CINEMA ..... CINEMA

Cinema plays a major role in entertaining people. Indian cinema is classified in to Hollywood which is basically Hindi cinema and vernacular cinema in various regional languages. The main heart land of India which is the Hindi speaking belt enjoys Hindi Cinema and regional belts like Tamil Nadu, Kerala and  Karnataka , Andhra Pradesh , Maharashtra, West Bengal have their own regional language films. Thus Tamil Nadu is known as Kolly Wood. Tamil Films, Andhra is known as Tolly Wood and known for Telugu Films and so on !

It is not surprising to find that Hindi Film world spread far and wide produces less number of films than Andhra despite global release of Hindi films which is purely because of the addiction to films is much more in Andhra than in Hindi heart land. It is not uncommon for a Telugu lady to pack her husband to office and then children to school. Then she goes for a movie in the morning from 10 AM to 1 PM. In the evening after feeding the kids and making them to sleep she may go to the same movie with her husband for the night show. I had seen this happening in Guntur in 80s. With multi channel television, pirated CDs available at every street corner this craze has come down. But still Andhra (Both AP & Telangana put together) make more movies and leading the pack in terms of film production.

Regional movies are known to be more innovative, adventurous to experiment new themes and lend their stories & talent to Hindi films! With lower cost of production as compared to Hindi films this has become more possible. Many leading lady talents from regional films have become No. 1 in Hindi filmdom and were known to rule there for years!

It is not uncommon for Hindi film world to make / remake movies from Tamil / Telugu film world. Now the trend is even to go to Malayalam film world and make remakes. Thus we have movies in Hindi released Dhrishyam and Chndramukhi which are made taking inspiration from Malayalam movies.  Kanada film world caters exclusively to local tastes and competes with Telugu, Tamil and Hindi movies in its own state!

Regional movies are also found to ape Hollywood in terms of spending and preferring locations in far away lands like Turkey, Hungry, Australia, Thailand, UAE, Prague etc. possibly for concessions.

I have grown up watching regional films and given a choice would prefer them any day for Hindi films on account of strong story line, realistic approach, ease of understanding and mostly sensible approach! Here is a list of my all time favorites, of course not in the order of preference. This affection for movies runs in our gene as my maternal grand father, my mother are known for their interest in films.

Dikkatra Parvathi ( Tamil):- I happened to see this film in 1975 in a small town called Ambasamudram in Thirunelveli district. The movie narrates the tale of ruin brought out by alcohol on a small marginal farmer’s family. Story was penned by Sri Rajaji and directed by Sri Singeetham Sreenivasa Rao. The film had Sreekanth as a rustic farmer and Lakshmi as his wife. The movie touched all major aspects like greed, lack of resource for farmers and money lending sharks, child mortality etc. The music for the film was rendered by Sri Chittu Babu.  The film won National Film award for best feature film in Tamil. It seems MGR Played a key role in releasing the movie as prohibition was a concept very dear to him. Lakshmi won film fare award for this movie.

  After a decade I met SIngeetham Garu in my marriage and we have become family friends. He has later done since fiction, silent movies etc. but for me, this is his all time great master piece in black and white!!  Emotive performance of Lakshmi and Srikanth still haunts me !

Thulabaram ( Malayam):-  It was probably in 1968/ 69 I saw this movie. The film was directed by A Vincent.Communism was being propagated as a panacea for all illness in the society. Labour movement was at its peak and around that time this movie hit the screens. Sharada who won Urvasi award for the best female actor in that year was known as “Urvasi Sarada” from then on. As she was compelled to kill all her  starving children by poisoning them due to poverty but was arrested for her suicide attempt was pleading in the court in the climax scene .  The scene is still very vivid in my mind.

Thillana Mohanambal (Tamil):-  I saw this movie in Salem probably for the first time in a theater wherein I had seen a Eastman Color film as color cinema was known then.  Those as toddlers we were fond of MGR’s action packed fighting filled movies this film appealed to me because of its aesthetic appeal, music -especially the English note played in nagaswaram, dances etc. Later my mother used to choreograph songs from this movie with my class mates for annual school and camp functions!

The film was Directed by Sri A P Nagarajan and Music was rendered by Sri K V Mahadevan. The story for this film was adopeted from a Novel in the same name penned by Sri Kothamangalam Subbu. The film won Best Feature Film in Tamil Award and award for best Cinematography.

Koshish (Hindi):- This movie acted by Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bhadhuri was screened in our college in 1975. We did not know Hindi and those days there was no facility to get sub titles done. Despite this we could enjoy this movie as the main characters were disabled-deaf and mute. Sanjeev Kumar then became my all time favorite Hindi actor. Gulzar was the director and I consider this as one of his famous films ! This film won national award for best screen play and best actor. Both Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bhadhuri were nominated for best actor and actress respective for film fare awards.

Sankarabharanam (Telugu):-  I watched this movie probably in 1980 with my father in Trichirapalli that too second show ! Director Sri K Viswanathan Garu had created a unique mosaic with Carnatic music, Dance, very different social message and all unknown cast ! This movie came as a breath of fresh air in very tight film world lacking new thinking and direction. The movie did roaring business in various centers of Tamil Nadu!

This film won Golden Lotus Award for being chosen as the movie providing best wholesome entertainment, Best Music Director ward for Sri K V Mahadevan, Best Play back singer award for male and female Sri S P Bala Subramniam and Smt Vani Jairam and best feature film award Gold.

Pushpak ( Silent Movie):-  It was 1987. One day I got a call to my office phone No. Generally no one from home called that No. and I was therefore surprised to receive a call from some lady. Then Mrs. Kalyani Singeetham introduced herself and asked me and my family to attend the preview of the film Pushpak near Gemini in Chennai.  We were advised to reach by 6.30 PM. That was the first preview in my life and therefore we turned up in time.

Around 6 PM Sri L V Prasad garu doyen of Telugu film world walked inside the theatre.  Mr & Mrs Singeetham Sreenivasa Rao and family prostrated in front of him before every one. The film started and we could enjoy every frame of that movie. We can call that as clean cinema. It had a suspense, thrill, magic, comedy, great music, romance, social message and what not all without a single spoken word ! What a Gem of a movie by Sri SIngeetham Srinivasa Rao. Music by Sri L Vaidhyanathan needs special mention here !

Pushpak film won National Film award for best popular providing wholesome entertainment in 1987. It is also listed by CNN as 100 Greatest Indian Films of all time.

THAVAMI THAVAMIRUNDHU (Tamil):-  I watched this movie using a CD in Bangkok. We had never heard about a Director called Cheran and probably for him this was a first directional debut ! Being a person from middle class family back ground I could relate to the aspiration of a father who pins hopes on two school going sons, who in the end gets disillusioned by the results. The father lying in his hospital bed asks the youngest son “ whether he had left any disappointment to him too” was the climax as the eldest son had accused him of not fulfilling his wishes ! Great action and narration!

The movie won National Film award for best family welfare.

Kaadhal ( Meaning LOVE ) (Tamil):- I wish I did not watch this movie. The movie is about a couple who get married against the parent’s wishes. As the marriage was against established caste equation the couple was lured to return to the village and the hero gets beaten black & blue in public. The heroine was forced to remove her Mangalsutra (Sign of marriage),  to save the hero from further beating she obliges.  She was forcibly married to other person. The hero of the film becomes mad and roams around town as a mentally retarded beggar. The heroine begets a child from her second marriage and while travelling in the town finds her first lover. The second husband admits the beggar into a mental asylm.

 The movie was full of violence and done very crudely but the social message is very loud and clear. In down South Tamil Nadu nothing but caste rules the social values!!  It is worth mentioning here that the movie was based on a true incident!

Though there are many more films which I would have watched and admired for a short time these films have made lasting impression in mind and I can recall them any time!!