Why Penguin ban of Wendy Doniger is justified

Let me disclaim at the outset (I am not a Hindu in a fundamentalist sense, I am liberal and respect all religions and keep my faith as private as possible except on select festival days, when I erupt in joy on facebook).

I would like to break this long piece into four parts: First part, I will talk about the phenomena like Wendy Doniger who are creating careers out of midwifing the Hindu scriptures in ways that she and her non-Hindu readers like. Second part, I will talk about the amusing manner in which the web and authors imprinted by Penguin have got into a mindless crusade of supporting Wendy (I bet most of them haven't read the book) for the sake of supporting free speech (which itself is unclear to many who advocate for it). In the third part, I will discuss what may have led Chikki Sarkar's bosses at Penguin to withdraw the book; I will also put forth the economics of publishing writers like Wendy and the burdens of cross-subsidising her irreverence for Hinduism  with best-selling writers of dissimilar baggage like say, Dr.Devdutt Pattnaik or Anita Nair (not the Padmashri author, the one who writes on Indian Mythology for kids under Puffin). Lastly, I will offer my two cents on whether such bans are justified and whether such bans are endorsed by Hindus and also whether Hinduism will outlast such ill-informed writers.

First Part

Wendy Doniger is not the first nor will be the last author to claim superior scholarship over Indology (the Study of India) or Hinduism. Throughout history, there were Indologists who learnt Sanskrit and made intellectual and financial capital out of interpreting the vast body of Hindu literature from the Laws of Manu to the Rig Veda to the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and the Bhagwad Gita. These include in no certain order: Max Muller, William Jones, Philip Goldberg, Gavin Flood, Klaus Klostermaier, Asko Parpola, TJ Hopkins, Brian K Smith, AL Basham, M Stutley, John Stratton Hawley, Richard Burghart, Raymond Brady Williams, George Michell, Alistair Shearer, Madeleine Biardeau, DF Pocock, Ken Wilber, Alduous Huxley,  Ralph Waldo Emerson, Arnold Toynbee and even Sir Richard Burton. There were also many writers-philosophers originating from the Indian subcontinent who have steered Hinduism into streams of clear interpretations. Most notable among them include writers like S Radhakrishnan, C Rajagopalachari, RK Narayan, Bibek Debroy, Jawaharlal Nehru, Bankimchandra Chatterji, Anand Coomaraswamy, Raja Rammohan Roy, Nirad C Chaudhuri, Osho, Makarand Paranjapee, TN Madan, KM Munshi, KM Panikkar, VD Savarkar,  Mahadev Desai, Mahatma Gandh, RC Dutti and philosopher saints like Swami Vivekananda, Aurobindo Ghosh, Swami Abhedananda, Swami Ranganathananda, Dayanand Saraswati, Paramhamsa Yogananda, Maharshi Mahesh Yogi, Swami Hariharananda. Many living saints continue to re-interpret wiser and modernly relevant insights in Hinduism through their discourses like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev, Swami Prajnananda and Swami Sukhbodhananda. If you do not like to read in English, there's greater talent in verbal discourses albeit with sometimes faulty logic people like Chaganti Koteswara Rao, Swami Paripoornananda and countless others in Indian vernacular language. These are writers who respected the original works, translated them with the diligence of a Checklist-driven surgeon, honored the spirit and philosophy of the original letters that carried the messages through the ages and sanctified and enriched the body of works that are enshrined in the hearts of billions of Hindus who are traditionally not self-conscious about religion as an isolable component or aspect of their world-view and their way of life. 

Having said that there have been genuinely agitated writer-scholars who have taken up crusades against the banalities that created stress to those oppressed under the onslaught of traditions that smack of inhumanity - the caste system, the enfeeblement and disempowerment of women, notions of untouchability and brahminism as being superior to other castes - which kept more people in shackles of poverty, illteracy and regress. Into these categories fall some notable writers of Indian origin, namely, Dr.BR Ambedkar, AK Ramanujan, Kancha Ilaiah, Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, Swami Dharma Theertha (a.k.a Parameswara Menon). These writers had genuine points to make about the forces that are eroding faith in Hinduism  because of a class-perpetration of Brahmins or male bastion preachers who bind women and lower-caste sections into bleak submission and duress. 

How is Wendy Doniger different? She is an Indologist who has had numerous books on Hinduism in sole and co-authorships. She is an influential professor in an American University whose scholarship has reached peak recognition. She has been both persuasive and persistent with her theses on writing as the sole arbiter of myths about Hindusim. It is another matter that she also writes profusely about ancient and modern myths that accost civilizations that survived or surround us today. She writes brilliantly with luminous prose and imaginative prowess about the myths of Hercules, the myths of super-heroes (of Warner Bros. creation) and the myth of Harry Potter (which will also enter the next generation of modern myths that are welded into world consciousness). But it is the current book "The Hindus: An Alternative History" that is caught in the eye of the storm five years after its publication.  

By her own admission in her latest book "On Hinduism", Doniger writes why the book withdrawn by Penguin should be a non-issue for Hindus. And I quote: "I had written all my other books for an American audience, primarily for my students. That was one reason why I was totally blindsided by the passionate Hindu response to my book "The Hindus: An Alternative history". It hadn't occured to me that Hindus would read it. I had figured, the Hindus already knew all about their own religion, or at least knew as much as they wanted to know, or in any case didn't want to learn anything more from an American woman (I was right about that last point, but in ways I had not foreseen). I was therefore pleasantly surprised, at first, that Hindus read "The Hindus", but then appalled that some of them read it so confrontationally, or did not read it at all but just parroted what others are saying about it." So, you see, even Doniger never had an iota of the tumultous response her book got until one gentleman from Shiksha Bachao Andolan took her on and filed a quiet litigation against the author and the publishers for the umbrageous litany of liberal and factually incorrect interpretations of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. 

If you surf the Amazon reader reviews, you will see a six page summary of all the erroneous points of the book "The Hindus" by one Vishal Agarwal. These are mis-representations in Wendy's book  about the chronological dates, events and people ranging from Lord Ram, Mahakavi Kshetrayya, Guru Gobind Singh, Saint Chaitanya, Saint Kabir, Adi Sankaracharya, Hakka and Bukka of the Vijaynagar empire etc. For example, in the case of Adi Sankara's debate with Bharti, wife of Mandan Mishra, when the latter questioned Adi Sankara on issues related to conjugal responsibilities, Adi Sankara requests a month's time to imbibe the experiences of a householder. He then enters the body of a king who is dead, experiences the physical pleasures and responsibilities, comes back to the debate and wins against Bharti. This episode is twisted by Doniger to imply that Adi Sankara, alongwith the king  had mated with hundreds of women  by turns and even experienced conjugal pleasures with the debater's wife Bharti. Blasphemy! The litany of such erroneous facts and sensational twists are available as a document in scribd for download. 

Besides, there are upending narratives that border on sexual fantasies about the pantheon of Hindu Gods and Goddesses -  which strike at the very roots of our sacred beliefs. For example, Ganesha, the Elephant God is assumed to have a trunk and an over-grown body in order to have oral sex.  Doniger even suggests an oedipal complex and possibilities of the unthinkable relationship between Parvathi and her son. Shiva is portrayed as an erotic ascetic, and tales of Anasuya and Shakuntala are sprinked with dosages of narratives usually found in the books of  sleaze. With all this utter nonsense, no wonder Wendy Doniger had met her match in an undeserving work, that was never intended to be read by Hindus by her own admission, in a defamatory suit filed by the plaintiff. The forum filed it invoking two powerful sections of the Indian Penal Code especially section 295A which invokes criminal liability when you write stuff that can insult relilgious sentiments. This section, even if purposively introduced by the British to protect Islam from being victimised by vagrant Hindus had unleashed unintended consequences that may check scurrilous writing masquerading as free speech. Some of the most learned legal experts in their commentary on the section opine that this was introduced by the British with a view to preserve the fabric of the society of a particular religion in its bare essentials, which if allowed to be insulted can lead to catastrophic consequences including the dissolution of the society of the said religion. 

I think Penguin has feared the invocation of this section more than the garble around free speech that can technically put it out of business when it recalled the book of Wendy Doniger to be pulped. This incident may not be the only one in a trend of growing pespectives that distort religion by either oversexualizing or overpoliticising the subject. In 1995, another professor, Jeffrey Kripal who was mentored by Wendy Doniger wrote a book "Kali's Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the life and teachings of Ramakrishna". The book won awards in the US but was condemned by Hindus especially the Ramakrishna Monk order for suggesting erotic overtones in the life of revered Ramakrishna. Two monks of the said order - Swami Tyagananda and Pravrajika Vrajaprana have rebutted Kripal's insinuations most methodically in a book "Interpreting Ramakrishna: Kali's Child Revisited." published by Motilal Banarsidas. But that was published 15 years after the publication of Kripal's book. In case of Wendy's works she has been rightfully getting brickbats for her irresponsible and shoddy authorship. She once had eggs thrown at her at a conference even if her book was one of the five finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Prize in nonfiction (it did not win). 

It is evident that Wendy Doniger's book is ill-conceived, full of half-baked knowledge about how to interpret an ancient religion from the lens of a 21st century perspective, and grossly inappropriate, containing salicious interpretations of a religion that can never be exhaustively explained by either perspective or modernity. But Hinduism has always withstood the onslaught of time, the invasions of three fourths of mankind including the Greeks, the Ottomans, the Mughals, the British and now the many forces that are breaking up India. 

There is an opinion amongst the activists that there will be more likes of Wendy Doniger and Jeffrey Kripal as long as there is a dearth of native Hindus in religious studies departments outside India. In most academic departments studying the theological foundations of the great religions of the world, there is ample representation from Christians, Jews and Muslims to counter distortions of those traditions but Hinduism, it is averred, lacks protection. Except for scholars like TN Madan, Arvind Sharma, Vasudha Narayanan and now the fiercest of them all, Rajiv Malhotra, most misbegotten interpretations tend to be perpetuated unless outsiders come to the rescue or as in this case, the law has forced the hand of imbecile writers like Wendy to commit hara-kiri.

Second Part

Let's leave Wendy for the time being. I wonder what is happening to some of the renowned writers who are on the rolls of Penguin India to take up matters with them as if the heavens are falling and their brains are beaten out of bounds. Without picking on all of them, as I still respect some of them, I will pick only a few of them to highlight my points of view. Let me start with Arundhati Roy, the favorite pin-up girl of uncle Vinod Mehta who writes on everything from hydroelectric projects to the tribal displacement to leftist evangelism, who thinks she has the combined intellect of Noam Chomsky and Naomi Klein and can write better than both of them and also Ernest Hemingway. Her flip-flop on various issues makes her one of India's most over-rated intellectual with the exception of P Chidambaram! All she knows is to write verbosely, use high-falutin phrases, hyperbola most of them newly minted from the Sub-editor's desk and figments of imagination far removed from the world of Economics and Reality. If the centre-rightists have also listened to the gist of her epic essays by now, India would have been the poorest SAARC nation on earth by now. So much for development from Arundhati Roy, now what do we expect anything less from her on free speech and the attempt to sensationalize religion! I guess she wants Penguin to publish all books without fact-checking, without de-composing for authenticity, without editing - like her own essays. About Siddharth Varadarajan, the less said the better. Here is an ex-editor of "The Hindu" who has been kicked out of the paper for gross violation of financial and editorial responsibilities.

I would like all the authors who are rushing to drop out of Penguin's pedigree to think twice before taking an impulsive decision. A few unsolicited tips for them: One, please read Wendy Doniger's book in full and decide whether it is a worthy book to give company as a Penguin author. Two, understand that a Publisher is like a producer of a films: they have the choice of casting and hence a publisher will decide what to publish. An author will get his or her 10-15 per cent royalty and remain catalogued as long as the publisher gets a good night's sleep. No publisher feels comfortable with thoughts of vicarious and criminal liability sitting on their reserves. In case of Wendy Doniger's book, the petitioner moved court that required Penguin to demonstrate whether "it respects all religions worldwide." Clearly, the book's contents prove they don't. Thirdly, if you are prepared to walk out of Penguin, please remember there are options outside the world's largest publisher: you can go to  rivals like Harper Collins or Hatchette or Rupa (No, no, Rupa Publishers is next: They are raking it in with Wendy Doniger's book "On Hinduism") or better still, Self-publishing. But do not sensationalise more than what is unwarranted. Remember: even in films, actors like Amitabh Bachan or Salman Khan or Shah Rukh Khan or Aamir Khan have said "NO" when it comes to scenes that might upset millions of fans who know are not just watching a movie. Remember, when Star TV took a decision in circa 1990s to cut out every scene that shows explicit kissing or sexual intimacy, it was a decision taken in the interests of the culture of the largest TV country in the world where even a grown-up son doesn't touch his mother. When the decision was taken, nobody threw tantrums that,"We are quitting". Know when to fight, and know when to quit but if you don't know the difference between the two, stay calm and let the wind blow.

Third Part

It is important to understand there could be more than the eye why Penguin has taken a decision to withdraw a popular book in America. It is easy to say that this could be because of an upsurge in a Modi wave that Penguin fears might make it face greater trouble. There are more reasons than that and it could be pure economics at play here thats outside the reaches of the "Free Speech" experts.

One, Penguin India is a crucial wing of the Penguin Random House - which after the recent merger has become the world's biggest publishing combine. The company which owns Penguin Random House, Pearson plc is a phenomenal media giant that publishes, inter alia, the world's leading business newspaper "The Financial Times" besides an imprint which is exploding with opportunities in print everywhere, especially in South Asia. Pearson is also a leading academic publisher with growing interests in India, they are are closer to inching to the top spot in educational catalogues and worthy of meatier assignments in vernacular languages with academic boards and universities that design the curriculum. They cannot risk the millions of profits that can accrue if they stay in the reckoning in India for the sake of a reckless author's title. "Financial Times" is a moderate but intensely focused business newspaper that has been fighting to get a foothold in Indian newspaper industry for decades. They probably know that erring on the side of Wendy may bring more trouble from established centre-right newspapers like the Times of India (which publishes The Economic Times) and the Indian Express (which publishes The Financial Express). The numbers are too staggering for Penguin to lose sight of: 60% of the total market is the Education market, 42 million students in 50,000 private schools studying and learning English, schoolbook market of around Rs.3500 crores, with 343 public-funded universities, 15000 colleges. All this in a country where a third of the population is still illiterate and the 21 official languages excluding English makes for a dispersed education system and  book marketplace which no sane businessman publisher will let go of. Again, remember India's per capita annual spending on books is still low - about $1.50 compared with China's $3 and USA's $60 and UK's $58.

Two, in a market where 16,000 publishers exist, and Rs.70 billion of turnover is counted by the publication of 70,000 titles annually, India is the third biggest Engish-speaking market outside of the US and the UK. Too much at stake again for Penguin to turn a nelson's eye to the foibles of  one writer.

Three, Penguin's own imprint in India and its various incarnations  - Puffin, Penguin portfolio, Viking, etc. are all carrying interesting titles by Indian writers who are rooted in Indian traditions and values but breaking new ground in narratives about Indian epics and folk tales which form the bedrock of Hinduism. Gurucharan Das writes on Mahabharata's continuing relevance. Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik writes most profoundly on Indian mythology. Anita Nair writes the best-known tales of Hinduism for children. Sanjeev Sanyal writes on India's lesser known stories about history that defines today's geography. Bibek Debroy has just completed eighty per cent work of translating into English the most original version of the Mahabharata yet attempted by any scholar, vetted by the Bhandarkar Oriental Institute. Besides the above, a galaxy of writers like Arundhati Subramanyam, Makarand Paranjapee, Tirthankar Roy, Pankaj Mishra, VS Naipaul (who gives out inconsistent views on India),Mark Tully and authors like Ruskin Bond, RK Narayan who wrote on the Indian folk tales still form a huge backprint, whose genuine adherence to Indian values, culture, religious diversity and ethos cannot co-habit the work of a shallow writer of the kind that Wendy Doniger is. Put simply, Penguin cannot afford to have one writer who contradicts everything else that readers like of the books written by its other writers.I am sure these would have got  weighed in before Penguin took the decision to pulp her book. 

Four, the founder of Penguin paperbacks Allen Lane was once travelling to India for three months to see why Pelican books were selling more than  the Penguins in India. He travelled extensively by train, visiting kings and politicians, called on Nehru and admitted to the "pitiful conditions" endured by the great mass of Indians. He was surprised why Indian students don't buy enough of Penguin books. Reason: the Indian student was more interested in saving money to secure an education and "he was not inclined to waste his time on poor escapist literature, he wished to use his new knowledge to the full by reading such books as might make him fitted for a better job, a higher rank in the Civil service." The thought stayed with Allen Lane for a long time as he decided what books to publish in a poor country. I suspect somewhere, this is what may have prompted Penguin to publish a number of titles in basic English. Allen Lane also told someone that his travels in India had made him realize that "one of the greatest needs was for a book on Comparative Religion." I wonder if this was a tipping point for Penguin owners to realise they didn't want anything to upset a religious community or a section. 

Five, there is a difference between the books that were withdrawn of late and books that were banned in recent times and the book that is now withdrawn now. Amongst the books that were withdrawn, of late, most of the books except one are books about businessmen or politicians. "Red Sari" is about Sonia Gandhi. "Beautiful Forevers" has a chapter that unfolds the saga of the money-spinning educational group of Arindham Chaudhary. "The Descent of Air India" is about the role of politicians in running Air India to ground. A new book by Jaico Publishers seeks to unravel the mysteries of the Sahara Group, again banned before release. Years back, Hamish McDonald's book "The Polyster Prince" was withdrawn well before the release because of the all-pervading influence of Mukesh Ambani and his father late Dhirubhai Ambani. The book was sold on the streets of Mumbai and Bengaluru before its contents got incorporated in a bigger book "Ambani & Co." by the same author. Point is, these are books which are being withdrawn not because of fears of a backlash of public opinion or intolerance of Indians but due to the all-powerful influence of a few mighty businesspeople or empire-builders. This trend is definitely disturbing for those who want to find out the truth. They are, however, different from the books banned for religious reasons, say, "Satanic Verses" or books which were written without historical evidence but speculative imagination like say, "The Great Soul" the book about Mahatma Gandhi which was banned in Gujarat because the writer speculated on the homosexuality of the father of the nation. Please note that I am not against the ban of books which rip off the truths about the cookie that crumbled - a Sahara or a Reliance or an IIPM notwithstanding. But I certainly think books on religious matters need a different paradigm of scrutiny and evaluation of the wider repurcussions because it is a matter of faith. If you say that Ram's father is a sex-addict because he had three wives or that Jesus of Nazarath had intercourse with several women or Prophet Mohammed was a cunning businessman, I surely have a problem because one should respect all religions. In that sense, a publisher's job is to promote religious harmony, not promote one upmanship of one religion over another. Penguin is in that sense, mature and truest in its intentions of recalling  a folly that could sink a business empire built on decades of loyal readership world-wise.

Fourth Part

Where does this leave the debate on Hinduism being under a cloud due to mischievous writers casting aspersions and twisting tales to suit their or others' hidden agendas? Nothing happens. 

Hinduism has had a history of productive interaction with three other religious traditions that originally arrived here from abroad, and have had their own Indian histories, namely Christianity, Islam and Zoroastrianism. With the Portugese in India came the linkages between Christianity. With Islamic invasions from the Ottomans and the invasions of Nadir Shah, Islamic heritage and the Zoroastrian faith have also entered the Hindu consiousness. After four hundred years of the Moghal Rule and three hundred years of the British rule, Indian Hinduism has become entwined with the traditions followed by the other two great religions. You will find therefore, Sufi infuences on Indian music, symphonic melodies on Karnatik music and vedic chants in Medak Churches besides an inseparable interplay of architectural, economic and societal practices (will talk more on this later). India is also home to three other great religions of the world - Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Understanding this is the crux of the greatness of the way of life that our heritage has given. 

Hinduism has also never ceased to change and grow and remains a world religion attempting to cope with the challenges of modernisation and secularization and of the diaspora. Anthropologists and sociologists, historians and scholars who are fascinated by the inclusive aspects of Hinduism  have wasted no time except for the likes of Wendy Doniger in understanding and unleashing a considerable body of published work on the models of empirically-grounded holistic description of a Hindu community. Successive reformers throughout history have been chipping away the undesirable elements that are holding back a nation on the move - Dalitisation, women stereotyping and untouchability and ushering in elements that helped Hinduism survive in its many avatars - life-cycle rituals, domestic and temple worship, seasonal festivals, pilgrimages, values of auspicousness and purity, world affirmation and renunciation, strategies of coping with life, death and suffering and the role of charishmatic precepters and the institutionalisation of religious activity, preservation of the tradition and innovation. 

By that count, most Hindus will be least interested in reading Wendy Doniger's book (and by her own confession as pointed at the outset) because a Hindu is just what a Hindu does - meaning all of the above activities in the previous para and are also unified by a set of metaphysical beliefs about god, nature and human beings that are distinctively Hindu. For all those who try to challenge these beliefs because of a lineage and tradition that is beyond just one holy book, as in the case of Hinduism, by distortions and over-analysis, Wendy Doniger's book withdrawal should serve a right dose. But even if it doesn't, it  matters an ant's ass for the Hindus. They will still build temples for monkey gods and elephant gods, they will still fast and stay up all night for the upcoming Mahasivarathri festival even if  worshipping a phallic symbol and they will still be religious about our faith. That is the right thing to do. But it is wrong thing to let this Pyrrhic victory of book withdrawal go into the credit of hard-liner, right-wing Hindus, RSS-style Hindus who are intolerant of other faiths. It is important to note that at a time, when most of the Western countries are witnessing an increase of nonbelievers - that number just doubled over the last decade to 15 per cent of the population - in India, the most prosperous and the and the poor are becoming "faithful" God-believers. What we should ensure, if we can is to ensure that secularism should mean equal distance between the state and all the various religions of Indian people and not by giving exemptions to one religion and partiality to one religion. 

The future of Hinduism is brighter than before and that holds good whether a bigot storms into power or not because the Hindus are tolerant, inclusive, and patient with the ingots of naughtiness that non-Hindus throw at them.

Lastly about free speech, I quote Nigel Warburton in response to what others say about allowing Wendy Doniger's book: In Ray Bradbury's dystopian "Fahrenheit 451", a novel in part inspired by the Nazi book burnings of the 1930s, the central character's job is destroying books. The title refers to the temperature at which paper combusts. Getting rid of awkward thoughts simplifies life - in this imagined future anything that could interfere with mindless happiness is incinerate; anything that anyone finds offensive ends up in ashes. In the end the people are scarcely aware that they have lost anything. That is another possible future." Yes, that is a possible future but reserve it for those that lampoon your faith not otherwise. But if Penguin had actually not withdrawn the book even that would have been alright for the Hindus because it wouldn't have got read anyways. As someone says, "even B-grade authors should be published because how else will you know they are B-grade?".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hearty Congrats Satya Nadella!

I like meeting famous people. And successful people. Like Satya Nadella. I met him at his father's residence which is getting pounded by OB Vans and mediapersons like some thunderbolt created a lava in their home in Hyderabad. I find the media attention and references to his alma mater quite banal and predictable, a typical Indian way of extolling the man or woman from all the beginnings  - this is where he studied, that is where he   played marbles, this is where he bought his eighteenth pair of glasses, that is where he used to hung out for vegetable cutlet and chicken biryani. What's the point? Precisely. Thats what I am asking. What's the point? It is an archaic way, an Indian way of praising the result and forgetting the effort. We cannot accept that any overnight success takes an investment of more than a handful of individuals, besides family members and institutions into the making of that individual including contribution by self. We need to talk it up like a 30-second facebook movie so it sounds dramatic - we have to say "HPS" or "Manipal University" and undermine the role of his parents, well-wishers, peers, mentors, associates, customers and even competition or for God's sake even Bill Gates into what brought him to this stage. We keep doing this everytime an Indian makes it to the apogee on world stage. We did it when Indian origin scientists won Nobel Prizes. We did it when Manoj Syamalan made it to the list of  Hollywood greats. We did it when Anshu Jain or Vikram Pandit leapfrogged to the top positions in MNC Banks a few years ago.  When success comes, we hunt it down to the schools and city connection. When failure stares an individual as in the case of Rajat Gupta, we blame it on the individual. Wrong way of projection. 

From the coverage, it is clear we are not talking about the Microsoft culture which thrives on meritocracy and leadership. We are not talking about the business systems and the work ethic about the Americans here. We are not talking about the killer instinct of an Indian who made it to the top post by relentless hardwork, innovation and focus. Nobody is talking much about the rigorous framework of performance appraisals spread over two performance cycles over so many years in Microsoft which weeds out the inefficient people by ruthless bottom-scraping. And no, nobody talked about the importance of value-systems or parenting or the dining table conversations that the family of Nadellas used to have everyday before Satya packed off to the US. It is not just about adrenalin and alma mater or being born to an IAS officer and being married to your school sweetheart in a poetic fashion. It's about  digging for a story that is not a headline story. 

Everytime an Indian makes it big outside of India, we should stop looking for singularities that will make "breaking news" headlines. The way Satya Nadella got covered, many will forget his or his family's efforts sooner than making a beeline to collect tokens at HPS or Manipal University. Thats where we Indians are erring in delineating the obvious while missing the wood for the trees. The Americans, the Jews, the Mexicans, the Chinese, the british, the Latin Americans, the Africans or even the Icelanders  do not go overboard as much as Indians do in celebrating individual successes and then forgetting the "DNA by design" principles that can spawn more successes. 

The way TDP is canvassing Satya's success or the puerile way in which local papers cover his ascent is quite hilarious and average. No, Satya's climb to the position does not mean Gachibowli Center will become the biggest employer in AP for our unemployed youth. No, Satya's success will not mean that the school he studied from is the go-to school in India. No, Satya's position in Microsoft doesn't say anything about whether more Indians will be employed in Redmond. It is business as usual and it is meritocracy which will drive measurements of performance. 

For Microsoft which has been under a cloud (pun unintended) for a while, it is still a 400-metres dash whether they will leapfrog into the huge divide that exists in the chatrooms about which are the four companies that will rule the new world, whether Microsoft will join  the likes of Amazon, Google, Samsung dominating the planet or whether it will become a monolith like IBM, Cisco, Yahoo and Nokia (now part of Microsoft). Microsoft has been a company that not just made software products but changed the world of workplace that we all grew up and do. It believed in making people more productive so they could achieve their highest potential. It may have lost a lot of momentum in giving way to competition stealing a march with products that were popping out of the cubicles of Microsoftians years before - social networking, search engines, tablets, smartphones, all were thought before but dropped because of sub-optimalities that could not be finessed. But what the helll, Microsoft still generates close to $80 billion in revenues and makes an obscene cash profits that will continue even if they shelve their workforce to near zero. 

It's time to recognise that culture, that ecosystem, the vision of the man Bill Gates who saw just beyond what Steve Ballmer may have typically seen like a CEO - numbers, competition and products. Its time to talk about the parenting approach of Mr BN Yugandhar and his wife - their emphasis on reading, honesty, integrity, community sharing, kindness yet incredible focus. 

I met Satya for half-hour when he was visiting his parents a few years back. I didn't know he was coming. His father and I have been book-friends since 1996. It was my turn to give Naipaul's book "Letters between a father and a son" to Mr Yugandhar as he was unable to get it. I gave him the book and then he called his son and introduced me. We spoke about Hyderabad, his classmates (one of his classmates was my former boss too), Microsoft@Hyderabad, Markets, and Banks (even as I was uncomfortably weaning him away from the last topic). He was slightly over-weight but confident and convivial. He has a hearty and accentuated laughter like his father. He had his own charishma and not the slightest gait of an IAS Officer's son or a budding CEO at a company soaking him in paydirt of central bank proportions. He has since that meeting taken to ways of fitness, now heard even runs marathons and looks a generation younger and fitter than even founding fathers like Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. Its good to see an Indian like him do so well - it brings a lot of Indians out of poverty for a few days and even airlifts the cynical civil society, businesspeople, politicians, working class and glitterati into an atmosphere of patriotic groundswell. But thats not enough to sustain us to consistent glory. Especially if we are talking about points not making up the story. I wish Satya Nadella a grand debut as a CEO and all Indians at Microsoft an opportunity to play catalytic roles in future. But let all Indians take a deeper look  - what do we need to do to have more Satya Nadellas in our midst thrive on a mass-scale?

ANR Rest in Peace! A Legend larger than Life and Films

ANR has lost out the in the last lap to the emperor of maladies but that should not take anything away from one of the most celebrated legends on celluloid the world has ever seen. I have seen most of his films, soaked up on his interviews and followed his core thoughts like life depended on it. No doubt, Akkineni is in many ways a nonpareil phenomenon in the world of acting and movies with lessons that usually accrue over many lifetimes.

What makes him a rare figure is his journey from an ordinary illiterate peasant beginning into a respectable personality that commands universal appeal. Whether it is taking on the fiercest adversary - late NTR - with his own strengths, or learning to speak in English on the very first sojourn to the US and Europe, acing up the learning curve in English throughout his life or taking a proactive approach to healthy eating and living or giving back to the film fraternity by building institutions that teach film crafts, ANR has shown the way to mould your destiny and transform yourself from rawness to near-perfection and live life with a stamp of dignity, class, financial discipline, health discipline and value system.

The area where Annapurna Studios is located today came into being from land allocated by government but the move itself set the ball rolling for Telugu Film Industry to flourish in Hyderabad. It was named as Jubilee Hills only after ANR came and then NTR followed suit so that the fraternity can churn out films that will become jubilee hits. Indeed Jubilee Hills today outgrew into Film Nagar or better known as Krishna Nagar and housed several studios and labs besides making the city a thriving cinepolis in South. 

Very few film personalities in the world have built their careers brick by brick, growing with the phases of technology and commercial equations and coping with the highs and lows. What set ANR apart is his comfort in his own skin and choice of roles from a range of characters in history, mythology, romance, literature, mysticism and modernity. He knew his limitations, he knew his strengths and always played to his advantage or at best carved his own space even when he was sparring with the vibrant NTR. I think they acted in about 31 films together but ANR picked roles that helped him stand out against NTR. He played Chanakya against NTR's Chandragupta, Arjuna against Krishna, or Tenali Raman against Krishnadeva Raya. When he could not compete, he wouldn't just accept the role. Sometimes, the risk-averseness was high because he thought he  could not take chances with roles or responsibilities that he feared may backfire - like playing Savitri's brother (which role went to NTR in "Rakta Sambandham") or playing a transvestite Arjuna (again played by NTR in "Narthanasala"). He shunned politics all his life because he thought the rewards in politics came in films too, something NTR didn't agree upon. Yet, political connections were embraced by ANR - it is alleged he got sweet-heart deals in land because of affinity to Congress party. But by far, most of his fortune was built over the fifty plus years in the most assiduous manner - something that many of his contemporaries never learnt or practised. Those few that practised his precepts in money-management and financial discipline built reserves that outlasted their careers - late Sobhan Babu, Murali Mohan, Chiranjeevi, Rama Naidu, Krishna Kumari, Sowcar Janaki,  Jayachitra, Radhika, Venkatesh, his own son Nagarjuna, Saikumar, Rajanikanth. 

Anecdotally, ANR maintained that he gave timely, frank and unsolicited advice on financial prudence to many co-stars, producers, technicians and directors. While there were many who listened and thrived, some ignored and paid a price with costly mistakes. Into this sorry category fall names like late Kantha Rao, late Savitri, Kanchana, Vanisri and so on. Tollywood's history is almost commensurately covered by ANR's career. Some of the most sordid tales of reckless financial squalor or ill-health due to lack of moderation stared in ANR's face in his journey from "Dharmapatni" to "Manam" which have made him wiser as he grasped from other people's mistakes. Chittoor Nagayya, Relangi, Raj Babu, Padmanabham, Savitri - all of them had riches to rags endings and many more cases of callousness and living beyond means dot the film world. ANR is one of the few exceptions to the folly rule but there is nothing accidental about it - it must be burnt in the consciousness of everybody: Make Hay while the sun shines but when the sun stops shining keep some haystacks away from consumption. 

ANR also helped nurture the industry grow with a co-axial anchoring with NTR and others who joined in later. He backed good scripts, scripts with novels written by good writers, engaged with directors who made engaging and timeless classics and respected everybody and above all, respected producers like a God. Because he lacked the animal charishma and outrageous screen presence like that of NTR, he took his beginning chances with few directors like Adurti Subba Rao and his direct or indirect disciples like K Vishwanath, Mullapudi Venkataramana and Bapu and producers backing star wives like Anjali Devi or Bhanumati or star producers like Rama Naidu and VB Rajendra Prasad. That set the ball rolling for a career that soared because it had the best harvest of characters - Salim, Kalidasa, Vipranarayana, Jayadeva, Tenali Ramakrishna, Devadas, Tukaram. He produced block busters too but made films with a conscience. Films like "Sudigundalu" and "Maro Prapancham" are masterpieces and relevant even today even if they failed at the box office. ANR never stopped making such films though. I remember a film called "Theerpu" an audacious plot where a righteous father kills his corrupt and criminal sons who are breaking law -something that is not irrelevant in the age of "Nirbhaya" delinquents.

Marshall McLuhan said in a book: "Medium is the Message". ANR personified this to the hilt. He understood the secret strings that endeared the masses to their matinee idols. Thats why, his lip sync with Ghantasala or Ramakrishna or SPB was the most perfect one in the industry. He had a body language that was toned down, dignified and less intense- something that became a butt of jokes by mimicry artistes. But he knew songs with the right notes made all the right noises. Even in the last film we saw recently, "Sriramarajyam", he requested Bapu to keep a song for him as Valmiki but that will make his role more memorable. It also speaks about the judgement of ANR in making himself evergreen. I remember this judgement helped him cast the die well for shaping the career of his son Nagarjuna too in the early stages. When the film "Gitanjali" was made by Mani Ratnam, no distributor came forward to buy as they thought the film lacked any spice. The story goes, ANR negotiated on behalf of producer CL Narasa Reddy. He asked the distributors to only see the songs in the film and decide. That sealed it - the distributors bought it and the film turned out to be one of the biggest hits in Nag's career, closely followed by "Shiva" again made by a new talent homegrown in Annapurna Studio corridors.

Talk about awards - no film personality has got as many awards from Dada Saheh Phalke Award to Padma Vibushan in the most diligent and chronological manner as it can ever be. It could be argued such a reap of awards couldn't come without political neutrality but merit cannot be taken away from ANR's museum of awards. Having won every award in the country, he started his own ANR award which has been rewarding the most legendary names in the world of cinema. 

His approach to food, moderate eating and health beats the likes of Dr.Atkins and GM diets. He believed in preventive rather than curative approach to health - something he rigorously followed till his run-in with cancer. He has studied life in its subtlest nuances without attending a university or reading books. He applied life to himself and applied himself to life and the magic grew every day until he became a university or an institution himself because once he tapped into his own reserve, the wisdom that poured out of that reserve proved handy for everyone who touched him. Looking at the DNA of ANR, I feel if he had chosen any other field of calling, he would have been as perceptive, diligent, analytical, happy and positive-minded. ANR has inspired millions of Telugu fans with his acting and paradigms of life. My guess is, he will continue to inspire the film-goers and film folks because his life is his message. Rest in peace, Akkineni. 

As I wind down this tribute, here are my top ten picks from a filmography of 256 films.

1. Seetaramayya Gari Manavaralu

2. Mahakavi Kaalidasu

3. Tenali Ramakrishna

4. Buddhimanthudu

5. Bhakta Tukaram

6. Maro Prapancham

7. Jayabheri

8. Andala Ramudu

9. Vipranarayana

10. Bahudurapu Baatasaari.

"Yevadu" (Telugu) Film Review

RamCharan strikes back. And he strikes gold with a sure-shot winner in "Yevadu" - a high octane commercial potboiler from Dil Raju. "Yevadu" has been the most-postponed film in recent times and with the release syncronising wih Sankranti today - his film might fare better with the festive audience longing for family drama and simple entertaining fare. Is the film different? Not different from the commercial fare - same old stunts and bone-smashing violence, item girls and cussed duets with cute girls. Infact, the film is longer too with 166 minutes of typical masala fare with a surfeit of villains  - Saikumar, Kota Srinivasa Rao, etc. Then what makes this watchable. Its the plot with a unique cinematic twist that comes in the first half hour and then again at interval block. I do not want to spoil the fun for your viewing experience by telling you the story. But suffice it that, Ramcharan takes off after half hour with a trail of sequences left by the other cameo star Allu Arjun in combating regular villains until a routine revenge drama takes over. 

Director Vamshi Paidipally weaves a simple story with a Shakespearan twist which gives an excitement in watching. Intermixed with loads of comedy from Brahmanandam on lines you have seen him before, the film takes off with good narration, characterisation and screenplay leaving the hero without any romance in the first half. Infact, much of the romance is on the side of villains with a new girl before Shruti Hasan takes over in second half. It is quite a typical commercial fare but novelty in treatment makes it eminently watchable. I believe the storyline with a twist is invested into by Vakkalanka Vamshi (the effervescent ETV newsreader of an era) and director Vamshi. Music by DSP has been the most hummable in this season and atleast two songs are chart-busters already. BGM score amplifies the emotions and the peformances well. 

Allu Arjun and Kajol Agarwal create a looming presence for themselves by selecting a role that gives them their own space in a film dominated by Ramcharan and Shruti Hasan. Dialogues are quite classy even if they occasionally hark back to vainglorious family fame. It is the violence that makes you squirm which doesn't usually have Dil Raju's sanction as he prefers everything toned down to family melodrama. First half is better than the second half because of tighter grip on narration and screenplay. Since everything adds up to the climax in the second half, director had brought in lot of elements and formula points for Ramcharan fans post-interval. That gives you some predictable and boring moments. If Tollywood continues to make films in this format, it may not get us anywhere in creative highs, but it will continue to ring in cash registers. Ramcharan improves his poker face and looks tidier and portly. He dances well and sustains himself in both the flashback and the first half. He doesn't grade his storylines well enough to select different films and infact uses regressive methods to taste success at Box Office like use of excess violence,  old comedy fare, over-mention of family tree and dynasty, and tried emotions. This time, the elements of family drama, revenge, emotions of mother-son sentiment and power-packed action with a unique twist could ensure a sustained run at the box office for "Yevadu". It should be the first hit of 2014 and could wipe out the deficit of the ten-odd films released so far. My rating for the film for its surprise thrill and watchability despite cliches is 3.25/5

"The Wolf of Wall Street" (English)

Martin Scorcese has been making films since 1964 and is regarded as a Hollywood legend who makes hard-hitting films with lot of visual effects and verbiage. He forged bonds of creative trust with actors like Robert de Neiro and now Leonardo DiCaprio. "The Wolf of Wall Street" is Martin's latest film with Dicaprio starring the latter as Jordan Belfort, the broker who made a killing in penny stocks and created a business empire that lured hundreds of aspirants from all walks of life - bakers, mechanics and retirees. Martin Scorcese's last film "Hugo" carried his stamp but the present film based on the same book written by Belfort is a throwback to the anarchist days of the 80s where the market cap to GDP ratio was below 1 and Reagan's years made it a national rage to own common stocks and brokers were divinely bestowed with tips.

Martin shows the Wall Street culture that is still the meanest in the world - with characters who sizzle in sex, lies, drugs and greed. Here is Belford who is indoctrinated into a dizzy culture of dope and sex while ripping off clients on over-churned stock portfolios. Belford tastes blood early and becomes the pet broker in his office. He figures out a new way to put hands in the wallets of customers: recommend penny stocks which are not traded regularly on the bourses which pays 50 per cent commissions - something similar to our trading in illiquid physical shares or micro cap stocks in low-trading category. Belfort fires up the opportunity and creates his own firm in due course which attract hordes of brokers in Wall Street firms. But Belford understands the selling cycle from telecalling to pitch to close. That makes him take on folks from unconventional backgrounds and mould them to deliver, this includes guys like Jonah Hill who crack the code of fast-pitching and over-trading in dud stocks.

The Success trap shows some sick humor with explicit sex scenes, substance abuse and scant regard to the person who pays all of the broker's bills - the poor customer. Belfort breaks up with his wife, seduces another man's wife who attends his lavish party, continues his tireless induction of hundreds of colleagues to plunder stocks, rip off clients, and that is when the chickens come home to roost - when FBI is tipped off in a trading scandal about a stock they made a killing. Belfort becomes a wreck because of this sex-and-drug addiction; he gets into deeper mess of money-laundering, offer of bribe to a FBI officer and stuff like that which pulls him down. Yet, he walks scot-free in the end and becomes a sales trainer.

 That makes "The Wolf of Wall Street" one of Martin's most irresponsible films that neither reflects the changing times nor give a new message to Wall Street admirers: Make merry at work, milk your customers, make love and get high on drugs. It is unlikely that the film despite an awe-inspiring performance by Dicaprio will every be counted as a classic in the elite company of films like "Wall Street", "Wall Street  Returns", "Boiler Room" or "In Pursuit of Happyness'. It is just shown as a law of the jungle without a message of uprighteousness or taking a high moral ground. It shows Martin's lack of familiarity or research on a topic well brought in the book. Martin presented the story but could have given the class of Oliver Stone to deliver a better script with loose ends upended. Regulators in US are no longer pro-cyclical and have moved on - you can't trade without compliance watching you as big brother, you cannot talk about your customer disparagingly because the "Access to Review" rule works against you - if you refer to a customer as an idiot or a dodo in your peer convesations, it can be a recordable fact of evidence used against you. Most of the dialogues are those spoken in the inner recesses of day-traders' minds and contain the word "fuck" too many times in each sentence. The slang is atrocious and contain fond unmentionables. It looks as if Martin wanted the audience to take a call on all those who thrive on the culture of preying on other people's money . Martin also dwelt too much on the same routine of pepping up colleagues to pitch products resulting in a film that close to 3 hours. Had he not chosen the film to the novel, Martin would have scored new highs with an in-your-face  narration on the different dimensions of the brokers and advisors. It does glamorise the profession but leaves wrong messages for everybody who watches the film, strictly for adults. Despite Dicaprio's exuberance and portrayal and Martin's pacy narration, the film will be disowned by the brokers and Wall Street representatives because it is unreal today and the industry shown in the film has changed . Families should avoid it because what is shown is as good as "porn scum", one of the pet expressions used by the hero. 

My rating: 2 out of 5

"1- Nenokkadine" (Telugu) Film Review

Director Sukumar has made some of the most intelligent films in commercial genre  - "Arya", "Arya-2", "Jagadam" and "100% Love". His films usually have an air of native touch with intelligence, wit and comedy that sticks well. Coming from the background of a Mathematics lecturer, there is a lot of sprinkling of concepts of logic, puzzles,algebra and mathematical induction running undercurrent to the main storyline which is usually romantic in most of his films where he tries to weave abstract themes into a cogent story. "1-Nenokkadine" is another film in that genre except that the director forgot to entertain us and also thought Mahesh Babu will not mind doing a role that pigeon-holes him into one of the most boring characters of his career. 

The story appears to be copy-pasted from some foreign film where a boy Gautam (played by Mahesh's real son Gautam) grows up with half-registered memories of his loving parents being killed by three villains on a trip to Goa. The boy grows up to become Mahesh who has an acute "Integration Disorder" which is a simpler term for "Schizophrenia" where Mahesh gets hallucinations about the three villains who killed his parents -  Kelly Dorjee, Pradeep Rawat and Nazar. He books himself solid everytime with the police only to be found out that his acts are unreal or sometimes real. These get him into close contact with a TV journalist played by debutante Kriti Salon. Both of them fall in love and the scene shifts to London where Mahesh unearths more clues about his parents - he eventually finds out the villains and the truth about his parents and why they were killed. Is that all the story? It's a bit more complicated than that as there is an angle of GM foods and seed companies using Hydrogen Cyanide in crops. Then there are three kinds of clues of Rubik's cube, a locker key and a 1992 British coin which finally lets Mahesh go and find out the truth about his parents. 

While the story appears ingenuious it is circuitously told without any respect or sensititivity towards an audience who have never been trained to think logically, linearly and sometimes abstractly - all at the same time. Sukumar must have always taken more additional sheets during his examinations, and this film is also unusually long at 169 minutes which collapses so many things in one plot that it reminds you of too many films - "Ek Niranjan" (where the hero hunts for his parents), "A Beautiful Mind" (where the hero is schizophrenic and solves cryptic clues), "Nenu" (where the hero talks to himself as if his wife is around) and "Athidhi" (which was a disaster for Mahesh because he does nothing but brood).  A film like this can be fitted better into a graphic novel or a page-turner instead of allowing itself to run like a multi-grain bread gravy-train which is running on too many engines. It failed to register - there are atleast seven brilliant clues which are too fleeting to notice. (I missed two of them which my wife, a Maths teacher could easily catch). Then a lot of repetitive scenes and surreal stunts take the thunder away; only two  stunts, one  in Goa waters and another in tunnel road where the hero skids off under a car that is skidding off in the opposite direction, stand out. Comedy is nil and the lose lines that Posani Krishna Murali mutters get you no cheers. Mahesh gets louder laughs than others when the joke is on his hallucinations. 

Mahesh looks fab and fitter than before - he seems at ease in dances with a few groovy moves. By baring his torso and his skin below the neck, Mahesh has proved a point or two. His stunts are becoming mediocre and implausible - there is no emotion or build-up of adrenalin. It is just one risky jump after another with the acrobatic guidance of Peter Heins. One of the stunts post-interval look like a repeat of "Dhoom-3". At this stage in his career, Mahesh needn't prove his mettle in mindless stunts but look to enhancing his market-cap by doing entertaining scripts because thats what draws out the best family crowds. In this film, there is not one scene which gives a high to Mahesh in upping the ante in acting, emotions or comedy. By picking a plot which keeps him serious throughout, Mahesh has erred on the same side which took him back with films like "Athidi". Incidentally, "Athidi" was produced by UTV and "1" is produced by Eros International apart from the producers who gave us "Dookudu". 

Kriti Salon as the tall journalist who stalks Mahesh and later becomes his lover is a promising fresh face. She looks ravishing, cute and is able to hold on her own against the persona of Mahesh. Her character is the most clearly etched one in the whole film. Nazar has few good lines and tried to do an image change by playing the main villain. Usually, he plays Mahesh's dad or a relative so playing a villain has pulled down the emotional connect both have had in several films. Music by DSP is great in background score but falls flat in main songs. The song in Goa with Kriti Salon wooing Mahesh and the one that comes immediately after interval are well shot. Dialogues are below-par and contribute their bit in making the audience uneasy. The lack of clarity and consistency in screenplay mar the film throughout. One, the title is not justified. You don't know whether it is about superstardom or aloofness. Two, the director misses out that audiences don't come to watch movies to solve puzzles in Sankranti season. It's harvest time for many not exam time. Three, Sukumar is overawed by Mahesh so much that he is blinded by admiration. In the first half, there is a bike parked by an ATM user flinched by Mahesh  - the number says AP 09 MB 1. Again, he drives another car where the number is AP 09 WZ 1. Why does he have to show stranger cars as no.1 that Mahesh likes to drive? Lastly, a lot of gaps in tight narration make the story-telling hazy and lazy. The gamble taken by Mahesh also is risky because Sukumar has ruined the film with over-worked story, hazy screenplay and scant disregard for entertainment value.  Which makes it one of the forgettable films in Mahesh Babu's career. 

My rating: 2 out of 5.

Uday Kiran - Promise cut Short by Self

I am surprised by Uday Kiran's suicide. All of us get our share of hard knocks in the school called life. Uday Kiran had been at the receiving end of high-handedness of some of the high and mighty of Tollywood. His death has also exposed the core issues of oligopoly dominating Tollywood which are being endlessly speculated upon on Telugu channels. Whether there is truth in that or not, whether or not the guilty will ever get punished or not, the laws of Karma will catch up with everyone one day - you can see the glimpses of such Karmic consequences in the way some of the family members of the "errant" powerful family suffered in their own personal lives too - somebody has married thrice, somebody else has ended a marriage too soon. Peace of mind will never return to them, neither will wages of sin be escaped ever.

Whether the speculation on dominating the Tollywood industry ceases or not, the days of oligopoly may soon be over because history teaches us that everytime a few people gang up together to stifle newcomers or corner the profits in the entire value chain from theatres to distribution to satellite rights, a tipping point like this occurs which will upstage the existing players who are calling the shots. 

In Hollywood, this happened from the times of Goldwyn Mayer till the times of Steven Spielberg. In Bollywood, it hapened with the original trio of RK-Dilip-Dev to Rajesh Khanna to Amitabh Bachan to the three Khans. Amitabh's over-dominance has bled the Bollywood industry with series of mega flops because the industry was revolving around the angry young man's machismo, it made the industry starve for good scripts, look for cheaper alternatives like Mithun Chakraborty and Anil Kapoor and eventually unleashed a new creative revolution that makes Bollywood the most celebrated industry in the world today - churning out regularly Rs.100-200 crore hits. Look at Sandalwood - Karnataka's film industry - which roared under Raj Kumar's mega stardom, driving creative composers, villains, heroines and producers out of Karnataka because they could not survive the big star-centric universe. It took many years of vacuum, government sops and renewed vigor to make people watch Kannada films again. Of course, though the film standards have gone up a few notches, the industry has gone back to more monopolistic days - with Raj Kumar's sons now being at the commanding heights of Sandalwood in distribution, content and production. Tamil Nadu used to be a leaf out of Andhra Pradesh in being oligopolistic but that has changed recently with Madam Jayalalitha seizing control of the trade by breaking up the segments concentrated upon by rivals from DMK family and restoring the order for small films to breathe free. 

Tollywood has always been peculiarly haunted by somewhat singular film fraternity right from the days of Akkineni Vara Lakshmi Prasad (Late LV Prasad) who ventured into films from agricultural surpluses and built the modern Telugu film industry as we know today. That has led to more and more industrialists with agricultural background turning to film-production and direction - most of the themes till today therefore, resonate with feudalistic fervor. Over the years, the domination attained unassailability with the Kammas entering the fray and building stardom upon stardom. At the height of his glory in 1980s, after his coronation as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, late NT Rama Rao took a decision that at that time was taken with a regressive intent: kill any competition that can allow the next Superstar to rise up again. NTR took a measure to introduce the slab system of charging entertainment taxes on the basis of assumed occupancy rates - that effectively sealed the fate of small films and low budget films. ANR, Krishna, Shoban Babu and Krishnam Raju were just dividing their stardom and Chiranjeevi was yet to see the megastardom. He wanted to see a bright future for his son Balakrishna and ensure the oligarchy continues. It led to wipe out of many small films because the halls refused to screen films which did not guarantee a minimum attendance. It also led to more and more such theatre-owners get into the clutches of producers who made big banner films and ensured minimum eye-balls for their family heroes. It led to more consolidation at the top end forcing more and more small producers capitulate. It led to concentration of stardom but distribution and production returning to the likes of the few that rule the industry. Major distributors like Lakshmi Films got annihilated. Producers who made high-quality family fare like Navata Krishnam Raju and K Murari withdrew from film-making. Creativity has hit new nadirs although the market cap has expanded - that has widened the gap between the mighty and the meek. Yes, you are still making more films but fewer hit films. 

Last year, according to one producer, there were 13 small-budget films which became superhits  whereas only 9 big-budget films became hits. That means, despite the channels of exhibition and distribution being at the mercy of a few, audiences are clamoring for new content. Eventually, the audiences will move on from one megastar to another but the appetite for imaginative and innovative content will grow with maturing of audiences across the ages. Only then, when all-round talent is harvesting a bounty will the industry expand. Bollywood is in that sweet spot today - with atleast three heroines and a dozen heroes commanding a gross of Rs.100 crores. Tollywood in its 82 years is making hopelessly 200 films plus but only now has crossed Rs.100 crores. A Rajini and a Kamal have routinely crossed Rs.150 crores in recent times, from a neighbouring Kollywood, which is reinventing itself to expand markets yet cut its teeth into new and expanding cakes overseas. Zombie films will atrophy and take down the majority of the makers who continue to swear by them. New Order will emerge from those few who are not being wholeheartedly backed today. Film Industry after Film Industry has escaped this fall however big. Look at the biggest studio in South India- Ramoji Film City. It's valuation is up because of TV serials and tourism activity, not because of film shoots planned there. A few years back, one of Hyderabad's biggest Star Producer studios came up for outright sale - this is the studio that made some golden hits for ANR and NTR and made over 100 films in all Indian languages and created a Guinness Record. According to reports, the valuation came to around Rs.700 crores and that hasn't come from film negatives but from the land parcels embedded within the studio limits. Doesn't it tell you that if you continue making stupid masala films, it doesn't get  you anywhere?  Or, just because you are Mahesh Babu or Pawan Kalyan doesn't augur well for all the producers in Tollywood? My point in this excursion is to give a consumer's analysis of where the industry is going and whether that direction is desired by one and all. Thats a limited point to the main discussion. 

Which ought to be really, why Uday Kiran had to give up so soon on his life. When you give up on your life, you are giving up on what can work from you from the next moment you stay alive. Acting is not the sole objective of life, if you are an actor. There are many actors who came to terms with what's not happening in their lives and then took charge of some things that made it happen in different ways:

Actor Tarun still acts in youthful roles,  runs a restaurant and retains his zest for life.

Actor Raja is waiting for the perfect small-budget film and converted to Christianity. He finds more solace in his new religion.

Actor Rajendra Prasad has matured into mellowed roles and winning accolades with his versatility. 

Actor Naresh has been experimenting with character roles and playing key roles in relation to the ruling heroes and heroines of Tollywood.

Actor Navdeep has not given up on himself and has played noticeable roles against superstars and also starring in small budget films.

Actor Pradeep, yesteryears hero in Jandhyala films, has reinvented himself as a top executive in an IT company.

Last heard, Uday Kiran has actually got a chance to hear four new stories from casting agencies I know of. Instead of listening to the new stories, he kept repeating his sob story, it seems. If only he has listened to new ideas and realised that life is not all about just acting...If only he realised that being alive offered infinite possibilities to his potential outside even films - as a restaurateur, TV serials, second heroes, character artist, sports coach, life coach...anything. Uday Kiran, R.I.P. You had so much potential but you limited life with your limitations, my friend. If only...

Happy New Year!

Keep kicking a ball

Even if against a wall

There's no knowing what may occur.

despite a feeling of problems recur.

The entire world knows

we hit highs, we hit lows;

sometimes wrong, sometimes right -

This not only applies

when a bad ruler denies,

When a nation could fight

a dynasty's divine right. 

Change is in the air,

not just the  calendar.

A whole frustrating year just went by

but 2014 might be worth a try -

Success is not guaranteed -

but who knows the beauties to  unfold.

If this writing is dense,

don't get tense.

Get close to your ones near and dear

Wish you a happy New Year!