Tag: telugu cinema

As Clamour Grows for Telugu Cinema’s ‘Sexual Harassment Probe’ Report to Be Made Public, A Look at the Chronology

In April 2018, actress Sri Reddy gave a YouTube interview that would unexpectedly spark a reckoning within Tollywood. What has happened since then?

This article is the first part of an in-depth look at Tollywood’s #MeToo movement.

Hyderabad: Ever since the release of the Hema Committee report, which exposed systemic issues within Kerala’s film industry, attention has turned to similar efforts in other regional film industries.

This article is the first part of an in-depth look at Tollywood’s own #MeToo movement, examining the chronology, context and background of a struggle that began in 2018.

This process involved the creation of a committee tasked with probing sexual harassment in the Tollywood – the popular name for the Telugu film industry – which submitted its report in 2022, like Kerala’s Hema Committee did. This report, however, is yet to be made public.

The spark that lit the fire

In April 2018, a young actress named Sri Reddy gave a YouTube interview that would unexpectedly spark a reckoning within Tollywood.

Reddy revealed she had been denied membership in the Movie Artists’ Association (MAA) despite making a “commitment” – a euphemism for sexual favours demanded by influential men in exchange for film roles.

Her candid confession unexpectedly opened the floodgates, exposing a long-ignored culture of sexual exploitation in the industry and forcing Tollywood into an uncomfortable spotlight.

At first glance, it appeared that Reddy was merely complaining about a “breach of trust” – that despite her “commitment”, the other parties failed to uphold their end of the bargain. However, her bold confession went viral, catching the attention of activists, particularly the Women and Transgender Joint Action Committee (WT-JAC). 

The Telugu mainstream media, with its penchant for sensationalism and high ratings, also latched onto the story. It was in this charged atmosphere that Reddy decided to take a remarkable step.

Escalation and industry backlash

In a brave move, she stripped half-naked in front of the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce to protest the rampant sexual exploitation in the industry.

Her protest was not only a demand for accountability but also an expression of the helplessness faced by many women in Tollywood. She claimed these women were routinely coerced into sexual relationships in exchange for work.

Her protest marked a watershed moment for Tollywood, exposing not only the industry’s pervasive “casting couch” culture but also its silencing mechanisms.

Also read: Malayalam Cinema Is Facing a Reckoning. It May Be Telugu Film Industry’s Turn Next.

The MAA swiftly responded by threatening to ban Reddy and dismissing her protest as a publicity stunt.

“Initially, she was shamed for it. But then activists said it’s the shame of the industry. In fact, I remember the MAA washed the site of the protest with gangajal to ‘cleanse’ it of its ‘polluting nature’,” Tejaswini Madabushi, a member of Hyderabad for Feminism, told The Wire.

Political entanglement

Around this time, Pawan Kalyan, a colossal movie star who is also brother of megastar Chiranjeevi, president of the Jana Sena Party and currently deputy chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, led a candlelight vigil for the Kathua rape victim in Hyderabad.

When a journalist asked him about his attitude towards Reddy and the other women protesting in Hyderabad while acknowledging his support for the victim in Jammu, Kalyan responded, “They are adults; instead of going to the media they can go file a complaint at the police station.”

Tejaswini told The Wire, “This offended the protesting women, especially the dialogue artists. They questioned why he couldn’t demand the constitution of a committee to investigate the matter and why he was shirking responsibility despite being a leading figure in the industry and a political leader himself.”

This led to Kalyan’s fans attacking the women on social media.

Turning point

Frustrated by the industry’s dismissiveness and Kalyan’s nonchalant response, Reddy’s anger reached a boiling point. In a shocking live television appearance, she hurled a derogatory slur at Kalyan and made an offensive gesture at him.

This marked a critical turning point, shifting the narrative and introducing a political dimension to what had initially been a protest against sexual exploitation.

Kalyan, along with family members including Chiranjeevi and Naga Babu, met with artists at the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce. There, he accused Andhra chief minister Chandrababu Naidu’s son, Nara Lokesh, of orchestrating Reddy’s abusive comments and attacks on his mother.

Kalyan didn’t stop at Reddy; he also criticised Ram Gopal Varma, who admitted to advising Reddy to abuse him, as well as media channels (TV9, ABN and Mahaa News). He claimed these entities were part of a smear campaign against him, allegedly orchestrated by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

Varma responded on Facebook. While acknowledging his previous vow to avoid negative comments about Kalyan, Varma felt compelled to address the accusations logically. He dismissed the conspiracy claims, likening them to far-fetched Agatha Christie plots and questioning their credibility.

As the political controversy escalated, public perception of Reddy shifted. Her outburst, once viewed as a desperate cry for justice, was now seen by many as impulsive and politically motivated.

Speaking to the Times of India, Reddy revealed her frustration at how the film industry reacted to her issues only after she used an abusive word against Kalyan. She pointed out that for over a month, she had raised concerns about sexual harassment and the casting couch, but no one paid attention until she cussed at Kalyan.

She admitted that Varma advised her to use the expletive and that although she followed through with it, her intention was not to hurt anyone but instead to draw attention to her cause.

Reddy also accused Kalyan of trying to divert attention from the real issue – her protest against sexual harassment in Tollywood – by framing it as a conspiracy.

Fallout: shifting public perception

This stunned most people, including activists.

“Senior civil society members like Babu Gogineni withdrew their support for her,” Tejaswini of Hyderabad for Feminism told The Wire.

Amid the political firestorm, Reddy’s original cause – the fight against exploitation in Tollywood – began to fade from the public’s focus. Given the remarkably subversive and disruptive nature of her protest, Reddy and other women were already facing immense pressure, with many routinely questioning their “character” and “intentions”. 

Tejaswini added, “In a sense, the entire system was against her – they were simply waiting for her to slip up.”

Reddy’s strategy backfired. This turn of events seemingly stripped the issue of its feminist core. Public shaming and attempts to discredit Reddy intensified. Interviewers peppered her with degrading questions, probing her sexual history and challenging her right to dignity. The initial public support she had garnered quickly evaporated.

“She fit neither the mould of the ideal victim nor did she articulate the ‘proper’ feminist rhetoric. Some activists viewed her act as radical and subversive, while others deemed it impetuous and irresponsible,” Tejaswini told The Wire.

Reddy emerged as the wrong woman with the right cause. “Nonetheless, for me personally, she is a hero,” added Tejaswini.

Institutional response: formation of a high-level committee⁠

While Reddy’s personal campaign may have faltered, her protest sparked institutional responses.

In October 2018, the WT-JAC took a significant step by filing a public interest litigation in the Telangana high court to investigate the exploitation of women in the industry. Vasudha Nagaraj, a JAC member, argued the case, and the judge responded favourably.

Concurrently, the National Human Rights Commission intervened, directing the Telangana government to conduct an investigation into the matter.

In April 2019, the government responded by establishing a high-level committee (HLC) to investigate sexual harassment in the Telugu film and television industries. Through government order G.O.Rt.No.948, it formed a 25-member committee comprising senior film industry figures, police officials, government representatives and women’s rights activists. The committee’s mandate was to uncover the extent of the problem and recommend concrete steps to address it.

The committee’s uphill battle⁠

The nature of these challenges, the frequency of committee meetings, its terms of reference, the level of active participation from committee members, the number of convened sessions, the individuals interviewed, the documentation collected, the internal workings of the committee and the reasons for establishing a subcommittee to handle the actual work: all these factors reveal how this endeavour lacked substantial power from the beginning.

Understanding these details sheds light on the committee’s effectiveness and commitment to addressing the issue at hand.

Like many committees in India, this HLC faced numerous challenges from its inception. At its very first meeting, there were alleged attempts to trivialise the committee’s mission and impede its proper functioning, processes and procedures. 

“We were extremely worried. We quickly realised that things were going to be incredibly challenging. Ensuring the full and proper functioning of the committee, with all its procedures and processes intact, was going to be an uphill battle,” A. Suneetha, a member of a subcommittee of the HLC, feminist researcher, JAC member and one of the petitioners, told The Wire.

Looking ahead: the committee’s crucial role

The establishment of the HLC, while initially promising as a step towards addressing systemic exploitation in Tollywood, quickly became mired in bureaucratic hurdles. 

From its inception, the committee’s mission seemed compromised by internal discord, lack of clear direction and insufficient political backing.

Nevertheless, a core group of dedicated members – particularly women’s rights activists – persevered, resolute in their determination to seize this opportunity for justice.

As the dust settled, and with Reddy’s protest seemingly relegated to the background, the committee’s work became crucial. To truly address the deep-rooted issues of exploitation, the committee had to overcome significant bureaucratic and political obstacles.

In the next part, we delve into the complexities behind these challenges through an interview with A. Suneetha, who is also a key advocate against sexual harassment in the Telugu film industry. In our conversation, she revealed the systemic resistance and the tenuous victories that marked their journey behind closed doors.

This article is the first part of an in-depth look at Tollywood’s #MeToo movement.

‘Adipurush’, ‘RRR’ and Many More: What Explains Telugu Cinema’s Right-Wing Turn?

Over the last few years, Telugu film producers have been specifically asking filmmakers to come up with scripts that would work well in north Indian states, where the BJP’s Hindu nationalist politics resonates deeply with the public.

The overt right-wing slide of Telugu cinema became a topic of political debate when Telangana minister K.T. Rama Rao said that Prabhas’s Adipurush, a retelling of Ramayana, was one of many films being made to peddle the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s propaganda.

“The BJP has come up with a strategy to combine nationalism and communalism … They won’t directly fund those movies. Many times we don’t even understand those movies. Uri, The Kashmir Files, Adipurush, etc. How come their timing is so convenient? It’s because BJP is working in a multi-faceted way to make this happen,” KTR had said in April, in an interview to a TV channel.

Speculation about their funding aside, there has indeed been a clear shift towards hyper-nationalistic and jingoistic narratives in the films churned out by the Telugu industry lately. One reason for this is pure economics. The huge profits earned by films such as The Kashmir Files and The Kerala Story despite being made on a shoestring budget indicate that there is a market for such films, which Telugu filmmakers are also looking to exploit.

Telugu filmmakers whom TNM spoke to said that a few producers have been specifically asking them to make films with elements that would work well in north Indian states too, where the BJP’s Hindu nationalist politics resonates deeply with the public.

Saffronising Tollywood

Along with actors like Prabhas, Allu Arjun, Ram Charan, and Jr NTR who have earned the tag of ‘pan-Indian’ stars, there has been the curious case of another actor in Telugu cinema – Nikhil Siddhartha – who has managed to build an impressive fanbase in the Hindi belt. Nikhil is way less popular than stars like Prabhas, with barely five or six hit films in his career (all mid-budget ones). Yet, he has managed to bag the title of a ‘pan-Indian’ star, mainly by capitalising on Hindutva sentiments.

Following the success of Karthikeya 2 (2022), Nikhil and the film’s producers have doubled down on making more films that could strike a chord with the core Hindutva constituency of the BJP, such as Spy (2023) and the upcoming The India House. Karthikeya 2, which was dubbed in Hindi too, had a bullish run at the box office and was listed among the more profitable films along with the brazenly propagandist The Kashmir Files in 2022. The Kashmir Files was accused by many of perpetuating a skewed narrative around Kashmir, by dwelling on the suffering of Kashmiri Pandits alone while delegitimising the pain of Kashmiri Muslims and vilifying them.

Karthikeya 2 released the same week as Bollywood star Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha. But Aamir’s star power was no match for Nikhil’s film, which had all the elements to lure the Hindutva crowd. Meanwhile, Laal Singh Chaddha faced threats of boycotts from right-wing groups for allegedly ‘hurting Hindu sentiments’ and ‘disrespecting the Indian Army’.

Directed by Chandoo Mondeti, Karthikeya 2 portrays the birth of the Hindu god Krishna as actual history and not mythology. The film was made at a time when the controversy around the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi gained fresh life in 2021, after a Varanasi court allowed a video survey of the mosque based on a plea by Hindu devotees seeking permission to offer prayers inside the mosque complex, claiming that it housed Hindu deities. Incidentally, minister KTR had said that he expected the release of Adipurush to coincide with the opening of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya. While this did not happen, the teaser of the film was launched in Ayodhya.

Through its narrative, Karthikeya 2 portrays the Hindu deity Krishna as a doctor, climatologist, kinetic engineer, psychologist, and musician among other things, aping the views expressed by people like Garikapati Narasimha Rao. Garikapati Narasimha Rao is a popular figure among the Telugu privileged castes who offers Hindu discourses, and in his quest to appeal to young people, he often presents Hinduism as ‘science’.

Nikhil, who has since become the face of Telugu right-wing films, recently released another film titled Spy, directed by Garry BH. The film was marketed by promising to reveal ‘hidden secrets’ around Indian nationalist Subhash Chandra Bose’s mysterious death, a conspiracy theory expected to pique the curiosity of the right wing. Nikhil is now making a film called The India House, named after the base of Veer Savarkar’s activities in London. The film is co-produced by Abhishek Agarwal Arts, the production house behind The Kashmir Files and Karthikeya 2, and Ram Charan’s newly launched production house V Mega Pictures. Ram Charan’s RRR, which achieved global success, was also criticised by many for endorsing Hindutva majoritarian politics through symbolism from Hindu mythology and other narrative aspects.

Market forces, political powers

“It is the market and capital which determines what kind of films should be made. At present, across the country there is a nationalistic, jingoistic, and communal fervour, which the Telugu filmmakers want to exploit,” says senior Telugu film critic and journalist Bharadwaja Rangavajhala.

While Nikhil has become the overt face of right-wing films with ‘pan-Indian’ success, there have been other films such as Jawaan (2017), RRR (2022), Major (2022), Acharya (2022), and others which have also milked the prevailing popular sentiment.

“Rajamouli’s RRR was an outright Hindutva film. The freedom fighters Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem were turned into Hindu gods Rama and Hanuman so that the film would work well across India. Rajamouli realised that there was a market for such films and encashed it,” says Bharadwaja.

In RRR’s ‘Etthara Jenda’ song, a tribute to Indian freedom fighters, the absence of Gandhi and Nehru was conspicuous. Rajamouli’s father Vijayendra Prasad, who was the writer of the film, said that it was a deliberate decision. Speaking about Gandhi advocating for Nehru over Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to be made India’s first prime minister, Vijayendra Prasad said, “If Patel was [made PM], Kashmir would not have been burning like a ‘Ravana kashtam’ (Ravana’s funeral pyre).”

This narrative aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s views on the issue as expressed in the parliament back in 2018. However, recorded history indicates that Patel’s views on Kashmir were not as straightforward, and there is no definitive record of how he planned to handle the issue.

The BJP meeting Telugu film stars as part of their political outreach efforts is also a testimony to the proximity and the interests shared between the two. Vijayendra Prasad, who is now also a Rajya Sabha MP nominated by the President, has announced that he will be writing a film and web series glorifying the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the BJP. Showering praise on the RSS while speaking at a book launch event of RSS National Executive Member Ram Madhav, Vijayendra Prasad said that he was roped in to write a film about three to four years earlier (after the Baahubali films had become hugely successful).

“I would like to confess something in front of you all. Until three or four years ago, I didn’t know much about the RSS. Like many others, I believed that they killed Gandhi. But four years ago, they asked me to write a film on RSS. As I was being paid for it, I went to Nagpur and met [RSS chief] Mohan Bhagwat. I stayed there for a day and understood for the first time what RSS is. I felt a lot of remorse, that I wasn’t aware of such a great organisation for so long.” He went on to say, “If RSS wasn’t there, there would be no Kashmir, it would’ve merged with Pakistan. Lakhs of Hindus would have died due to Pakistan.”

S.S. Rajamouli (left) and Vijayendra Prasad (right). Photos: Rajamouli (Wikimedia Commons), Prasad (Screengrab via YouTube video/Open Hear with RK).

Rajamouli praised his father’s script of the RSS film in an interview with The New Yorker, saying it made him cry as it was very emotional. However, he said he was unsure about the political implications of such a film.

Vijayendra Prasad has been called on to write films not just by RSS but even by BJP leaders. Since The Kashmir Files was released, former president of BJP’s Telangana unit Bandi Sanjay Kumar has talked about a film titled The Razakar Files in the making, which would depict the atrocities of Razakars – a private militia that committed several atrocities and defended the Nizam rule. Bandi Sanjay has also reportedly approached Vijayendra Prasad to write this film.

The (un)changing course of Telugu cinema

In the 1930s, Telugu cinema mirrored the social reform politics that defined Indian nationalism before independence. Gudavalli Ramabrahmam, who is credited as a pioneer in Telugu cinema, made two classic films – Mala Pilla (A Girl from the Mala Scheduled Caste) in 1938, and Raithu Bidda (Farmer of Common Origins) in 1939.

Mala Pilla was a film that addressed caste discrimination, and Raithu Bidda was a critique of zamindars’ exploitation. Both these films were reformist in nature with influences from Gandhian nationalism, writes S.V. Srinivas, Professor of Film and Cultural Studies at Azim Premji University, in his book Politics as Performance: A Social History of Telugu Cinema. How did a film industry which once produced anti-caste films, and propagated Gandhian and communist ideologies, turn towards the right wing?

“The Telugu film industry has always been capitalistic in nature. It appropriated whatever sentiment was working for it. They even made communist films [particularly in the 1990s] because the masses enjoyed such films and songs. They simply moved away when the Left movement saw a decline. Now the film industry inclining towards the right wing is not unsurprising. They have found a market and are using it,” says Swamy* (name changed), an upcoming filmmaker.

Srinivas Kondra, a Ph.D. scholar at the English and Foreign Languages University in Hyderabad, says that the lack of a large, influential social movement like the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu is also among the reasons for the current crisis in Telugu cinema. “There is some resistance in Tamil Nadu, where many people view Hindu propaganda films critically. Because of caste consciousness, they are able to look at the Hindu religion critically, and question [such propaganda]. In Andhra Pradesh, there were movements around class, but not effective ones against caste,” he notes.

A Telugu director speaking on the condition of anonymity said, “There are producers who are specifically asking directors to come up with stories or elements which would click with audiences in other parts of the country too. They want films which would capture the prevailing right-wing sentiment.”

Prabhas’s Adipurush, based on the Hindu epic Ramayana, was one such project which tried to exploit this market. The film, which was released in five languages (Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada) failed at impressing the audience because of poor storytelling, appalling visual effects and terrible dialogues.

Despite leaning towards the Hindu right-wing, so far, the Telugu film industry has not produced any film which has vilified Muslims the way that The Kashmir Files or The Kerala Story does (at least not yet). This is not to say that Muslims were not projected negatively in Telugu films before the BJP was elected to power in 2014.

Krishna Vamsi’s Khadgam (2002) was possibly one of the first Telugu films made in the aftermath of the terror attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, which employed the good Muslim-bad Muslim binary. In the film, Prakash Raj plays Amjad, an auto driver who is a nationalist. In contrast, his brother Azhar joins a terror outfit and plans a terror attack in Hyderabad. Srikanth plays a police officer who views Muslims with suspicion. Other films released in subsequent years such as Vedam (2010) and Naa Peru Surya, Naa Illu India (2018), which portray radicalised Muslim characters, also had similar narrative elements of including a ‘good Muslim’ and ‘bad Muslim’ in the same family.

“There is not much scope for vilifying Muslims in Telugu cinema through such propaganda films, as the Muslim population in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh is much lower compared to places like Kashmir or Kerala. So, that agenda is unlikely to work,” observes Swamy.

This article first appeared on The News Minute. Read the original piece here. 

Veteran Telugu Film Lyricist Sirivennela Sitarama Sastry No More

Sastry died due to lung cancer-related complications. He was 66. 

Hyderabad: Veteran Telugu film lyricist ‘Sirivennela’ Sitarama Sastry, a recipient of the Padma Shri and numerous other awards, died due to lung cancer-related complications at a private hospital here on Tuesday. He was 66.

Sastry was admitted to the hospital on November 24 with pneumonia and was in the intensive care unit. He was put on ECMO to support his lungs with medical professionals closely observing his condition, the hospital said in a release.

Sastry, who has left an indelible impression on Telugu-speaking people with his magnificent songs in films like Sirivennela, Swarna Kamalam, Subha Lagnam, Rudraveena and a number of others, became popular with veteran director K.Viswanath’s film Sirivennela in 1986.

He came to be known as ‘Sirivennela’ Sitarama Sastry though his surname is Chembolu.

Since then, he has penned about 3,000 songs and bagged the Andhra Pradesh government’s Nandi award several times, besides other honours.

He formed a powerful combination with legendary playback singer S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, especially in the films of K.Viswanath.

The songs of Sastry, sung by Balasubrahmanyam, captivated the audience, be it those of the Carnatic classical music genre or peppy mass numbers.

Expressing anguish over his demise, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu said he was among those who admired the songs of the departed lyricist.

Sastry gave primacy to Telugu language and values in his songs, the Vice President said.

Naidu said he enquired with the doctors treating Sastry after coming to know about his ill-health and had hoped for his recovery. He conveyed his condolences to Sastry’s family members.

Union tourism and culture minister G. Kishan Reddy, Telangana chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, actor Chiranjeevi, K. Viswanath and a number of Telugu film personalities condoled the death of Sitarama Sastry.

Movie Review: ‘Mallesham’ Brings the Untold Story of Lower-Caste Weavers to Light

Caste-based occupations subjugate those belonging to the lower castes in such a way that they find neither escape nor relief from poverty.

The Telugu film Mallesham, directed by Raj Rachakonda, is a milestone in the history of contemporary low-budget, off-beat cinema.

Among biopics, which tend to be about well-known names and figures, it is path-breaking in the sense that it depicts the life story of an ordinary man named Mallesham, and his hard work and talent which led him to become an artist among weavers.

While Indians are familiar with the handloom sarees of Pochampalli, known for their their intricate designs, Mallesam acquaints viewers with the lives of the men and women who make these. The sarees are popular among the urban upper-middle class, yet their makers struggle to make ends meet. The film acts as an invitation to its viewers to sample life on the other side.

Suicides of poverty-stricken weavers in Andhra Pradesh, who are burdened by large debts, forms the backdrop of both the film and Mallesham’s life story.

Ambition against all odds

Asu poyatam or the work of setting the pattern of the thread before the weaving even begins is a painstaking task, done mostly by women. Doing this results in a loss of bone density, which is something thousands of weaver women suffer from. Mallesham, since he was a child, thus becomes determined to fashion a device which could ease this task.

The film also notes how meagre the returns are in weaving, a caste-based profession in Telugu states, confined to the lower castes of Padamshalis, Shalis and Devangas. There is no assurance of minimum wage. Weavers are at the mercy of the market. The traditional set-up of any village, where upper castes monopolise the market and money lending businesses, also works to the disadvantage of the weavers.

Mallesham thus faces significant challenges like lack of resources, lack of education and lack of  access to the English language. He is a primary school dropout who only has the ability to use his innate engineering skills. It is his ambition, however, which fuels him to make the machine at a very low cost.

Role of women

Women’s issues have a significant role to play in the story. Mallesham, despite all his economic drawbacks, refuses to accept dowry to marry the woman whom he falls in love with, just as he refuses to bow before an upper-caste moneylender who was his classmate.

Mallesham’s wife Padma inspires him, helps him by taking up work as a tailor and migrates along with him to the city. She is his partner and not a woman character whose role is limited only to courtship and marriage. She is equally determined to make this dream come true for the benefit of the larger community.

Critique of merit

The film is critical of modern education and the concept of ‘merit’ that is not determined by skill and actual knowledge but by grades, marks and percentages. The semi-literate young Mallesham has the ability to use the concepts of engineering to solve the weavers’ problem.

However, he professes no knowledge of English or the scientific theory that is taught in technological institutions. The film is a fascinating critique of the gap between education and its relevance to immediate society.

The film also fleetingly touches upon the phenomenon of engineering students whose concerns are marks and degrees but who do not have skills to tide through in their profession.

A vast number of middle class youth in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana opt for technological education over the social sciences and humanities. Their numbers add to the unemployment rate in the country, thanks to factors like privatisation which no longer ensures quality in education, parental pressure to have every child get a BTech, and so on.

Kancha Ilaiah’s theories on ‘skill versus merit’ are depicted with rigour in the film. Men and women of the lower castes who possess the skills suffer the stigma of being unmeritorious while those of the upper castes boast of their irrelevant merit which can only be measured with grades and not with the benefit it can do to society.

Also read: Caste Wasn’t a British Construct – and Anyone Who Studies History Should Know That

Systematic subjugation of lower castes

The state wants to preserve the professions of the artisan classes in the name of protecting heritage, but it overlooks the suicides of weavers who find themselves in huge debts.

While Dalits suffer the stigma of being assigned humiliating professions like manual scavenging, the professions of the artisan castes are glorified as those which preserve culture and heritage. However, the truth is that caste-based occupations subjugate those belonging to the lower castes in such a way that they find neither an escape nor relief from poverty.

Mallesham could be seen as a political intervention of the lower castes whose members have come forward to tell a story that is unknown to mainstream Indian society.

Finally, the film works because of talented actors such as Priyadarshi who plays the lead role. He, along with actors Ananya, Jhansi, Chakrapani Ananda and Laxman Aelay, make the film the success that it is.

Mohan D. teaches at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Hyderabad, India.

How Telugu Political Biopics Cherish Memories of Feudalism

Biopics of politicians N.T. Rama Rao and Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy eulogise them, omitting flaws or aspects the audience may consider “immoral”.

With the 2019 general elections as the driving force, the past few months have seen a spate of biographical movies lined up for release. The latest among them, PM Narendra Modi, has run afoul of the Model Code of Conduct and its release has been stayed by the Election Commission. Another film, Lakshmi’s NTR, directed by Ram Gopal Varma has been allowed to be screened in Telangana but not in Andhra Pradesh till the completion of elections. Lakshmi’s NTR is based on former AP chief minister N.T. Rama Rao. However three other films, Yatra, NTR Kathanayakudu and NTR Mahanayakudu were released as they were deemed not to fall within the purview of the model code of conduct (MCC).

In May 2018, the film Mahanati, directed by Nag Ashwin, was released. A biographical film based on popular Telugu actress Savitri, the film was a blockbuster and drew huge audiences. It was able to withstand competition from even big-budgeted films boasting star power.

Also Read: ‘C/O Kancharapalem’ and the Politics of Unspeakability of Caste

After the tremendous success of Mahanati, NTR’s son Nandamuri Balakrishna announced two biopics: NTR Kathanayakudu and NTR Mahanayakudu. The former was released on January 9, 2019 and the sequel was released in February 14, 2019.

Ram Gopal Varma’s Lakshmi’s NTR is also based on NTR, but focuses on him after Lakshmi Parvathy (his second wife) enters his life. The movie was meant to be released on March 22, 2019, but the Election Commission and Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) did not clear it. After RGV petitioned the Telangana high court, the film was released on March 29, 2019.

Unilateral narrations of complex biographies

Writing biographies or making a biopic is an intricate process of presenting the complexities of human lives. However, the politics of biography/autobiography signifies a careful selection of life events to present them from a particular viewpoint. Almost all contemporary biographical films portray a unilateral dimension of the lives of celebrities. Yatra, a film based on the life of Y.S Rajasekhar Reddy, portrays his padayatra which played a crucial role in bringing him to power in May 2004.

While the film makes implicit remarks about the factionist past of Rajasekhar Reddy’s political career, it explicitly deifies him. It highlights his attempts to understand the grassroots issues and struggles of the rural masses.

Mahanati captured various dimensions of Savitri’s life and struggles to establish herself as a leading actress. However, the film highlights the polygamous and promiscuous husband Gemini Ganesan as the core reason for her tragic death at the age of 49.

While honesty, bravery, patriotism and heroism are projected as the personal qualities of NTR in both NTR Kathanayakudu and NTR Mahanayakudu, the films do not explore the complex process of caste consolidation of Kammas during the 1970s and 80s. The film highlights the failure of the Congress against the backdrop of Emergency from 1975 to 1977. While the Emergency created unrest among the people, it also helped the process of caste consolidation. Both the films unsurprisingly, make deliberate attempts to glorify NTR as chief minister of AP, but also deflect responsibility for some decisions.

A controversial decision to reduce the age of retirement of state government employees from 58 to 55 years in 1983 led to strong resistance from employees. It is depicted as a decision taken by NTR after being misguided by Bhaskar Rao (his close associate).

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The family planning programme introduced by the Indian state in 1951 has been disseminated using various media in the 1970s. For example, school textbooks praised it as “benefits of a small family”. Distribution of condoms and incentivising tubectomy and vasectomy by the state led middle classes denigrating the lower castes (SC/STs) and Muslims, who were believed to not practice birth control.

NTR had twelve children. However, the film NTR Kathanayakudu avoids any reference to his children. But NTR Mahanayakudu tries to explain the rationale behind his choice. In the film, the political question is relocated to the heterosexual conjugal space. NTR, while his wife is on her deathbed, explains that because their first died to small pox, his wife wanted to give birth to as many children as she could, so the first born might take rebirth in her womb one day.

Lakshmi’s NTR narrates the the actor-politician from the day Lakshmi, a school teacher enters his life. Though the film tries to bring respectability to man-woman relationships outside the realm of marital conjugality, it also presents NTR’s daughters, sons and sons-in-law consistently in a negative light. The film doesn’t explain the reason behind their negative response towards widower NTR’s second marriage. The property question that generally arises in the context of a second marriage has been downplayed.

However, it condemns the various allegations and character assassinations that Lakshmi endures from NTR’s children and sons-in-law. The character of Lakshmi is elevated through a portrayal of a platonic and imperceptible relationship with NTR. NTR’s son-in-law N. Chandrababu Naidu is projected as an important conspirator who overthrows him from the position of CM.

Ideological gaps

It’s important to understand the ideological gap between the contemporary audience and the period in which these films are set. For instance, in Mahanati, Savitri is supposedly the third wife of Gemini Ganesan. The film does not portray the relationship between Gemini Ganesan and Pushpavalli, whose daughter Rekha is a famous Bollywood actress.

Gemini Ganesan’s character says he married his first wife Alamelu, the daughter of his affluent uncle, out of helplessness. He says his family was broke after his father’s death. Therefore, it was a loveless marriage with social and economic commitments. But he also says that he has no love for Pushpavalli (citing no reason) with whom Ganeshan must have had a consensual relationship/marriage. Other than the cursory reference, Pushpavalli is totally absent in the narration. Savitri is portrayed as the second wife and not as the third wife.  

However, if the film depicts Savitri as the third wife as she chooses to enter conjugality with Ganeshan who already had two other wives, it might make her appear to be complicit in the “injustice” meted out to those women. This might have put at risk the empathy of the contemporary middle class audience for Savitri.

The contemporary middle class ideology of monogamy constructs “any form of polygamy as injustice to women”. The collective memory of polygamy among Hindu middle classes has been erased in contemporary times with the rise of Hindu nationalism after the 1990s. Thus, the quintessential middle class Hindu is ‘monogamous’ as against the constitutive “other”, the polygamous Muslim male.

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However, historically the Hindu middle class man has been known to be polygamous and had access to women through second/third (finite number of) marriages, concubinage, Devdasis, sex workers and lower caste/Dalit women. Historically, monogamy has only been enforced on Brahmin, upper-caste women in order to protect the caste purity. Mahanati is set in the 1950s, a period in which Hindu men could marry any number of women.

The Hindu Marriage Act (1955) prohibits marriage of Hindus whose spouse is alive, thus making polygamy illegal in India since 1956. Even after ruling out polygamy, the cases of second wife or concubinage were so large in number that most of them were dealt at the level of caste panchayats to pronounce “justice” to women in polygamous relations in absence of protection from the law of the state.

The film Ankur directed by Shyam Benegal captures such transformation of traditional society that accommodates the ‘concubine’ in the conjugal life of Hindu male, to the modernity in which Hindu middle class male is ashamed of any public acknowledgement of polygamy and his access of lower-caste women as sanctioned by the caste system.  

In contemporary society, any woman who accesses a married man or is accessed by a married man is constructed as being “unjust” to the man’s first wife. The question is not simply being “immoral” or “sexually impure”, but also being complicit in the process of injustice done to the first wife from caste endogamous “arranged marriage”.

This contemporary ideology led to various cases of violence and lynching of ‘second wife’ or ‘concubine’ in past two decades. Though the privileges of social, legal and economic protections are available to the first wife, she is often constructed as the “victim” of polygamy in the modern context, despite the fact that the “second wife” or “concubine” is actually left with no social and economic securities.

Since the contemporary middle classes cannot empathise with a woman who chooses to be the third wife of a man and stigmatises her as being “unjust”, Mahanati chooses to avoid the explicit portrayal of Pushpavalli. Moreover, the film cites the husband’s promiscuity as the reason for Savitri’s death.

A still from the movie Mahanati.

NTR Kathanayakudu and NTR Mahanayakudu, both portrayed the relationship between NTR and his first wife Tarakam (played by Vidya Balan) as the ideal “love”, placed within the heterosexual, caste-endogamous marital conjugality. Both the films depict an unflinching loyalty of both the husband and wife. The film ends with the death of NTR’s first wife Tarakam in 1984, avoiding the portrayal of the second wife, as depicted in RGV’s Lakshmi’s NTR.

Lakshmi’s NTR is a relief from the ideology of middle class monogamy. A young married woman Lakshmi, is fascinated by the Telugu film star and politician NTR. She deifies him as a god. Her love for NTR is constructed beyond the social boundaries of marital conjugality, wifely devotion, monogamy and the empirical boundaries of the village from where she travels to the city to meet NTR.

Lakshmi loves NTR yet has warm feelings for her husband too. There is no melodrama about her firm decision to legally separate from her first husband to marry NTR. She shows no signs of mental conflict during her decision of remarriage. The film intrigues the middle class audience, who find it difficult to escape from the binaries such as morality/immorality and good woman/bad woman. Lakshmi is a compassionate wife, mother, as well as a devotee of NTR who follows her passion and heart’s desire breaking the boundaries of marriage and motherhood.

Reminiscence of feudalism and caste consolidation

Reddys and Kammas, the landowning castes, have consolidated their caste groups to negotiate their space in electoral politics of the modern democratic state. This forms the backdrop of films like Yatra, NTR Kathanayakudu and NTR Mahanayakudu. They reimagine the hegemonic power of a particular caste group through to justify nepotism for the “protection and welfare of the larger masses”. On the one hand, leaders like NTR and YSR implicitly consolidate their respective caste groups, in the films. But there is an explicit portrayal of how they are empathetic to marginalised sections.

Also the ‘period film’, as a genre, enables the collective space for audience to cherish memories of feudalism unapologetically. The period film transports the audience into another socio-cultural milieu where there is validity for the ideals that may be unacceptable in contemporary times.

Therefore, hero-worship, fanaticism, aggrandising certain caste identities seem acceptable for the contemporary audience, as it is set in a different time period. Portrayal of NTR’s so called flawless leadership, uncorrupt public face and highly monogamous personal life enables the audience to accept hegemonic feudal figure as the leader and savior of the masses.

These biopics provide a collective momentum for the ideals of consolidation of castes while the larger audience are provided with vindication of lives and achievements of these “heroes” and iconic political figures.

Sowjanya Tamalapakula teaches at TISS, Hyderabad.