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Happy Days - Happy journey back to college days
College days are memorable in every ones life. Happy Days is Shekar Kammula’s latest offering which takes us through the good, bad and ugly days of college life. Here he has 5 dynamically different characters and most us have either met them or we are the character itself. Happy Days does not educate or enlighten audiences but it does entertain. Lets look @ these characters
1) Chandu (by Varun Sandesh): He is the central character who steers the direction in which film is going. the character is boy next door.
2) Rajesh (by Nikhil): His role is of tapori, hyper and over energetic . He likes every other girl in college including a sexy english teacher (cameo by Kamilini Mukherjee).
3) Tyson (by Rahul): Smart and caring. He is sort of friend that every one like to have in their life. I think most people will like his character.
4) Shankar (by Vamsee): Plays a studious and simple guy but as the journey goes on his character will have few Grey shades.
5) Appu (by Gayatri Rao): She is the only gal in the gang. Not too good looking doesn’t open up with lot of people other than her gang.
Happy Days starts of with introduction of all the principal characters and other side characters that are so real in life. How these characters get together and become friends and their journey through college is what its about. You have bunch of senior guys who play substantial role in the picture. they rag, fight and celebrate with the juniors during this journey, here are couple of scenes that I would like share with you guys.
1) During the beginning of semester bunch of seniors raag a guy who comes from a remote village in andhra and they ask him if he knows Michael Jackson and if he does then he has to sing something and this guys starts crying .Suddenly another senior comes to his rescue and takes him aside and explains to him that its all common in engineering colleges and become friends as both of them are from same area.
2) Tyson who is intelligent and confident during one of his ragging sessions tells his seniors that he likes one of the senior girl whom he thinks to be interesting and when these guys start to beat him up he replies back by saying that he would start a company after graduating and that he would hire them as his employees.
3) Another scene that i liked is when tyson tries to convince shankar that the girl whom he likes is actually manipulating him and is not in love with him, this whole scene is very good and the way Tyson reacts after beating him up is heartening.
Happy Days is packed up with very very good music.Shekar Kammula definetly has a good ear for music and he does know what audiences like. One has to appreciate him to make decent film with newcomers and a music director who is just one film old. After watching Happy days i get this feeling that shekar had his mind in right place but his heart is definitely missing from the film this product is more of Shekar-the producer than from Shekar-the director. No doubt people gonna rave about this film but he could have avoided some silly graphics work like the cricket match and tyson’s scientific tricks. My favorite songs from happy days is Arere Arere and Oh my friend. The music has a bit of A R Rahman written over it, but nonetheless its very good.
On the whole Happy days is a decent film that will definitely entertain, you get what you expect from a movie based on college life comedy, songs and bit of drama. go and watch it you will go through a Happy journey back to your college days.
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went to the same college as shekar did…..but am a little apprehensive to see the film cos of the irritaing lead fem. charecterisation in his films…
Varun, you must watch some more of world cinema before even attempeting to write reviews..Happy Days was a richly taken movie which smelled full of very artificial nostalgia..Only things good about it are the characterisation and Music..The whole story took an easy route by putting love angles throughout the movie..And some of the acting was so disgusting!!!! only rajesh and tyson were good..
Is college life meant to be one big love story???
Agreed it is better than the crap called “Telugu Cinema” but Sekhar..If you are listening..
This is not something i expect from someone who has given me “Dollar Dreams”…
and Varun..Seriously..how old are you?:-?
seriously i too expected a lot, but……
As u rightly said, the characterization of Tyson was the best among the lot and personally I didn’t like the love story angle between the lead pair which was quite a bit of irritant for me
Are yar!!!! what the heck….
i really felt like a puppy,playing with myself, rollling,drolling etal..
i hated the movie to the core of actually walking out in the middle….
Mr shekah kammula is good manipulator and hes done a good job. hes a techie anway..n know the rules of money making.
to start with this its good in part and bad in many parts..over all..it would have been a good soap..rather that a movie..
i loved music..but story line is shite…characters r shite..dailogue r bull shit…
i felt like i was watching..just for the sake of it..
happy days..is for the dumb..softies..who are after gals..who do anything for them..
im giving up byeeee
@Rahul: Crap called “Telugu Cinema?”. Dude, if that’s your view of telugu movies then why ask a reviewer to watch world cinema? Do you even know how many good movies are made in this industry?
Also, Varun’s old enough to write what he believes in. I come from the same coll as Happy Days was shot and for most of us, there is a bias. We don’t claim to be the claravoint voice articulating Happy Days or Shekar’s work but that’s the authors take so take it leave it.
@Rahul its not a great film agreed. He should have never put the love story of lead pair which I didnt like it too.The reason what prompted me to write about happy days is that I liked the characters in the film not the story itself.
If you read carefully what I wrote I have mentioned that Shekar had his mind in right place but his heart is missing from the film. He might have thought I will make a college film with good music and comedy scenes and he did. If you feel Happydays is crap then tell me which telugu film you liked in past year????. Our’s is an industry where desamuduru is a blockbuster and movies like happy days are more sensible than other shite we turn out every week.
@Madhu chandra
Dude you dont like shekar Kammula’s film because of characterization of female leads, common yaar I think you should give a better reason than that.
I dont know what should one do to satisfy people like you. If they give a substantial role to female you dont like it and If he dosent then you say there is no scope of acting for female leads.
And varun… i know why u wrote it!!!
:p:p:p:p:p:p:p:p:p:p:p:p:p:p:p:p:p
@Srikanth reddy what kind of movies do you like??
Pokiri??? athidi???
Rahul ji,
Place is to discuss the films. Its not necessary that an author will surely completely like and praise a film as a reader would like to see (because he finds it a superb film) and its not necessary that an author will surely criticise a film and will reject it completely because a reader or few readers dont/did not like the film.
Films are dissected and every aspect is discussed, in integrated form and in differentiated form also, parts by parts.
Dont you see yourself? Varun started a discussion by writing about a film. you did not like whole film but liked only few aspects associated with the film and you mentioned your opinion.
Issue is DISCUSSION and not FINAL JUDGEMENT about any film. PFC is all about discussion and there never can be final judgement because of diverse thinking, so please keep that factor in mind. say whatever you wish to say about a film but dont attack authors without any reason.
:)>-
Great moderation Rk sirjee.
@Rahul: I too have some reservations with Shekar’s work having watched each of his films like a zillion times. With the review too, I have a qualms, Varun could have gone more deeper into the style and substance and maybe the discussion would be more vibrant.
Point still is, that’s what he choose to say pretty much like what Shekar choose to show in his film. Dollor Dreams is a classic. Godavari was a bench-mark film to most of the young telugu’s who no longer think in our mother tongue’s. But what shekar did with the film is to tap to an audience that is so caught up in the cosmetic world of goon-bashing and ass-kicking.
I don’t remember of a single movie since Prema-Desam that college students took fancy too. Its cool, simple and dreamy. So what’s wrong?
Ravi I remember when prema desam (Kadal Desam in tamil) came out in 96 or 97 its was big rage among young guys and gals, Guys started this new trend of Abbas hair style and Mustafa Mustafa song was an anthem for friendship. I dont think any other movie will leave such an Impact on youngsters.
The hindi version(duniya dilwalon ki) couldn’t work, Varun, but the songs Mustafa & Hello doctor were a big rage. Pretty nostalgic when I listen to them now..
Ok guys..May be I should not have gone overboard but my point is..
if Happy Days was made by any other Director(read Bommarrillu Bhaskar, Sukumar et al).. I would have been happy.
Mr. Sekhar Kammula talks of Library Cinema,new age cinema, taking telugu cinema to the international scene and stuff like that.
yes, when I watched Dollar Dreams, i thought.. hey look! that is another Nagesh Kukunoor..Anand was a welcome change..godavari was a bit commercial and the screen play was loose at places..
Come Happy Days and he came down to almost the level of regular commercial cinema..I hope he doesnt end up with his hero fighting goons atop a hillock in his next venture!!!! adios
I think the Tamil(?) movie ‘Boys’ made a few years ago had huge impact as well…though I admit I haven’t seen it. I think that’s also been dubbed furiously…
‘boys’ was a huge hit in telugu compared to the tamil version. bommarillu was decent (by telugu/tamil standards) although it was not actually a “college” film but it catered to the same demographic.
filmmakers have disappointed audiences for so long that people seem to get wet dreams when they see even the simplest and often lamest representation of their youth or reality in terms of college ragging or friends hanging out…
sure it’s better than chiru pushing a train back by pointing his finger at it or turning into pulp some 100 goons because they chhedoed a girl, but we’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel. college kids seem to lap this shit up.
@Varun … I think you missed out on the charecter of madhu on whom half the story revolves around… Dont know if it is deliberate.
@varun @ravptor … Dont you guys think you are missing tholiprema … remeber it being a rage hit in the youngsters.
@Dabba … Dont know what you mean by “college kids seem to lap this shit up” … But to confess it had moments that really took me back to college… The charecters were so close to real life that we guys were busily mapping the on screen ppl to friends and circle… may be the success can be attributed to that connection.
But on the whole as Varun said the heart was not in the right place. In a lighter vien it was not chiru but Balakrishna that had the honor of sending back the train pointing a finger. Chiru is not much farther. He was able to trash about 3 lorry loads of people in his last film :) It seriously hurts when Chiru keeps on churning shit after shit…Would love to see chiru of shubha lekha, chiru of chantabbayi..chiru of rudra veena… I know I am dreaming…
Sekhar is a sensible filmmaker compared many other Telugu filmmakers.His films are not so good but they are simple and some times lovable. But sadly he is being hailed as one of the greatest Telugu filmmaker and his films as the best of Telugu cinema. I think this is how far we (Telugus) can reach. Now that there is a huge interest among Telugu cinema biggies like Mahesh Babu, Nag and Venkatesh to make films with Sekhar, he would lose his little freedom and creativity too. At the max he would churn out another Santosham or Manmadhudu or some other romcom. The story ends there, sadly.
venkat
http://www.24fps.co.in
@ Mind tentative -
i stand corrected. It was balaiya.I can watch that movie over and over again for the sheer preposterousness of it.
i use the word shit for everyting, like, that’s some good shit. so don’t take offense.
prema desam came out when i was in college and everyone was talking about how it represented their life because they saw ragging and general college hijinks portrayed on screen. i could not go 2 years without hearing that blaady mustafa song at every cultural, fresher’s party etc etc. and the movie was lame. liked the songs though.
same thing with that tamil movie that was dubbed in telugu 7G something colony. people make it sound like the best thing since aapam-kurma but all it had was some lower middle class guys. and for a change they were’nt rowdies and ofcourse the rich, fair girl loves the slum hero.
i am convinced that indian movies with song-dance are like idli with sambhar-chutney. The idli is just a carrier for the chutney-sambar. nobody cares how bad the idli is so long as the chutney is good but it’s hard to eat the cbutney by itself.
@dabba seems like you have very high expectations from telugu movies(which is your perspective and its ok to have hope) but in reality for past 10-15 years ever since jandhyala and vishwanath quit making movies its hard to find any sensible cinema. Even I’m sick of hero beating up 100-200 guys and rich girl falling for poor guy all that regular masala stuff. the point that I’m trying to make is about sensible film gets approval by audiences every where even though its not an exceptional art film.
@venkat I dont see anything wrong if shekar keeps making sensible films even with big actors like mahesh and nagarjuna. he has a huge amount of pressure from every one to satisfy producers and audiences. I know its very sad for us to accept that shekar is genius, but what else can we expect from telugu films….we have to accept the fact we don’t make good films any more…
@Dabba… no offence taken.. Liked your comparision to idlis and chutneys… I just wanted to know the reasons y the film did not work for you… Helps you in understanding the do’s and dont’s in film making
Dabba,
whoever you are , thank you for being who you are!
Prema Desam onwards whatever you mention was unpalatable and your IDLI analogy also is bang on.
Unfortunately we have become a state of ‘Alpasantoshis’
[ happy with little/less/lesser ] with ‘ Adambaram’ [ untranslatable but remotely meaning those who follow not those who lead ]
So we have NO benchmarks, we will hail anybody and everybody, quib and complain but not do anything about it and just HAPPYGA do software and fill the MAALS in Bay Area.
why don’t we pick the damn camera up[ which I am sure most of us Telugus can afford kada? ]and start shooting. 1, 2, 4, 10 , 20 min films to start with?? Tell our stories the way they deserve to be told.
Badhakamu !!!
Aavakaya tini niddarapo mantay, adi baaga chaystaamu, auna??
K-3
@Varun,
I do accept that we(Telugus) dont make good films any more. But the saddest fact is also that we cant make good films anymore. Even if we want to nobody will let us.
Venkat
http://www.24fps.co.in
@ Kavitha I wish I could do it….but its not as simple as it looks…I guess you know about it too….
@Kavitha,
I am a Telugu, but I don’t eat Avakaya and there would be lots like me who dont eat it so dont generalize like non-Telugu’s generally do……
@Dabba- Love your idli-sambhar-chutney analogy. :)
Now what is avakaya?! :-?
Avakaya is a very spicy pickle famous down in Andhra where almost all the household have it in their homes…
Dear ALL
i have a very important point to drill on ur minds…
In andhra watching movie is pure..entertainment..
Telugu movie are highly formulae based, 2 to 3 fights, 1 or more heriones, 1 itme song, few punch dailogue…thas it…if everything tuned well..it would be a block buster…
but i have a problem..while watching this movies,,i felt like “piss on my face”.
y da heck r people so dumb and stupid..caste phobic n star oriented.
JUST WATCH TAMIL MOVIES..HOW CREATIVE THEY ARE..ITS AWESOME MAN..
THE PASSION, THE STORY TELLING, THE PICTRURISATION..
its like you are in to it…u dont even dare to turn ur head..even for a sec..thas called the movie..
ur entertained for sure..which is eternal..
i still rememebr after watching Bala “NANDHA” i was awestruck with the climax..it disturbes me even now..
see..such movie brings accolades which makes people moved..by its story telling..n charcterisation..end of it
DIRECTION N SCREENPLAY.
the last telugu movie i really liked was “okkadu”
DazednConfused: Avakaya is Mango Achaar yaar(Mango Pickle)….
Srikanth Reddy: I completely agree with you. Telugu audience is dumb and moronic! I guess they were conditioned to become like that with so much of crap being bombarded at them for decades.
Andhra is more like a sophisticated Bihar & UP. The caste feeling is so prevalent that these Reddy’s and Kamma’s are destroying(actually destroyed) the film industry.
God save these people.
and I thot where was Machchar missing from the scene….here he’s…hi Machchar
This is the universal (caste feeling) opinion abt the malaise affecting the Telugu industry, but noboby can do anything abt that
it was a amatuerish movie with juvenile humour . if inder kumar ever attempted a college movie it will be like this .
@ Varun
“I dont know what should one do to satisfy people like you. If they give a substantial role to female you dont like it and If he dosent then you say there is no scope of acting for female leads.”
He did give substantial roles but do the charecters make any sense…I think women are much more than being whimsical and confused…if he wanted to show an independent woman (with all those traditions attached to her)…rupa and seetha are not her…but if you now say that it adds humour or thats their peculiarity then sorry bro I dont buy it.
But yes these charecters are atleast different than other regular fem. charecters
gatha rendu moodella nundi telegu cinemalu choosthunte adedho paatha telugu cinemalo comedian “boothu boothu” ani arichinattu aravalanipisthundhi…barring 4-5 movies rest are like oka intro song…dantlo suit kaani hip-hop style…hysteria vachinattu thoda kottadalu,narakadalu,leni poni heroism daaniki elevating scenes…..inkemanna ante veetiki tv lo regular 10 pm slots…
its not about either audience or lack of sensibile film makers…..its autocracy thats killing telugu films…
but i still hope that someday….
madhu chandra
madhu anna, nee…mast cheppinav…mana telgu cinema gitla develop kalalni ante mungata ee vedhava gallani bayatiki pampinchalna….
Nee enkamma telgu cinema choodniki dimag mast ga kharab ayyi undalna ee rojullo…allu arvind gallu, ramanaidu gallu inka migita bhikari na kodukulni ban cheyyalna….appupu manchi dinalu vasthayi..
@Madhu I can totally understand….I think the caste system and hero worship has to go for good, then we might have a hope. I feel sad for someone like chandra shekar yeleti he made two very good movies and then when he attempts a regular masala film with some one like gopi chand its a disaster its not his forte. there is nothing we can do….
Varun
It IS very easy to make films these days.
Just as easy as writing this post.All you need is intention and time.
Of course hard work is mandatory but THAT I see as lacking.
When we were growing up [ pre perestroika ]
Art was Sacred. One could write poems, stories, paint or dance, unless one spent AT LEAST 30 odd years doing the grind one was not assured of even a second glance ….so Struggle was the foundation we accepted as Artistes.
But these days much to my initial chagrin, anyone who can type fancies himself/herself a ‘writer’, so in a way things are more democratic….
and I have slowly started appreciating this freedom accorded to kids of today….
except that ….
Our silly notions that a film has to be 3 hrs long, has to be on FILM, has to have a Star Cast, has to have Songs, has to be Premiered in Prasads and Released with 10,00000 prints etc etc have all been subverted long ago
You could make films for your family, for weddings, for graduations, for your village, for literacy, take part in online festivals [ like PFCOne ] etc etc
I don’t see what the grumbling is about, if you don’t like the world CHANGE IT.
Arise, Awake and all that Jazz.
K-3
ps: Avakaya goorinchi telugulo andukanay raasanu, paruvu pothundani! Some generalizations exist becoz there is a kernel of truth in it.
I dont know what are you trying to convey If you dont like movies then go and make them???
MindT, K-3 and D&C - Thanks
Varun, It’s not telugu movies alone that I expect great things from. It’s everything. When I know there’s a stinky fish market on a street, I don’t go that way. Unless someone tells me that the market is gone or the hygiene of the fish market has improved and it doesn’t stink anymore. But when I go back, it always smells the same. They just burn some incense outside.
Caste system and hero worship are easy scapegoats. The disease is us. We lower our standards so much. First we wanted great films. Then good films. Now it is sensible films!
Boycott the films. Convince your families on their stupidity in watching these movies. Use your powers of persuasion. How the hell are you going to get some producer to sign you a check for a movie you want to make if you can’t convince your mother and cousin not to watch junk.
MindT, you wanted to know what is wrong? EVERYTHING. I am ok with the hero’s ability to beat up 100 people. You don’t even have to explain why he can do this. But give me a villain who can beat up 500 people at the same time. Hero is the guy that IS weaker than the villain and through great courage, is somehow able to prevail over the villain. You can use sister-mother sentiment as his Achilles heel in one movie, but not all the time. What is Rama without Ravana, or the Pandavas without Duryodhan, Karna and Shakuni. Mahabharata is a story because of Shakuni, the villain, not because the Pandavas are caring loving humans and god likes them.
So you have a middle class guy that goes to college wearing a full sleeve checked shirt folded up exactly the way your class mate did. Ballyhoo. They skip classes and hang out at the canteen. Diddlysquat. Everyone has a crush on the 4 decent looking girls in college and she is always surprised that the person she thought was a friend actually has a romantic interest in her. People have lou failure. NEXT.
And they just hang out and are HAPPYGA. Why do you want to pay to watch something so trite? Are our collective adult lives so miserable that a sprinkle of nostalgia is enough for us to whole heartedly endorse it? Hook me in with a character I can relate to and put him or her in a situation I would never want to be in because it takes courage to be there. And don’t let her come out without a scar as asign of her fight. Things can never go back to where they were. Let her dance under a waterfall in between if you must, but make sure that the other principles of storytelling are adhered to.
These folks don’t understand economy of storytelling. There’s always 10 characters when you only need one. My memory fails me but I remember Indrudu Chandrudu, had good storytelling. Every character, subplot had a role to play and if you removed them the story wouldn’t work. Charan Raj and his “sister”, Mayor Kamal and his wife and kid…these characters were there for a reason. It showed you that Mayor Kamal had a human being inside him even though he was a rotten corrupt politician. And it was the betrayal by his assistant that made him realize that.
Verisimilitude is no substitute for good storytelling.
Dabba you are right and we cannot expect change in an year or so right?? may be we should start the same stratergy that chiru used in stalin tell 3 friends that a particular movie sucks and ask them to tell 3 other people and so on. I just feel bad we are just common moviegoers we cannot control our industry that is controlled by caste system and other criteria….what we might have to do is just stop going to movies….
Its so sad that there so much interest in creating the look than the product itself
Dabba
You should come to Hyderabad and open a film school. I will attend…night classes, if there are any…:d
@30 srikanth -
Hate to burst your bubble mate, but tamil cinema is no better. Every movie of Vijay’s is a remake of a telugu mass hit like pokiri or athidi etc. Occasionally you have a Nanda or Sethu, which was strictly ok. It’s like looking for pearls and finding a shiny pebble in the sand and being happy.
People used to hail mallu cinema but watch any of the movies that have come out in the last 10 years and they are atrocious. They have borrowed the worst from tamil, telugu and hindi.
There are music channels that play these movie songs all the time right? So why do people even go to the cinema?
These college and high school kids are the bane of our existence. They are the demographic for all movies much like suburban teenagers in the US. They have the disposable income (naina’s money), terrible taste and a lot of time. Nothing can be done about them. But us adults can stop watching these movies.
Dabba….I dont think it does matter where money is comming from(naina or amma or who ever) but the important issue is how is this money spent??? I think we need to have exposure of good films across length and breadth of our country then we will start thinking out side the box.
I don’t understand. What is so wrong with Telugu Industry. Anyday its better than Hindi Cinema. Its got its divisions, mass, utter mass and class, intelligent and genius. Every single friday a movie caters to it.
Chiru does what he does best and so does balayya. Atleast there are no pretensions and least of all, the audience is not made a fool of.
@Dabba: “Bane of Existence” ante amitandi? Some of the best movies that I have watched or have learnt from were during the times of night long movie sessions, high on all sorts of combustible substances but yet maintaining the objectivity to differentiate from good and bad and learning from them. College days are the times when there needs to be education, education of all forms. What we choose to do with that or what filters we employ on the choices is a personal prerogative but every kid needs to have all the choices in front of him.
And all this sensibility or “I know better” comes from the fact that you have seen a lot and them made a choice. Keep feeding kids only ramayana and they will exist only in the era of BC.
@40 dabba garu: I again have reservations with your PARA 6. Not every guy in coll was a loser who did not get beautiful girls to fall for them. Majority did not, so what about them who did? 7G at that level did not work for me because of the audacity of the people to show that being a loser is actually a virtue. So what is wrong to show a bunch of happy ppl? I had a great coll life, up’s and down’s, a lot of days that I felt that I just don’t want this life but now I have no grudge’s. I hate grad school now cos I am in it, but am sure 5 yrs from now, I will look back with great pride and again say I had a great time.
Also, at some level, you ha have to give people a chance to live. They are a product of the system. Mediocrity breeds mediocrity. Sorry to wade away from the topic but after coming to US, i find the attitude of a few acquaintance back home who have not been privileged as I am to know better or see better. Do I employ a dismissive attitude towards them just because of their ignorance? That would be my arrogance.
Again, my point here being, its not so bad, the shape of Telugu Cinema. Its riding a train in inertia but atleast its moving. There were gems, a lot, and there will be… in the coming time.
@ravptor
Yes,its all good with Telugu cinema!
Lets rest in peace.
venkat
thanks to the law of averages, it’s all good with telugu cinema.
@ 42 D&C -
Those that can, do, those that can’t, teach. I am still trying to do. If all else fails I’ll start tuitions too but then I would be like all the hacks that teach you how to be a better screenwriter without a single produced credit.
@45 ravptor -
Regional pride has no place in the appreciation of cinema. It would be foolhardy to think that Telugu cinema is “Anyday its better than Hindi Cinema”
Do you or did you alter your expectations when you went to watch Speed (Reeves not Hashmi) compared to Gentleman? Is Speed an art movie? Is it not as mass as possible? Could someone in India (telugu, hindi, tamil, bengali) not have made an entertaining thriller like that? How can that movie run for so long in India when half the people don’t understand the language properly? Are people not exposed to that?
The only movies I watched before leaving India was what played in theaters. Foreign cinema was Jackie Chan and Hollywood blockbusters.
Why are we happy to make qualifying statements saying “Not bad for a telugu movie.” How many college love triangles will we have. What is a contemporary and “cool” telugu movie these days? Have the same lame ass story but show the hero calling his mom by name and drinking beer with his dad. Suddenly all and sundry cheer and clap saying it was different. At least it was sensible. He’s not beating up 100 guys.
If there are any regular college (not film school) going kids reading this right now, I have a proposition.
I will buy and LEASE you a DVX or XL-1. I will produce your film. Make a documentary about your college experience. Do it stealthily. Do it openly. But get footage of you and ur buds hanging out in the canteen. Skipping college. watching movies. Having heart breaks over girls. Marrying the girls you love. Follow everyone. Follow no one. Film over the course of your 4 years in college. Tell them it is a vanity project. It’s for you to retain your memories of great HAPPY DAYS.
Edit that movie, or I can edit it for you. You will find a story far richer than anything you have seen on screen so far. You will be the writer/director and I the producer. You will have all the creative freedom. Just be honest and don’t censor yourself. Make the damn movie.
I will spend the money on post to polish it up and make it look good. I will get distribution in movie theaters and whatever other outlets exist. I will laugh all the way to the bank. People will have a very realistic film (Documentary duh!) and there will be plenty of nostalgia for everyone.
If you have any ambition, you will wait a few years after college and see where these people are in life and get some more footage. If you are smart, you are asking yourself why do I need some chutiya producer whom I don’t know to lease me a camera when I can ask my cousin Vamsee in the US to gift me one?
p.s. Every Telugu has a cousin Vamsee in the US.
And ur point being?
LOL @ dabba // mate, in your emotion, you just gave away a million dollar project line. you know what… that’s an awesome concept, and i wouldn’t be surprised to see it being done in the coming times.
p.p.s. i don’t.
Dabba garu: For the sake of argument only.
You know better, you have seen better and you are more intelligent than the guy making a film. He has not compelled you to watch it ( pretty generic, but then). Your take on coll life is diff. Shekar’s is diff. That’s cinematic projection and it works for some and it does not for some. He choose to show it that way. why hold him to a higher standard?
“Not bad for a telugu movie” - yes we do make such qualifying statements but for a few reasons. Manmadhudu was a decent film. Crappy at times but the feel it had was something else. Would I compare it with Dil Chahata Hai for the finish or refinement, yes. Content no. So when I would watch a movie like that, I will say not bad for a telugu movie. Athadu, was better than most movies made in india. Story is clihed but if OSO can get away then why not Athadu. Point being, films are evolving.
About the camera thing, I don’t think it will work. Reality in all its might has to be masked. If god were to come down with a human form, most will laugh him out. Let him come down with hundred hands and heads, people will take fancy… just an analogy to all things in case.
the point is that telugu cinema is in bad shape. very bad shape. And it was never great to begin with. A few good movies in a span of 20 years does not ameliorate the state of telugudom.
dabba i guess you are looking @ it as half empty instead of half full…..
dabba // now you’ve overstepped when you say telugu cinema was never great to begin with. let me ask you this… are you telugu - or, - to be more clear - are you a student (not academic) of telugu cinema? how many telugu movies have you seen so far? what do you think is the greatest telugu movie that’s made so far (of all those you’ve seen till date)?
telugu cinema, btw, is 75 years old - and the worst telugu movies that were made, have actually been made during the past 20 - 25 years or so.
common dabba you can’t say that telugu movies were never good…..what is good according to you???
I second WB. The crappyness has sneaked in when people took a fancy to Sleaze. I remember times when i used to visit my grandma in coastal andhra where she would take me to cinema’s and she would enjoy them as mush as I did. Now with a thousand channels, she still prefers to watch DD just for the sake of quality it has.
Funny thing is, we (Telugus) discuss so much about the state of telugu cinema etc but deep down we are eagerly waiting for pavan kalyan’s Jalsa and Mahesh Babu’s Mirchi and read idlebrain, greatandhra everyday.
Funny.
venkat // there are also people who wait for trivikram’s jalsa and bapu-ramana’s sundarakaanda - and these folks don’t necessarily read IB & GA.
Hahaha… I will second both of you Venkat and WB bhai. BTW, KV garu is also doing another film. Waiting for that…
Bapu and KV’s days are over friends. Everything has an expiry date. We cant deny that. Look at maestro Ilayaraja. I dont think Bapu and KV can make good films anymore. But I seriously wish they make good films.
venkat
off topic, but let me address the issue so that it doesn’t remain a dangling pointer. KV’s done with. agreed. but Bapu-Ramana are still in the race (i’ve absolutely loved their radhagopalam, and can’t wait to see sundarakanda). and so is Raaja. have you heard his latest, the music messiah?
apologies for the silence, I was on a train and didn’t have access.
wb, okka kshanamulu nuvvu nannu paraaya vaadini chesavu. Is criticism so hard to take?
@varun, wb -
We make about 100 odd movies a year (correct me if this figure is grossly inaccurate). Take any STRETCH of 5 years in telugu cinema history. that’s 500 movies. 10% = 50. Find me a stretch of 5 years where 50 great movies were made. That seems like a staggering number. let’s be more realistic and say 5% or 25 movies.
Be honest in your assessment of what is great. I will not challenge you on that. I may not accept it but you can find something great that I don’t. I will humbly submit an apology and join the chorus and say telugu cinema was great and it is in bad shape now.
Just because there were a few sankarabharnams or maya bazaars here and there spread out over 30 years does not mean telugu cinema is great. Some great movies may have come out and I would say they came out inspite of the industry and not because of them. Apply the 5% rule to hindi and tamil and they will probably come out the same as telugu.
I have watched maybe 40 telugu movies over the years, of which I found 4 good.
also, nothing emotional about the camera thingy. I am quite certain it will work. I personally have no desire to make such a film but will gladly back it if someone wants to. I put it out here out of hubris, because I thought someone may actually seriously consider it.
The thing about ideas is, if it is truly radical, it will be ahead of its time and doomed to fail. If it isn’t radical, then others are thinking about it too and they probably have better access.
And Ravptor, how many apologies will you make in support of telugu cinema @51. Why tolerate it?
dabbagaaru
@48. it is a shame no one took you up on your offer.if only i was 20 and in LOU :)
does ur offer to finance stop at that or can we talk more!
ikkada chaala scripts unnayi………
varun
@25 you said it is not easy to make films
[ i think u meant that ?] so my reply @38 was vis-a-vis that and about how skewed our definition of ‘film’ is.
to answer ur next Q @39
if u [ maanay hum sab ] don’t like something
you accept it BECOZ you cannot change it/ don’t WANT to change it for various reasons and i cite laziness as a prime culprit followed by /fear/insecurity etc
OR you change your outlook
now it seems to me that we love to rant without wanting to change ourselves, the world, the situation…….nada….so status quo remains ….and we complain endlessly….nyayamaa?
Nagesh, Shekar , Anish etc are praiseworthy precisly becoz they went about ‘doing’ and ‘being’ with their dreams in a way that AK keeps talking about .
As for Happy Days, by any standard: world, hindi, telugu or any genre, it is bad film.and for all the reasons enumerated by dabba and others.
Why give excuses for mediocrity??
that does not take away from what Shekar is or contributed to the industry, just as RGV’s demise [ cinematically ] cannot take away his contribution to all of us.
k-3
dabba // :-) do you think we haven’t had any good telugu cinema besides mayabazaar and sankarabharanam?
with one generic statement you wiped away the telugu movie history slate clean. tabula rasa!!
kanyashuklam, malapilla, varavikrayam, vemana, pothana, tyagayya, peddamanushulu, appu chesi pappu koodu, missamma, gundamma kadha, karna, kanchu kota, pelli naati pramanaalu, mallishwari, tenali ramakrishna, pettamdaarlu, varakatnam, vandemataram, donga ramudu, raja makutam, CID, mooga manasulu, tikka sankaraiah, mangamma sapadham, alluri seetharamaraju, meena, sneham, saakshi, seetharama kalyanam, seetha kalyanam, lava kusha, bhookailas, bhakta prahlada - none of these movies are good?
KV Reddy, Vuppaladadiyam Nageshvarudu, BN Reddy, Pingali, Katuri, Veturi, Kasinadhuni, Vamsy - none of these guys delieverd?
seriously, what’s your definition of a good cinema?
@Kavitha garu meeru cheppedi naku sababu ani pinchatledu…..you and me do not define audiences for telugu films?? If both of us change and we decide not to watch any telugu films unless its exceptional….. do you think does telugu directors or producers gonna think that some varun and kavitha are not watching our movies we should produce more sensible films??? Meeru nenu and manalanti vallu chala chala takkuva so we cannot expect our kinda of films from the makers….But what we can do is encourage change when every there is a Missama(new one), nandanavanam or a film by aravind or aithe or anukokunda we should publicize and let all our friends know about it rave how good the film or how different the attempt was….
you are in the film industry (right???) you have worked with shekar (right???) why dont you tell me what you think you should be doing so that audiences change their view on the type of films being made (Nenu vyangyanga adugatam ledu) we are soo soo small when you compare with other group of audiences….not today not tommorrow some fine day we will win…
Meeru cheppe prakram telugu cinema nachhani vallu andaru illu vadilesi hyderbad or bombay vachhi cinemalu teesi ee cine samajani marchesthe kaani manchi mana teyyalemu ani aa???
I dont like our films in general (for past 10 years) and I want them to change but I cannot go and make a film…there are thousands of people like who want change but they just cannot change it by themselves …..yenduku antara chala reasons untayi family, money vagira vagira…I respect people who follow what they want to do not what they do….you cannot expect every one who quits their job and go into film industry to be like anish,shekar or nagesh….
Varun
rightly said:what am I doing?
i shld be making films, those i believe in and yes, am working towards it.
Crawling is a better word:)
as for say people like ‘you’ who are not connnected, in any which way, i feel that YOU have the power too/and can change the status quo.
why be complacent,being a spectator all your life?
If so can’t we have a better quality spectator? One who can actually separate the Man from his Work [and if he can pity that man and the sad work!!! ] …and not go gaga over sloppy prods.
first and foremost by making oneself aware of what else exists in the cupboard of competition. pls open it up gingerly and enjoy the wonders of hidden,hereforth untasted delights.
asking the average Vamsi to read more, think more, watch more, exercise your brain cells more, using it for more than self, security and survival………is that asking for too much?
once u indulge in the deeper realms of the world, which takes a LOT of passion for life [and death] not just cinema, then i will accept your cynicism and take your leave-it-be , sab-chalta-hai attitude at face value,
but believe you me, once you start on THIS roller coaster, you will notice a paradigm shift ,
from Spectator, you will become a Participant , then finally Creator.
seeing so much potential go waste in inane cyber bantering is what worries me, u say u have a right to just comment without having to change the world/make films, well even for that I ask from you some responsibility dear friend.
or am i asking too much?
I guess we r heading to pandemonium here…that the problem.. we have different opinions.
kavitha..do you have scripts…if ur serious about it..please go on..you can go for independent picture.
if u are really penchant about it… u can make a movie..its damn easy..u can hire all the wannbe talented..team..form film institute and for finance knonck knock…
there is much money with andhraites..thanks too real boom n IT..
or even got for a bank loan..if u dare..
I CAN GURANTEE..UR PRODUCT WOULD BE NO DIFFERENT WITH THE REGULAR FLICKS WE SEE..
becos if its ur movies..u wont dare to wash off your hands,,u will play safe bet..
maybe..u will book mumaith for an item…
i know u guys r confused with my view..but..in reality…its hard to make a parallel (different, offbeat , out of mind) movie at least in telugu..
@ 65 wb -
I have honestly not watched any of the movies you mentioned. I IMDBed all of them to find out what year they were made and they are all over the place but seem to be concentrated in the late 50s. Making me do all this extra work!
I like how your standards are changing as the discussion progresses. I said telugu cinema was never “great” to begin with and asked you to find me a 5 year block of cinema where 25 great movies were made and you replied with a list encompassing several years and not a 5 year stretch and asked if none of them were “good”
You may think I’m nitpicking on semantics here and I’m not trying to prove a point. But that has what it has boiled down to. If people find Happy Days good, then everything is up for grabs. Are these movies you mentioned good in comparison to what was made then or are they truly great?
I can claim that I have not watched any movies from the 50s of any country or language with the exception of maybe citizen kane, some hitchcock movies and some of Kurosawa’s films. And with the exception of rashomon and Lifeboat, I found all the others painful. I was able to study them and see why they may have been considered great but certainly don’t appreciate them.
I am quite willing to subject myself to further study on this topic. Of the movies you listed, give me 5 movies that you think are great along with the years they were made. Also, tell me what you think was the golden period of telugu cinema. Think of me as a martian and you are trying to stop the martian from destroying andhra on the strength of 5 movies from your list above. I will watch them and be honest in my opinion about them.
@ 64 K-3
I’m open to talks but send me the first 10 pages of your best script. If I can get past page 5, you may have a shot. Are these supposed to be telugu or english or hindi? I will have to read them accordingly right?
Why am I soliciting scripts and trying to produce? Because I have not been able to write to the standard that I want to.
also, since you guys are all PFC authors, i put in an iview post more than a week ago and haven’t seen it. Is there a different group of administrators that select those? I’m quite ok with it being rejected. Not sure if it got rejected or you guys have an unusually long queue.
Telugu Cinema ki Tegulu pattukundi.
I am confused with so many comments and different opinions but I deduce that you people are arguing whether Telugu Cinema is shit or no it’s not so bad. Right?
Well, Telugu Cinema today is shit. There are no two ways about it. Shekhar Kammula? Film By Aravinds? Just because you put some NRI angles, Ramu type treatment and hollywood rip offs does not mean it is new wave. It is funny wave.
It’s been exactly 8 years I’ve stopped regularly watching Telugu movies. Wait…Doesn’t mean I don’t see them altogether. 8 years back, I had to see each and every film that was released. I calculate my film viewing graph of Telugu cinema timeline with Chiranjeevi movies. The last one was Master. That was the end of my watching each and every Telugu movie produced. I shifted out of Hyderabad to Chennai but used to regularly visit that city but consciously tried to avoid watching each and every movie after experiencing Tamil Cinema. And most of the superhit Telugu movies of the recent times were remakes of Tamil Cinema anyway.
Who is at fault? The audience? The makers? Well…Let me tell you…The film viewing junta is like a sponge, they absorb anything that comes. Like our brain that has different areas for different feelings, it also gets excited by mindless cinema, good cinema and bad cinema. Does not mean that one man has to like just one kind of cinema. So when the brain is deprived of great cinema, the mindless part of the brain kicks in and takes over and starts enjoying the trash that is being churned out. So the great cinema part of the brain becomes meek and does not try to object. Soon it’s voice dies down….
And slowly people lose the joy of having watched great cinema. They don’t have the capabilities to control and understand different parts of their brain. They are like sheep. No use blaming them. So, we who can still make the distinction between great cinema and trash cinema have to do something. The makers. I have completely given up on Telugu cinema and I don’t consider myself strong enuf to be the messiah who will bring in the change so will wait for someone else to do it. Till then will avoid it.
@dabba,varun, kavita, srikanth, wb
vedhava publicity ani kaadhu kaani, mana telugulo kuda 24fps.co.in ni oka site undhi. akkada kuda mana sinimaala gurindhi discuss ceyyocchu ikkada laage. emantaaru?
Venkat I know I was not invited but still checked out your site. The fonts in Telugu is too irritating to read and actually hurt my eyes…What’s your pageviews like? Do something about it and maybe you can see more people interested….dot co dot in domains give the impression of a company, get a better url like dot in.
Second, I guess it’s not allowed to advertise other similar websites I guess….dunno, the mods will know better…how will you feel if someone tells the regular guys in ur site, pfc ani oka site undi…akkada discuss cheddama? emantaru?
Manduddi kada?
@machchar assalu mandadu….endukantey akkadaina ikkadaina passion okkatey…aina naa site kaani ee site mulamgaa cinema baagu padaalini kadha vuddesam…aa vuddesam tho cheppina maatanu meerala vakrikarimcakamdi. meeku teluso ledho nenu ikkada okappudu velagabetti, ilaage mana telugulo kuda oka site raavaalani nenu chesina prayatnam adhi…ika fonts sangati ki vaste…mee site lo telugu configure cesukovali first…side bar lo help undhi adhi elaa cheyyaalo ani…ika hits sangatiki vastey…edho mee lanti vaallaa daya nelaki oka padi velaki paine vunnayi
congratilastions to shaker kamula for a very good film :x:x:x:x:x:x:x
thakku once agine
Happy days is the only movie that I ever walked out of. It reeked of Sekhar kammula’s arrogance in every frame. Also, the cinematography was really poor and less said about the acting, the better. Sekhar claimed his film would be a ‘realistic’ take on engineering college life. This is more over the top than an incredibly juvenile engineering students night dream. extraordinarily disappointing
@68 Srikanth: i may turn out making the worst movie ever, what i am trying to say is that , that should be my best and purest effort irrespective of the outcome, irrespective of how the ‘industry’ is. why do we as people give up so easily?
when Kshana Kshanam was made, or Hyd Blues, or Dollar Dreams, or Anukokunda Oka Roju or Grahanam…….was it a cakewalk for the directors?
@70 dabba[ dispensing with the gaaru bit after i read all ur posts and comments and figured out ur age :) though that does not reduce my respect for your views/writings ] :
delighted with your offer to read,
they are written in Roman script and are an amalgam of Eng/Hindi/Telugu.
email add?
ps: ‘my best’ is going to be a tough choice coz like u say i don’t feel satisfied with anything i do but at this rate i may never be satisfied so….
@72 Venkat: site tappakunda visit chaystaanu.
K-3
dabba // Re #69
I like how your standards are changing as the discussion progresses.
:-) Let me take a wild guess… at some point in your life, you must have studied something that’s to do with looking through the microscopes and taking copious readings.
I said telugu cinema was never
@78
Your powers of deduction are simplistic at best. I have had nothing to do with microscopes or copious measurements (readings). There are a whole host of other factors that may lead to some one obsess over details and semantics such as being a writer, or in debate or law or just plain anal. Your tendency to attempt a personal angle twice now is regrettable.
Nonetheless, I will check out a few of the movies from your list. If they are great, I will most certainly write in and extoll their virtues. If not, I will hold my peace.
@ K-3
How do I send you my email without making it public on PFC? Can you access it through one of my posts?
dabba // re #79, my powers of deduction are fine, it’s my sense of humor that’s complicated. that line in jest wasn’t meant to hurt anyone - sorry if it did. btw, if you’d like someone on PFC to have your email id, all you need to do is comment on one of their posts.
wb,
thanks for clarifying and thanks for the tip. will get in touch after i watch the films.
Varun,
did you watch Kalluri - a tamil film by Balaji Sakthivel…
Watch it if you haven’t….then you will understand why Happydays is a bad film….
I agree that Kalluri has its own faults….but for the climax….I think it is an excellant film….Watch Tamanna in Kallori and Happydays and you will know the difference….