For the last few days, I have followed the discussions happening online in response to the video posted by Annapurna Sunkara called ' Telugu Cinema should change'. I would like to address a few popular responses by various people who were against the video.
1. Watch Films like entertainment : Yes, I agree films are an art which is popularly conceived for entertainment. There is no denying that. But what everybody forgets is soft power movies have on the public and positive effect or negative effect they can have on vulnerable generation just finding their feet in the world. This is worsened by the fact that we have masala movies mostly marketted as U or U/A which have vulgar regressive content in them which is watched by kids. Notice, I have not said Adult..but vulgar content. Aagadu had a gay Ashish Vidyarthi being made fun off...do you have any idea how damaging that is already to troubled LGBT rights in India, coming from such a popular star? How are fringe groups to fight for their rights when popular media like cinema keeps making fun of them, stereotyping them? Why do all the stars have movies appeasing their real life stardom if movies are just for entertainment? We have a scene in a movie pedda Rayudu where a rape victim is married off to a rapist...do not kid me if you say that scene had no impact on judgement given in rural panchayats in rural AP. In a country that is suffering from a rape problem, are rape jokes okay...arent you trivializing such a huge issue and making fun of victims by making rape a matter of fact incident? If movies do not have influence, why have NTR and MGR and so many other actors hold political clout..and why do so many parties use them during election? And as people got educated why are we seeing less and less of this? Hasn't staclking by heroes to woe heroines not led more of that in real life?
2. Criticizing Tamanna scene in Bahubali is an over action: Most popular arguement is that she is acting like a male..and Prabhas shows her she is a women and what who she is actually inside as a person. Now, who decides that she is not acting feminine...we have had warriors throughout our history who are females.....do you think they are not females? Does only superficial aspects matter? Let us agree that she is not feminine, when did it become okay to push your idea of what is feminine on women who you have barely known? And do not tell me it is a period film..,period is ambiguous and there are strong female characters in the movie.
3. Respect Ali because he is older : Crass vulgar remarks Ali makes on women, their is no inch of respect he has on women and he does that on prime time slots. Why does a person who does not respect anybody warrant a respect? Is just being old a criteria to respect a person? If so, why is pawan kalyan hitting ms narayana funny...but somebody calling out a regressive person for what he is disrespect? Hypocritical much? As long as it tickles your funny bones...anything goes? Why is ridicule comedy such a huge part of our mainstream movies? Ali makes jokes on audio functions ridiculing women among 1000's of people.... same set of people get agitated when somebody calls their favorite hero something negative...irrespective of if it is right or not ?
4. If you do not know how to make a movie, you have no right to criticize it : Do you say that to a doctor or a civil engineer who made a mistake?
5. Think before you speak in a video as it reaches lot of people and you are influencing them: And movies are reaching only 8 people?
6. Blaming whole industry is not right : Yes, that is why she did not.
I have seen many responses degrading her as well, how hard is it to be civil and consider it a dialogue and exchange view points?
Whether people agree on or it, Telugu cinema has lot to change in terms of characters women get, how elders , LGBT community are treated and shown. There is no reason to get defensive or maintain status quo..people who are criticizing it are also doing it out of love for Telugu cinema.
The points she told might be right .. But the way she told is not right .. .Constructive criticism is welcomed , but not rude ones . What is the difference between her and the movie scene where Pavan kalyan hits MS Narayana .. If Real life deed of a person is that bad , why will one worry about what happens in Reel life
ReplyDeleteIf the telugu film industry change as per Annapurna , do you think people will change . There were many other ways where people will know, what is good and what is bad.
ReplyDeleteSo with this comments and videos no one can change and one cannot change generation until every individual in this world change.
As of now what we can do is ....take the good and leave the bad..
Please don't share these kind of videos or blogs for publicity.
I think the point that has to be taken into consideration here its not just people like me, you who can discuss about it, blog about it and have a mature understanding about it. Its the thousands of families, families with kids that are 5-16 year olds who are exposed to these 'family entertainers' every Friday night. I'm from guntur and trust me when I say that there aren't any other stimulating activities save the weekly family movies when you were a kid. We're 24-25, been to college, have an understanding about life and how opinions differ. But every kid who walks in is still impressionable. And when these kids see that its okay to laugh at these things, their idea of it being a metaphor is lost. There's a point where they could take it literally and that's a very dangerous place to be. I'm not even talking about the masses, I'm talking about school going kids who will grow up one day and God forbid with wrong ideas. There's absolutely no quality control in our country, our parents are unaware of what to expose their kids to and what not to, noone teaches it to them. There are systems in the U.S and other countries that actually manage to control what content a child can be exposed to.
DeleteNo sir , not at all doing for publicty. I get nothing...just a topic I am concerned about.
You reply to my comment is not even close to the topic which I posted. However If some one want to change the system and generation.Then make a movement with a proper solution, come up with an idea , Suggest a law based on the issue , punish people like wise in gulf countries does.
Deletesimply posting the videos and comments doesn't change the world . If someone is posting on some issue,come up with solution which should change the entire world otherwise don't post the videos.
If Annapurna change the world then I appreciate her and can see only good and never know about the bad.
How is it not relevant? You said people will take the good and leave the bad...and I have posted why it does not work that way because we have these "family entertainers" with regressive content affecting people at their most vulnerable age. It cannot get more relevant than that. Solution is to make good movies..it is an art form..you cannot make laws curtailing it. People should have the legal right to make whatever they want...we are talking here about the ethics of what I being done .
DeleteI disagree, Internet has a lot of power and it will change people as they get more perceptive to newer opinions. It is a movement of its own..and everybody cannot change a system..but everybody can speak up in their own little way and collectively a large enough sound can be generated.
For your Information my topic here is : posting videos and blogs doesn`t change the world.
ReplyDeleteYour statement "Solution is to make good movies" , I disagree because there were many other ways to get bad into people because of the generation.
Age doesn't matter , generation matters here...
What I conclude here is "There were many ways kids are motivated with bad as well as good"
If you really want to change then make a movement in all aspects/areas where kids are spoiling and define guidelines with severe punishment like wise in gulf countries.
Movement never change by its own , if it does then corruption would have vanished long ago as every individual is looking for corrupt free but still being corrupted..
Historically, single speeches have changed 1000's year of traditions. Also read about origin about Arab spring and how twitter and facebook were integral part of it. I am not saying, blogs or videos have a straigh away impact..but only reason this topic is being talked about is because somebody had a will to initiate the conversation.
DeleteWe do not want to go into regressive nature of gulf countries where freedom to express yourselves is limited, we want a system where everybody can do whatever they want legally....but are bound by ethical guidelines. And also a centralized board rating the content that is being produced and assigning the appropriate age groups.
And regarding corruption, it is a voices in the internet that translated into voice in real world..which translated into Anna hazare movement to Aam Aadmi party...( i know kejriwal did not turn out to be good ). But idea that we wanted a curroption free india did translate into somebody getting elected out of no where in the country's capital
Dude..My concern here is posting videos n blogs cannot change the system. However if the telugu industry changes with videos and blogs, there were many other way where in kids were attracted for bad.
ReplyDeleteIf Annapurna or You wants to really take this movement then the change should happen in all aspects/areas of the present generation.
In my view you cannot change the generation without any punishments / Now a days one will fear only with rules/laws/actions/punishments.
Naveen, like you, I too have been following the discussion for the past two days and of all the responses, I like yours best. Thanks for sharing your opinion; made me happy to see rational thinking is not totally lost. I wish people would imagine how equally appealing it would have been, if the woman was liked by the guy for her fiery role of a guerilla warrior and if he asked her to join her in her efforts, providing the muscle, so to speak, and if she started liking him back for their compatibility and shared goals and then she started experimenting with her look just out of curiosity and it made for a nice song sequence in the movie.
ReplyDeleteenti bhayya janalu intha kaliga unnaru. Discuss chesukovataniki intha opika untunda.
ReplyDeleteade office pani cheyataniki matram radu. naku kuda anthe pani cheyataniki baddakanga untundi. movies chudamante ennaina chustanu.
just watch movies and njoy if u like, forget if u don't like.
movie bagopothe automatic ga flop. ultimate ga director is gone.