Southern Regionalism and Film Stars in Politics

The 1980s witnessed the rise of two major south Indian film stars in politics. In Tamil Nadu, the legendary actor MGR (M.G. Ramachandran) already had a long involvement in politics and had been elected Chief Minister of the state (his colleague, the actress Jayalalitha is the Chief Minister today). The most dramatic rise of the 1980s though was that of NTR (N.T. Rama Rao), the reigning "god" of Telugu cinema.

NTR's film career began in the 1940s, and he is indelibly associated with the "golden age" of cinema, in the 1950s. Apart from numerous social roles, he became uniquely famous for his mythological roles; playing Krishna in a number of big productions in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1970s, he starred in a number of action/revenge films, along the lines of Bollywood's "angry young man" thrillers, and embodied a powerful image as a man who would fight for the oppressed.

In 1983, NTR's party, the Telugu Desam, swept to power in the state, and marked the beginning of the end of the Congress party's singular dominance not only of the state, but in the country too (the Congress still rules, but only through alliances and coalitions). Later that decade, the Congress recruited a number of film stars to fight NTR in the elections (including my mother). NTR lost power, and finally passed away in 1996.

Here is a brief survey of his career, through some select clips:

1) A scene from the idyllic 1950s
2) Scenes from Dana Veera Sura Karna, an epic 1970s mythological in which NTR played multiple roles, here and here!
3) A risque hit song from the 1970s jungle-adventure film Adavi Ramudu, here
4) A sample of NTR's political speeches, here.

Mythology and the Dawn of Indian Cinema (1913-40s)

Indian cinema is not only the largest film industry in the world in terms of the number of films that are made, but it may well be the most "religious" film industry in the world! The sheer number of titles that have been made on stories from the ancient epics ("mythologicals"), biopics about poet-saints, as well as the frequent use of devotional themes and scenes in other ("social") films, is perhaps unsurpassed. (see my recent article on this topic in the Indian Express, here).

The beginning of Indian cinema is usually dated with the showing of D.G. Phalke's 1913 silent film Raja Harischandra. (There were earlier attempts, mostly involving the filming of staged plays; a feature we see in some early mythologicals for the next two decades). Harischandra is a popular story of a king who gives up his throne and goes through many trials and tribulations just to keep up his promise to a sage (who, in cahoots with the gods, is only testing him). The film was remade numerous times, and though cinema in general never appealed to Mahatma Gandhi, this story was a particular favorite of his.

Phalke's spirit is nicely evoked in the recent film Harischandraschi Factory (Harischandra Factory). He was a magician, photographer, family man, and renaissance man. There seems to some kind of a montage of clips of his early films on You Tube, here. And the beginning and end of Raja Harischandra (probably the 1917 remake, the oldest surviving footage), here!

The 1920s and 1930s saw many stupendous mythological and saint films being. An especially striking example is A Throw of Dice (note correction from syllabus) (1929), a historical fiction made by a German-born director and Indian cast and crew.

(Rachel Dwyer's book Filming the Gods discusses this topic in great detail, and is a good resource.)

The most critically acclaimed film in this era is probably the Marathi film Sant Tukaram (1936), the entire film is available, with subtitles, here.

Though devotional and mythological themes gave way to socials in the Hindi industry, they remained an A-list genre in Telugu and Tamil until the 1970s. Maya Bazaar (1957), a mythic romantic comedy, is considered by many Telugu viewers to be perhaps the greatest film made in the language (and stars the legendary NTR as the god Krishna). Watch a brief trailer (for its re-release in color, here).

My novel, The Mythologist, draws on something of this world!

Representing India

The controversial Oprah video clip, here . Is saying "you still eat with your hands" complimentary, patronizing, or "just television"?

Chris Kattan in IFC's Bollywood Hero, here .

Mother India, Indiana Jones, Slumdog Millionaire, Ashton Kutcher's ad ... what has changed and what has not?

On a slightly different note, Burger King's Goddess Lakshmi ad, and the controversy, here.

India and Indian Cinema

Ninety nine years of Indian cinema in the nicest way possible, in five songs:
1) Why this Kola Veri Di ("murderous rage")?  from the Tamil film Seven.
A phenomenon like none else, this song swept through India (and the Internet) in late 2011.
2) Chammak Challo, from the film Ra One
A typical big song from a big superstar (Shah Rukh Khan aka "SRK") film, also from 2011
3) Chaiyya Chaiyya from the film Dil Se
A huge hit from the 1990s, music by the legendary composer A.R. Rahman
4)Yeh Dosti from the 1975 epic "masala western" film Sholay
The buddy song from what is considered one of the greatest Indian films ever (stars Amitabh Bachchan)
5) Bhale Taata Mana Bapuji ("What a wonderful grandpa, our Gandhi") from the Telugu film Donga Ramudu
A children's song from the 1950s with my mother!