a Giant in Telugu Literature, who in his time was shunned for his extremely hard hitting stories with provocative themes championing freedom from marriage and such anachronistic institutions and also vigorously advocating women’s rights. We are talking of a hundred years ago. Mohan K Indraganti, the director calls him as great a littérateur as Tagore if not greater.
GrahaNam is based on Chalam’s short story Doshagunam.
How society will conspire to question a woman’s chastity time and again, how there is no respite from such horrendous onslaughts on one’s honour is what this film explores.
The film is in b/w, 93 mins and available on DVD with English subtitles.
Cinematography is by PG Vinda and music by Vijay K.
It won the Gollapudi Award in Aug 2006, previous recipients of this award have been Shonali Bose, Anup Kurian, Ram Madhwani etc
http://www.cinemagollapudi.com/gsmf2.htm
For trailers please go to:
http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/telugu/trailer/7751.html
A brief interview of Mohan after the National Award is followed by an essay on Chalam.
It is important we know what kind of a man he was [ Chalam ] to be able to appreciate the film better. So I have included the whole essay. Please save the link for later if you find the post too long.
CHALAM: AN ASSESSMENT
http://www.ranganayakamma.org/index.htm
York film grad wins India’s Golden Lotus Award
In mid-July, York film graduate Mohan Krishna Indraganti (MFA ‘00) found himself under the spotlight of the glowing Indian sun. His debut feature film, Grahanam (The Eclipse), won the prestigious Indira Gandhi Award (Golden Lotus) for the Best First Film by a Director at the 52nd National Awards in India. The Golden Lotus is the Indian equivalent of the Academy Awards’ Oscar or Canada’s Genie Award.
An elated Indraganti sums up his feelings: “I am thrilled to bits because Grahanam was made on a shoestring budget and it was among some of the toughest entries this year."
Mohan Krishna Indraganti
Grahanam is based on the short story Dosha Gunam (The Disease) by G.V. Chalam, one of the most famous and controversial writers in the Telugu literature of southern India. Indraganti’s adaptation marks the first time Chalam’s writings have been brought to the screen.
"The main character is Raghu, a doctor in his early forties who is well known in his profession. One day, while on his rounds at the hospital, he witnesses one of his patients turning hysterical at the sight of an old woman who claims to be his mother. That evening, Raghu meets his friend, Srinivas, for coffee and tells him a childhood story that is rich in detail of place, character and humanity," said Indraganti describing a few frames of his award-winning film.
Full of dramatic irony and poignancy, the story unfolds towards a startling revelation about Raghu, the patient and the old woman.
Grahanam has been screened at several national and international film festivals, including those in Seattle, Washington, Calcutta and Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Born in India, Indraganti was raised on a rich diet of Telugu culture and literature. Before coming to York, he obtained a master’s in English literature from the University of Hyderabad. "Cinema is his passion, literature a religion," wrote reporter K.V.S. Madhav in The Hindu, India’s national newspaper, on July 15.
"If translating literature into cinema is in itself a daunting task, doing complete justice to one of Telugu’s greatest works was all the more difficult," said Indraganti.
"Literature gives one a large canvas on the silver screen and a wealth of emotions that need to be plumbed fully. My ambition is to make as many literary classics as possible into films."”
CHALAM: AN ASSESSMENT
(The Telugu original of this essay appeared as an editorial to ‘Prajaa Saahiti’, a Telugu monthly, meaning ‘Peoples’ literature’, in its issue of May 1979. This English translation by Gandhi (B.R. Bapuji) appeared in ‘OLYMPUS’, an English monthly around 1980. There are two more volumes and couple of articles which Ranganayakamma wrote in Telugu on Chalam’s writings and ideas).
“Woman too has a body; it needs exercise. She has a brain; it needs knowledge. She has a heart; it needs experience”¾This has been the basic theme that was repeatedly expressed affectionately, sincerely, forcefully and artistically in several of Chalam’s stories, novels and essays.
Chalam was a great artist, thinker and a progressive who brought about notable changes both in the language and ideas of modern Telugu literature that started with Veereshalingam.
Chalam began his literary career when feudal ideas were predominant in the institution of Indian family. During the fifty years of his literary life that started in 1921, Chalam mainly depicted the social life of man and woman. While doing so, he raised and discussed several serious questions.
With his extraordinary ability and wonderful artistic talent, he depicted both the strength and the weakness, the might and the limitations of the individual struggles of those women who tried to liberate themselves from the sufferings and problems created by the contemporary family system.
He hated both the ignorance-ridden feudal customs and the artificiality of the colonial culture that hindered the development of equality, friendship and enlightenment in the man-woman relationship. He outrightly condemned the traditional orthodox marriage system that precludes mutual understanding and love between man and woman. He opposed the existing education system that does not contribute to a minimum thinking capacity. He advocated the bringing up of children without the undue exercise of authority and negligence by parents and society.
Chalam, as a student, had got out of the influence of orthodox Hindu religious dogmatism and was attracted towards the Brahmo Samaj movement. However, Brahmo Samaj could only reform the dogmatic aspect of Hindu orthodoxy but did not act differently in matters regarding the family system and the man woman relationship. This, naturally, caused dissatisfaction in Chalam.
Even the Nationalist Movement, which had attracted several people at that time, did not attract Chalam. Because in the Nationalist movement, he mostly found people who were narrow minded and treacherous with regard to their attitude towards family life, women and social morals; who did not give up their casteism and communalism; and who were individually dishonest and opportunistic. Chalam was not attracted by the politics of the Nationalist movement.
Chalam, a writer belonging to a colonial country with a predominant feudal culture was not satisfied with the progressive ideas of the Bourgeois countries either, though they influenced him to a large extent.
The influence of Communist politics in Andhra was not considerable during 1921-36, the period during which Chalam’s main writings came out. Marxism, which provides the scientific outlook in understanding society, was not at that time present either in the form of working class movements or literary movement in the Telugu land.
He heard about the Communist set-up in Russia of 1917 as a child would listen to fairy tales in moonlit nights. On the one hand, he wished that those fairy tales turn into reality and doubted such a possibility. On the otherhand, the world-wide propaganda conducted by the capitalist powers against the Communist set up in Russia of 1917 influenced and politically aloof intellectuals like Chalam, as it did throughout the world. As a result, Chalam, in the absence of a strong working class movement, was not drawn towards communism in the context of the fact that an intellectual like Tolstoy remained aloof even from the great Russian working class movement led by Lenin owing to several misconceptions he had about communism.
Chalam’s own struggle against existing man-woman relations; against the marriage institution, against the education system and against everything which he condemned¾had driven him into a sort of mental crisis as he conducted his struggle without knowing the social laws that govern those evils.
In such a mental state, Chalam was drawn under the influence of ‘Ramana Maharshi’s philosophy’ (in 1936). Though he came under that influence he did not change any of his ’social’ ideas (concerning man-woman relationship, etc.). However, as a result of that influence, he led himself into an unscientific path because of which he could not accept any other theory.
The objectives, with which Chalam produced his works of art fifty years ago, are not yet fulfilled. The past social situations of his time have not undergone fundamental changes. The male domination over women continues unhindered. Mutual understanding, love, equality and friendship do not constitute the basis of marriages. Matrimonial life continues to be horrible. Neither child care nor the educational system is free past evils. Money relations and hypocrisy are rampant both in the family and in social life.
The reason for all this is that there occurred no changes in the fundamental character of our social system.
Even for present day society, Chalam’s writings cannot be considered superstitious or negligible. Nor does their significance cease with changes in the present day society. There are several progressive features in Chalam which may be relevant for future generations too. We should all understand Chalam’s criticism of several important aspects of social life. All people should know these. His limitations and inadequacies should be rectified and improved.
The literary works of writers like Chalam contribute positively to such a society and to the emergence of such a society¾
¾in which women are not subservient to men;
¾male chauvinism vanishes totally.
¾men and women live like equals and
¾education imparts real knowledge; and unhypocritical and friendly relations exist among people.
Chalam is a people’s writer and a friend of the society in the sense that he sincerely desired the welfare of the humanity in general and general social progress.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
// K3
“Tanikella Bharani, who TOOK”… apologies for the typo.
And a biiiig WELCOME to PFC.
Read your *Critics* piece two times – reading it again. You rock! :p
first of all nenu raasedhi comment kadhu and moreover chalam gurinchi assalu kadhu…..
its about this: “The reason for all this is that there occurred no changes in the fundamental character of our social system”
lets split the so called society into individuals
…..who are completely different from each other…people like chalam,tv9 news readers,troubled farmers,an independent woman,confused adolscent,innocent children,a middle aged uncle and many others…and this amalgamation of ours has to be changed and you
feel bad because its not up to the people who thought it could be better…..ok now i have a couple of questions
didnt people who thought it could be better and worked towards it exist before as they are now….so what happened???
today the percentage of female oppression has reduced…the new generation is able to make thier own decisions…perspective towards marriage has changed…but if chalam were still alive would he be happy???
hmmm…one last question…whats the fun if everyone’s good?…may be there wont be an equllibrium…..
Good one.. Enjoyed reading it…
ChandraShekhar Yeleti seems to have a unique style, He is the most promising filmmaker coming out of Telugu Cinema after RGV. I think shekar Kammula is over rated.
Where are Bapu, K Vishwanath and Vamsy of new generation?
Tamil cinema produced SelvaRaghavan, Bala, Cheran in recent times carrying forward the legacy of BalaChander, Bharathi Raja and Mani Ratnam…
I do not know enough Telugu, but Anukokunda Oka Roju really blew me away. Pavan Malhotra rocked! Another film that was recommended to me was 2003’s Aithe (by ChandraShekhar Yeleti too, I think). Pavan Malhotra was wonderful in that too. Come to think of it, Irfan Khan (his Aithe character) and Tiger Memon had a lot of things in common!
KKK,
I wish you had also mentioned “Tiladaanam” (2001) and “Kamli” (2006) by K.N.T. Sastry. They have also won multitudes of awards and praise, and have been shown at film festivals the world over. And the most important point is that they both tackle social issues, and are worlds away from commercial Telugu cinema.
Exhaustive article KKK…
“They had been fed on a diet of supremely crafted and mellifluously rendered musicals such as Maya Bazaar [1957, dir K V Reddy, a stalwart in the Telugu field] and they were not going to be impressed with cardboard cut outs for chariots”
And Daan Veera Shoora Karna….now this was a movie which changed my way of looking at Mahabharatha….and no one….and i mean NO ONE could ever or no one will ever play the role of Suyodhan better than NTR…what a majestic performance…the swagger….the swivel of head…
“A Film by Arvind” hmmmm nice effort …nothing more….left a lot to be desired… could have been cut-short by 30 minutes…
Anukokonda Oka Roju….by Yelti..now that is some kick-ass movie. the subtle humor, the camera placements, the unfolding of the track, the jitters when Pavan Malhotra is exposed…superb effort by yeleti….though i didnt quite like Aiythe..AOR blew me away.
KKK…. help me here….there was a movie which featured Chiranjeevi where he plays an itern lawyer and tries to tackle the the issue of capital punishment…the reason he gives is….what if you find out down the years that the person given the capital punishment is found not-guilty….It was a beautiful movie…
again a great article ….but, IMO your posts a tad bit longer….
:d
// OM – The movie is Abhilasha – yet another movie that’s based on a book – a novel by Yandamoori Veerendranath.
@wb..yeah it was Abhilasha…thanks…See i started watching telugu movies during my under-grad days…and sadly those were the days when telugu industry was governed by ” Samarasimha Reddy”,” Iddara Mitrulu” etc…all fans…to such an extent that caste became associated to it….it was sick…but, then i was shown the doors towards some hilarious comedies…
April okati vidudala
Appula Appa Rao
One where Chiranjeevi is a Detective( one of the best comedies…solid acting…and suhasini..so cute)
Money
Money Money
etc….and a few of Naresh movies..don’t quite remember the names…so, still a lot more to explore in telugu cinema.
S.V Krishna reddy…some of his earlier works were rip-roaring. He brought something unique( correct me if i am wrong)…unrelated comedy tracks running parallel with the main track…
// OM
//OM – I think my comment’s been zapped by the filters – wonder what is it that I’ve said has offended the filter-king :-?
not to take away from the topic at hand.. but would anyone be able to help identify this short film my dad told me about? he couldn’t recall the name.. according to him, it may have been a Kannada or Telugu film, 15 minutes long, where a murderer steals the death certificate of an innocent man who comes to the cremation ground to cremate his father. The murderer cremates his own victim with the help of the stolen death certificate. When the innocent man’s turn comes for cremation he finds himself in trouble.
synopsis sounds pretty gritty.. he said he was blown away by it. would love to watch it..
// striker – when was this made/shown/seen? some more pointers would help, timeframe, where was this shown, etc.
Striker…that sounds like a great concept for a short. Tell me more about it….now the baal’s in your court…lol!!!
hmm.. will try to find out more…
A good read. ANR,Bhanumati’s Batasari would also be good mention especially in this context , based on sharath chandra chatterjee’s badadidi , this movie(batasari) projected life of widow.Also i believe badadidi was only made in telugu – correct me if am wrong. I know devadas which is also by sharath chatterjee is made in hindi,tamil and bengali.
OM.
Telugu film industry real golden days were in 80s where it had given us audiences a wide spectrum of genres , from gut ripping comedies(jandhyala) to tear jerking Maharaju(Shoban babu) , from action films like Khaidi(Kodanda Rami Reddy) to suspense thriller Anveshana (Vamsi).
Andari ki Namaskaaram,
I am learning a LOT about Telugu Cinema through you all, unfortunately have not seen Tiladaanam or Kamli, have only read about them. Nor Saakshi for that matter, will try and get it….yes Baatasari …….thanx wb/venky/anand
Oh yes, the comedies you mention OM were outrageously good,hilarious and not cheap.
Anantha-My idea was to work with Yeleti after watching AOR, unfortunately when he called me [ after I went to his office and convinced him ] to join him last Sep [ 2006 ] I had to return to the US at the same time.
indianoguy I agree with you on ALL counts:)))
and madhu, if there is good there WILL always be bad,don’t worry… so we will always have fun, light teesko!
Untanu
K3
heyy…..thats what i could write for that statement…anyways hit kani awards raani oka manchi comedy gurichi cheptha….madhuranagarilo…i dont see any chance of getting that movie though…
and andalaramudu too…godavari partlu partlu ga choosthe alaneuntundhi…..ok then have fun…
The movie where chiranjeevi plays a detective is Chantabbai another film based on the novel by the same name by Malladi and directed by jandhyala who had directed some good comedies
Belive me its not easy to make a so called “unconventional films” in telugu. It took almost 2 years to raise money for Mohan to make Grahanam. The other day we were watching BLACK FRIDAY at PVR and he was quite disappointed with the poor publicity done for his film “maya bazar”.
Ever since i quit my job as a creative director, i had tried very hard to put across unconventional scripts to best of the actors here in telugu industry. when i took some unconventional scripts to Nagarjuna, he felt they are more suitable for bollywood. Shekar kamula is now making “happy days” with all new commers..
well if it works at box office then its gonna be fantastic. it will break the myth that stars rule tollywood. Chadra shekar aleti’s new film has been crafted well, even the promos look classy.
Anurag keeps telling me if you sit in hyderabad “tera kuch nahin hoga” because the kind of scripts i have , they are meant for larger audience. i strongly feel that tollywood is reeling back. They made some fantastic cinema just like bollywood did 20 years ago…i hope the glory comes back and we get to make movie magic again…
a lot more radical filmmakers like rgv is what required for the good of TFI…hypocrites like krishna vamsi are a bane…
yeleti chandra sekhar is a fantastic find and his guru gunnam ganga raju is also a sensitive director…
problem for them is always the money…big shots do not want to invest on them and thr is no chance for corporates to fund…
yeleti is trying to break into commercial world, i would love to see him successful to get enough money to make films that suits his sensibilities and has wider spectrum…