How To Vote Intelligently

If you are in Hyderabad or anywhere else in Telangana, West Bengal, Gujarat, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Daman & Diu, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Dadra & Nagar Haveli this is for you. When you wake up tomorrow, you have a historic opportunity to break records in the seventh round. No, not the seventh round of whiskey of vodka. But the seventh round to cast your vote.

If you are from Hyderabad, you are blessed twice, friends. You will have to vote twice. First vote is for the Assembly (Pink Paper). Second vote is for the Lok Sabha (White paper). Again, don’t get confused and ask for The Economic Times and Businessline because that’s what urbanites tell you – when they tell you, “ I read the pink paper” or “the white paper on business”. You don’t have to carry both nor roll them. By the way, you don’t have to carry even your mobile phones. You will be sent back if you are found with a mobile phone. Don’t bother passing it on to somebody you spot in your neighbourhood to do the honors. Take some identity card proof and do not forget the voting slip – someone would have given you the same before. If you haven’t yet got, don’t panic. Ask the volunteers of party offices camping outside the voting booth for verifying your names in the list. If you still can’t find your polling station and voter serial no. either visit www.ghmc.gov.in or dial the call center 2111 1111. Or, send an sms as “ SMS KYP to 9177999876.or identity verification, remember, 24 varieties of proofs are allowed from PAN to Aadhar Card.

The voting booths open from 7 am and go right till 6 pm. I don’t know whether early bird gets the worm but I have always found queues shorter when I go early. Infact, my father born before Independence, is usually the first voter in the booth. It gives a different kick, to wake early, have a shower, wear new clothes, greet morning sun, pray to God or Christopher Hitchens (if you are an atheist) and walk your way to the voting booth. That’s a routine we follow. If you have alternative plans for tomorrow, don’t even think of  it. Ask me. Offices are shut. Banks are closed. Hotels not open till evening. Cinemas are also, shut till 6 pm show. And, I checked with the box office, advance booking for “Anamika” and “Spiderman-2” also won’t open till evening. And IPL matches start later in the evening. So you have ten hours to do your own thing but first get the vote out of your way, get it inked and linked in with your social media presence.

And by the way, don’t worry about the EVMs – those beepy machines with the pink paper and the white paper as mentioned earlier. Don’t believe these machines can be rigged or booth-captured as reported in Pune etc. These machines are made by ECIL and Bharat Electronics and are both mechanically and electronically protected to prevent any tampering. The software used in these machines is burnt into a one-time programmable/masked chip so that it cannot be altered or tampered with. They can’t be hacked too. And remember, a maximum of five votes can be cast in one minute. Which means, even the presiding officer cannot enable the ballot for twelve seconds after every ballot is cast. With an electorate of over 814 million voters, there are 900,000 polling stations with lakhs of EVMs. I read somewhere that EVMs are not only tamper-proof and loud (not a single vote is accepted without a loud beep, audible even outside the polling booth) but they also save paper, about 10,000 metric tonnes of paper.

Back to the pink paper and white paper. Before you press the button corresponding to your choice of the candidate/symbol, wait for the green light to appear and a sound. Then after your press the button, a red light appears with another beeping sound – signalling that your vote is registered. Know this much, that it is no rocket science. When the EVMs are counted, election results are easiest to declare – within hours on May 16th.

I am no seasoned voter as I have just voted for six or seven General Elections and as many Assembly elections. But keeping these golden rules has always helped me cast a vote that makes a difference at the national and local level, even at the municipality level. My piece of unsolicited advice:

1. When you vote for the Lok Sabha, ensuring that you vote for the national party helps your vote to get counted amongst the national voting share of each party. Instead, if you vote for an Independent in Lok Sabha, the vote share gets fragmented and a clear choice is hard to come up. According to data from Election Commisison of India, the percentage of votes secured by Independents has been declining from 15.90 per cent in 1952 to just 5.19 per cent in 2009. This also clearly, corresponds to a fall in percentage of forfeited deposits of Independent Candidates in Lok Sabha elections from 67.54 per cent in 1952 to 99.35 per cent in 2009. Friends, clearly, voting for Independents in Lok Sabha is not an Audience Poll choice!
2. Vote with a clear conscience, without inducements, expectations and party affiliations and other considerations. Vote for a party that can make you see eye to eye with the next-gen also who must be more positive and hopeful than us. Not that we are not. But just in case!
3. When you vote for a party at a regional level, go for the one who is closest in your assessment and understanding – someone who matches performance, governance and clean record with fresh ideas.
4. In summary, nobody can influence or should influence who you vote for. It is a personal choice and a hard one at that, something that even your own family members can seldom agree upon. But if you close your eyes, and visualise the last five years and then determine what can change in the next five years with utmost honesty and sincerity, you will hit the right buttons. Believe me, in my own case, I hit the magic buttons every time since I was first eligible to vote except in the year 2009. I had been lucky to cast my votes for the winning candidate. This time, I am hoping I won’t even have to push my luck further.
5. Lastly, should  you use NOTA (None of the Above)? I am not an expert on this too. I will quote from Hindol Sengupta’s superb book : 100 THINGS TO KNOW AND DEBATE BEFORE YOU VOTE. He says,” No matter how many NOTA votes are cast, even if the most of the votes cast in a constituency are NOTA, a candidate winning the few remaining minority votes should be declared elected. Unless the law is amended to say if majority of the votes cast are NOTA, a re-election needs to be held, this does not solve the problem of corrupt candidates but not enough. As it often is in India, this rule does not go all the way. In short, Hindol says, “Use it. But remember it’s the beginning of change, not the end.”

So long then. Happy Voting. Happy Record Voting. And here’s wishing all of us better times ahead.

"Pratinidhi" (Telugu Film Review)

Nara Rohit's films have so far been different. While "Baanam" was revolutionary, "Solo" was outright family entertainer with great comedy and performances. "Pratinidhi" promised to be intriguing from the trailer days and it was poetically timed for the elections but don't be over-expectant about the hype. It has some eye-popping provocations about the issues common man faces and packages them quite intelligently and convincingly in the backdrop of an exciting kidnap drama with a brief flashback but the narrative could have been better and arresting.

Prashant Mandava directs Nara Rohit as a people's representative who kidnaps the Chief Minister (Kota Srinivasa Rao)  when he comes to innaugurate an Old Age Home. He imprisons self and the CM in the vast house with a threat to kill the CM unless his demands are met. What are these demands? They grow, at first sight, sillier and curioser by the hour until the whole state gets swept by a tsunami of attention and goodwill. Police Commissioner (Posani Krishna Murali) encircles the house where the kidnapper relays his messages and demands while trying to unfathom the mysterious kidnapper's whereabouts and identity through only one source - Rohit's friend who agrees to share details of his friendship and association. The demands, those silly demands, meanwhile outgrow into a pattern that seems to connect the dots of a lot of issues and a few mysteries of a missing man and his son. The demands raised by Rohit are valid and thoroughly engrossing and tell a lot about the state of our democracy and the pace at which the government works: Despite the media's all-pervasive nature and 24/7 reporting, one of the key messages is that there is a paradox of choice amidst plenty of options: nobody really gets the big picture in the immediate aftermath of an event because the media doesn't ask questions that illuminate or decipher the truth.

The truth is unfolded, layer by layer, by the protagonist Nara Rohit himself, in the messages relayed outside the building and in his articulate interaction with Kota Srinivasa Rao who as the CM who gave one of his career-best performances. Kota asks questions that enhance the characterisation of himself and Rohit in ways that move the story forward. While the first half is about the demands, the second half gives an good twist to the plot with more seiousness sans romance and dull flashback which mars a few reels earlier. Why does the government take two hours to accept one simple demand? Can we de-notify the currency notes of higher denomination  - to drive out black money out of the "M3" circulation in the economy? Where is the money collected from the odd amounts rounded off on account of stupid taxes, cesses and VAT levies on petroleum, diesel and even hotel services going to? For example, if it costs Rs.72.84 per litre and we pay Rs.73, the rounding error itself comes to on a ball-park estimate of Rs.120 crore population times Rupees Two per day, as per the writer in the film.. That's a fair point and something that is fuelling black money and making some people richer.

With audacious demands like these underpinning the economic logic, Rohit gets war-room attention of the politicians and begins a change in the CM itself. The approach to this film is neat and fresh without stunts, vulgar dances or item songs or garrulous comedy or silly romance. Technically, there is only one song in the first half to give romantic relief with a forgettable heroine Shubra Ayyappa who is a let down. The second half has a few background songs that step on the gas for the hero's surge in popularity as the media amplifies his messages and their broader econo-political appeal. The approach to the story and the screenplay reminds you of "Wednesday" movie where the hero and the anti-hero see a paradigm-shift in their world views.

A promising tale told in 139 minutes with plenty of food for thought for our system and the polity that rides it. Good dialogues in the film by Rohit and Kota create an encore feeling. Music by Sai Kartheek is turning out better in RR , this is his second impressive BGM score after "Rowdy". Performances wise, Rohit is average though he has a baritone voice that is one of the best male voices in Tollywood today after Pawan Kalyan. But his repertoire is limited to poker-faced delivery that lacks variety and killer instinct. The most notable performance, make no mistake is that of Kota Srinivasa Rao, followed by Posani Krishna Murali. Director Prashant Mandava seems promising enough to tell a good story but the same film could have been made more intelligently and entertainingly to create a wider connect - the director has made the corruption issue more a monetary policy issue and leaves out many inconvenient issues that rock the state and the nation. What is tasteless is to show the late NTR as a great leader/thinker in the titles equating him with the likes of Che Guera, Gandhi, Tagore, etc. Secondly, I did notice that at interval time, they show all the past CMs of the state of AP  - Naidu, Rosaiah, NTR again, N Janardhan Reddy but show YSR in a split-micro-second. That makes the visuals political. Barring these, "Pratinidhi" is a watchable film with strong subtexts and thought-provoking issues. It could have been made better and more intense but is still better than so many commercial potboilers that come and go but don't linger on as much as "Pratinidhi".

Rating: 3/5

"2 States" (Hindi) Film Review

Chetan Bhagat’s most successful novel after ‘Five Point Someone’ was '2 States: The Story of My Marriage' which inspired the making of this film released today. The film strikes a lovely chord with all ages, especially those whom cupid strikes early in life but are unable to finish it off with marriage under elderly glare. Armed with a winning script, big studios and the backing of Karan Johar, director Abhishek Varman has embellished an evocative love story with great sensibilities that will linger on for a long time. With a two hour plus length of a film that doesn’t even begin with the statutory cigarette warnings or wild animal usage (the only things wild in the film are those things campus lovers do in between the sheets), the film’s resonance comes in a triple package: One, a fresh starcast of the lead couple who are in their early twenties – Arjun Kapoor as Krish Malhotra and Alia Bhatt as Ananya. Two, authentic hand-picking of the elders rooted in  the two states of Punjab and Tamil Nadu; Ronit Roy and Amrita Singh as the Punjabi Paramesans and Revathy and Shiv Subrahmanyam as the Tam-Brahm couple. Three, without multi-layering the film with side-dish distractions like cheap campus fare or extra melodrama or even comic tracks, the narration is kept closer to the love story as it is driven by the lovers themselves with occasional brakes or accelerators.

The story is not filmy though. A boy and a girl meet at IIM campus, fall in love and decide to marry in the arranged traditions of the family, with the parents’s blessings. Nothing unsual about that as most of the love stories in India suffer from a higher mortality rate than what affects infants in Sub-Saharan Africa. Disdain for each other, distrust and ego tussles besides expectations from one another not to talk of the mental sterotypes that run loops in your mind – all these are exploited in a crisp narrative in the film. In bridging a divide, the plot selects two states whose people harbour maximum prejudices against each other – Punjabis who think that Tamil girls trap handsome, tall Punjabi boys with perks and Tam-brahms who view Punjabis as gluttons and Punjabi mother-in-law as the most dangerous idea in the world.

These stereotypes only complicate the love story as the young lovers try to navigate the waters with help from the negotiation courses learnt at the B-School; the boy helps his prospective father-in-law with powerpoint presentations, gives his future mother-in-law the 15 minute-fame moment in singing while the girl settles it amicably in a Punjabi wedding from a demanding son-in-law to the delight of her would-be mother-in-law. Brownie points earned but what if you don’t like the people at all – that is the million dollar question in Indian families marrying across communities but only if you accept that loves comes in a family pack of four or six people. 2 States is a crash course in winning the elders over  before grinning with them in family videos. The other option followed by the fraction of successful lovers is to consummate the marriage and mend their parents with family additions and granular overtures. The film takes a simplified approach of nudging the parents with part-manipulation and part-affection; as always, all is fair in love and marriage.

However, the end is predictable and the pace is slow sometimes with some characterisations left in the lurch. Ronit Roy as Arjun’s father has the most intense charcterisation but his character is puzzling and inconsistent: why he confronts everybody at home and why he relents and surprises all is a mystery. Amrita Singh essays a fine performance that comes naturally to her, as a mother torn between a disaffectionate husband and a pushy son, she comes out right on top of everyone. Revathy looks graceful as the mother who takes it down but retorts in style, the lovely jingle she sings at a concert inter-mixing her famous duet song in “Prema” is a highlight. Alia’s father Shiva Subrahmanyam puts in a convincing performance too.

Alia Bhatt is a big draw with her youthful effervescence and stunning looks. Those who didn’t see enough of her bubbly moments in “Highway” will have a colorful feast of her grace and beauty decked in bright colour costumes. But she doesn’t look the part of a Tamil Brahmin girl because her accent and her body language deny her projected origins. That is clearly unconvincing. Arjun Kapoor as the bespectacled, writer-backed narrator of his own story in Chetan Bhagat’s words is the best character in the film and deserves a hurrah. Subtle and Under-emoting, he balances the many shades in the film while being the committed lover to Alia. Technically, the film scores brilliantly on all the fours – cinematography, editing, dialogues and music. BGM by a different technician enhances the emotions while Shankar Ehsaan Loy deserve a high five for a beautiful score that blends Punjabi beats with South Indian rhythms; the trio always put in efforts to give music new spins in sound and arrangement.

In sticking to the basic novel that already resonated well with the youngistan, director has given a routine story the canvass it needs to reverberate the message of inter-caste and inter-community marriages powerfully which will strike instant chord with both seniors and young rebels. For over 2000 years, ancient Indians married freely across communities and cultures according to a joint study by CCMB in Hyderabad and Harvard Medical School – published in the American Journal of Human Genetics. After a few centuries, the mixing stopped because the populations became endogamous. Caste and other differentiators entered our regional consciousness making traditions of inter-mixing unwelcome. After Ek Duje Ke Liye (“Maro Charithra”), a new-age BPO version tries to convey the same message with happier ending and modern sensibilities. Highly watchable with family but don’t bet on a movie better than the book, if you have already read it.

Rating 3.75/5

"Race Gurram" (Telugu Film Review)

"Race Gurram" has come in the middle of a season that is seeing the race of our lives in election.  Directed by Surendar Reddy, "Race Gurram" gets off to a good start  but in the bid to make a blockbuster, Surendar Reddy errs on the heavier side of entertainment with too many twists in a bizarre tale that takes your head for a spin especially in the second half with logic and sanity hit out of the park. 

The story casts Allu Arjun in the title role, which means a horse trained to compete at races. But there is no justification of the title except a footage of horses at the outset and towards the climax besides a cursory mention of the qualities of horses and horsepower. The plot is about two brothers, Ram (Shaam) and Lakshman (Allu Arjun) who grow up teasing and fighting with each other, developing a strong disaffection to each other. Shaam becomes a cop while Allu becomes a vagabond. As their animosity grows stronger, Allu falls in love with Shruti Hasan who keeps her emotions masked under a tough-looking demeanor. Shaam, in one fit of a rage to level the scores with his brother needles his love story with dire results. As a tit for tat, Allu levels scores by hoodwinking his brother  about to nab gangster Siva Reddy (Ram Kishan) with solid evidence before Siva Reddy files his nomination papers for MLC. Allu lifts the police jeep and speeds away with the file unbeknownst. The villain Siva Reddy, having got wind of Shaam's intentions to nail him sends a task force to polish him off but alas, the jeep has Allu, it gets pulped by the villain's gang and thrown into the valley. Allu survives the ordeal and decimates Siva Reddy after hearing of his plot to actually kill his brother. Suddenly, Allu undergoes a paradigm shift that starts a series of confrontations with the villains. The second half shows the massive confrontation between the family of Siva Reddy and that of Allu Arjun that ends with agonizing twists and mind-numbing   concepts liberally followed from films like "Kick" (director's own),"Oke Okkadu", "Singham" and "Arya-2". 

The fundamental flaw that may go against the film itself is the story of confrontation between two brothers which is anti-sentiment. Both brothers go to any extent to undermine the other and this goes on since childhood with parents remaining mute spectators. No film with screwed up sentiment like this has ever succeeded. (Examples, "Chennakeshava Reddy", "Brothers"). Even if Ambani brothers compete with each other, they are doing it in separate homes, never under the same roof. Dragging this sentiment further, director Surendar Reddy introduces a twist before interval block of Allu waking up to the basic DNA of his brother and aligning himself with Sham to fight the villain. The story of the  brother, being a senior cop, unable to dote on his younger brother is quite a flaw that hampers the feel-good sentiment even as the narrative moves at break-neck speed. While the entire story can be summed in three lines - two brothers fighting, cop confronting a criminal and the younger brother also joining the fight, Surendar Reddy builds fat tissue after fat tissue in building the narrative, elongating the sequences and getting sloppy comedy that enumerates a jumbo starcast. 

The starcast has Shruti Hassan as Allu Arjun's love,  Prakash Raj as Shruti's father, Ram Kishan, Mukesh Rushi and Kota Srinivasa Rao as villains, Shaam, the cop in "Kick" playing again as a cop and also Allu Arjun's brother and three ace comedians, including Brahmanandam, Jayaprakash Reddy,Ali and MS Narayana besides new-age comedy artists. There are too many distractions in the narration of the main story which make it tedious despite a whole-heartedly valiant attempt at making a blockbuster. The trouble is, when you set out to make a blockbuster, you should have checked if there are too many blocks to bust your film's chances at box office. Surendar Reddy missed wholly in this giving a free running time of 163 minutes to cover five songs, repetitive run-ins between the brothers, a comedy track with Shruti Hasan in a romantic setting and the cliched introduction of Brahmanandam as the supercop who will bring down the house of the villains, the film travels at a velocity that will gradually numb your senses in the second half.

Shruti Hasan gave her dumbest performance in years despite looking demure and cute in songs. Her role of a girl who conceals her emotions is apt for her insipid acting that oozes mannequin beauty without substance. Prakash Raj and Shaji Shinde bore you with their trite antics. Shaam comes out good in his role as the cop even if its a leaf out of "Kick" performance. Bhojpuri superstar Ram Kishan steals the thunder as a villain with comic timing. Brahmanandam tries to get the biggest laughs, he almost succeeds but how long will his stereotype magic work - the kind of role that comes in the wee minutes of climax and knocks the socks off everybody including the hero and the villains? How long will heroes and directors let him ride out this sucker punch comedy that has become staple fare? The nation needs to know!

Allu Arjun is a high-calibre star who has earned the spurs of a Style Icon with a wonderful mix of attitude, hardwork and impeccable behavior. He has also delivered cinema that moves the needle of content towards different genres and acceptability beyond the borders of Telugu Cinema. As a package of dance, metrosexuality, presentability and personality projection, he is a case study on how one can get catapulted into supertardom without conventional good looks and low-timber voice. With that kind of halo, Allu Arjun has done well in the film by himself. There are atleast three scenes where his words spell magic on screen. He emotes fluently and delivers a knock-out performance in all scenes, dances and stunts. Perhaps, with an eye on the growing Malayalam market, Allu also uses a heavy drawl in accent to emphasise words like "Devudaa" differently which gets good laughs throughout his utterances. 

But for that, and a few good laughs, the film falls short of a supergood tag because of hopeless editing, zero attention to logic and consistency and silly comedy in the name of entertainment. If the film is cut by 35 minutes, it would have been a different experience, to cut a long story short. The film is watchable once but only for a while after interval. Music by Thaman is peppy and catchy but the picturization disappoints except in "Gala Gala". This may not be Allu Arjun's worst film but this is not his best. Surendar Reddy's direction has energy but it is time for him to take a calorie count on how much of it is needed to collapse the genres of entertainment with that of action and comedy. He has failed with "Oosaravalli" and "Athidhi" and "Ashok". It's time to go back to the basics of unhurried story-telling. Despite the highs in the film - the dialogues of Allu Arjun, the heavy starcast, the clean comedy, the new villain, the lows of the film outnumber - the length, needless scenes of sibling rivalry, Brahmanandam ad nauseum, bizarre twists that are completely irrational, overdose of everything, the film deserves a rating no more than 2/5.

"Rowdy" (Telugu film Review)

"Rowdy" (Telugu)

"Rowdy" is perhaps the finest moment of acting for Dr.Mohan Babu and a new high for Manchu Vishnu in acting without frills, dimples , warts and all. But for Ram Gopal Varma fans who have already seen "Sarkar" and "Sarkar Raj", the film is a blend of both the films that should give you some indication of the ending.

In order to nativise the original plot in "Sarkar", RGV chooses the factionist setting of Rayalseema to liken the main character "Anna" Mohan Babu to one you can relate with like, say, Paritala Ravi, Bal Thackaray, or a refined factionist in "Rakta Charitra". Anna and his wife Jayasudha are benign leaders with a mass following of their villagers. Eldest son is misguided in his imitation of "Rowdy" dad. Youngest son is Vishnu who is class apart, falls in love with Shanvi (last seen in "Prema Katha Chitram"). A gang of villains - including Tanikella Bharani, Jeeva, a baldie and a pineapple-cake-munching baddie plot the downfall of Anna who is their main obstacle in the kickacks that accrue from "Gangavaram" project. Then the usual twists of betrayal of trust, attempted murder and the climax as per the original versions. The producers must be really bold to ask RGV to remake his most successful brand of cinema into Telugu for an audience who are not alien to its memory.

But RGV has always been like that. The man loves to remake his own cinema. He made "Shiva" in 1989 with a blistering debut at the box office. He remade that film with his muse of the day in 2006. He made "Gaayam" in the 1990s. That film continues to be metastatized in many of his films including "Sarkar" series and "Rowdy". I firmly believe that RGV knows only five stories to tell on screen. One is the "Gayam" Godfather variety. Two, is the "Satya" gang-war story. Three, the "Kshana Kshanam" "Jungle" hit, heist and run to the forest variety. Four, the film-crazy, fan-obsessed story "Mast" "Appalaraju" variety. If he doesn't find new ideas from the four and a new producer to expend, he will make a film which will scare you with new camera angles  - the "Raat" "Deyyam" variety. Directors who came from the RGV school have been attempting bold and different cinema over the years - the likes of Shimit Amin and Anurag Kashyap but our man continues to cannibalise these five stories all his productive career. Despite knowing all the craft and specialist knowledge, RGV keeps assaulting us with films that keep him in the comfort zone.

Having said that, the film "Rowdy" is squeaky clean with arresting narration. If you have not seen the originals, you will feel the thrills of convincing characterisation and multiple twists. 121 minutes is a definite plus as there are no lagging sequences except at times when the gang of villains gag with citations from "Vedams" and all that. Mohan Babu comes out with a hurrah performance that comes but once in a lifetime. Acting without makeup and wig, he delivers dialogues differently and emotes well with a body language and a swagger that is apt and stylish. For an actor who has hit the limelight with garrulous dialogue delivery and idiosyncratic body language, this is crowning glory. Manchu Vishnu seems overawed by the presence of his dad in most frames directed by a veteran but he holds his own. He seems to get back to his median weighty body frame. Tanikella and Jeeva are over the top and could have been edited out except a few dialogues. Jayasudha is the only person who must have used makeup in the film but she gives a memorable performance. RGV used to mention that after Sridevi, he had a crush on Jayasudha after seeing "Adavi Ramudu". In this film, he had used her well to relay her strengths  in many emotions. Dialogues are sharp and uncinematic - a hallmark of RGV. BGM and music by Sai Karthik hit some good notes. Despite a deja vu plot, "Rowdy" is stylish and watchable and yes, neat for family viewing too.  I rate this 3/5 for the compactness, performances and telling a good story neatly for Telugu audiences.