Golt movies ain't half bad

Okay, if "Golt" offends my Telugu brethren, I will invoke the Chetan Bhagat excuse - you only make fun of people who you care for.

It is now almost three years in Andhra Pradesh and what better way to get to know a people than to watch their movies? My wife and I have started watching Telugu movies on DVD borrowed from our neighbors. Going to the theater does not work because of the language problem, which is conveniently resolved with subtitles in the DVD form. And yes, my conclusion of this post's title was reached by a sample size of two - Magadheera and Arya 2.

When I was growing up, Chiranjeevi movies (dubbed in Tamil) used to be shown in the 10:30 morning show in my home town; I remember seeing trailers of these and feeling all superior about Tamil movies - the Chiranjeevi movies seemed like cheesy masalas even at that age. The only good Telugu movies seemed to be from K. Viswanath (Sankarabaranam, Sagara Sangamam, Swathi Muthyam etc.) at that time.

Fast forward 25 years (sheesh, I feel old writing that), and now Chiranjeevi's son Ramcharan is acting in masala movies, arguably much better ones. Magadheera was a super-hit last year and we could see why. It is a love-story that spans 400 years - a warrior and a princess from a pseudo-historical Deccan kingdom whose unfulfilled love gets another chance when they are reborn in modern-day Andhra (or is it Telengana?). Ramcharan is swashbuckling in the warrior role and passable in his modern day incarnation while Kajal Agarwal pulls off both roles with aplomb (aside from looking cute beyond belief); of course my wife's assessment of the two actors might be the reverse.

It amazes me how little the Indian film industry dips into our vast and rich history for its stories these days. I can't remember a single recent movie set in pre-colonial India other than Jodha Akbar and Ashoka (both laudable efforts). Movies like Magadheera show the possibilities even though this one is actually not based on historical events.

Indian movies have made enormous progress in photography, art direction and other technical areas. I think it is about time big-budget producers and directors made some blockbusters set in our history.

Anyway, coming back to Magadheera, it should show Tamil masala directors a trick or two. I now see why a lot of recent masala hits (the Vijay ones especially) are being imported from Telugu to Tamil.

A lot of the movie is shot in Hyderabad and it was fun to see some places that we know. I have been to the Golkonda fort many times; it is a great place especially when you see it with a guide who can put it in the right historical context. But it never looked as beautiful as it looked in Senthil Kumar's camera in the song "Panchdhara Bomma". The song alone is worth the price of admission. It is arguable whether India produces world-class movies, but we sure make the world's best music videos.

The other movie Arya 2 was more of a guilty pleasure. The movie is outrageously campy but it was also very funny. Boy, this guy Allu Arjun can dance (and I thought Vijay could dance).

- R. Balaji