Hemantha Kalam - 106 "Streets and Stories of Chennai"

While on the subject of memory streets, let me share with you some intriguing stories of Chennai (Madras) streets and the history behind their names and name changes.

Many of the new generation citizens of Chennai, even if they are visitors, might be wondering (if they have the inclination and time, which I very much wonder whether they have) about some names of the streets.

The erstwhile Madras and Chennai as it is called now, had most of the streets and roads named after some British person, legend or not, for whatever reason. I don’t intend boring my readers with such details. There are historians for that anyway.

For a long time there used to be a practice in Chennai a person constructing a house first in an empty street or an area could name the street/area after him/her.

So, many street names were taken after some person who was a pioneer in that street.

However, in 1978, the Dravidian party that ruled Tamil Nadu under the leadership of Puratchi Thalaivar (Revolutionary leader) Late Thiru M. G. Ramachandran took a historic decision to drop all caste names in every street/road name in Tamil Nadu. So, overnight many street names have been changed, some leading to hilarious situations. 

Just for the readers’ sense of knowledge and memory, I give below samples of how some of the names used to be and how they have been changed.

Old Name	Changed to	Further Changed to
Angappa Naicken Street	Angappa Street
Chari Street	Street
Chinnaya Pillai Road	Chinnaya Road
Dr. Nair Road	Dr. Road
Gopathi Narayanaswamy Chetti Road	Gopathi Narayanaswamy Road	G. N. Road
K. G. Nair Street	K. G. Street
Kasi Chetti Street	Kasi Street
Linghi Chetti Street	Linghi Street
Narasimhachary Street	Narasimhan Road
Reddy Street	Street	(Reddy) Street
Sadan Street	Kumaran Colony 7th Road
Subba Rao Street/Avenue	Subba Street/Avenue
Thambu Chetti Street	Thambu Street
Thirumala Pillai Road	Thirumalai Road
Vyasa Rao Naidu Street	Vyasa Rao Street	Vyasar Street

 All these changes took place during my lifetime when I was so aware of these changes and happenings.

I also happen to know the history of the changes of some streets.

Mr. Chari’s grandson was my colleague and I was aware of the legal battle they had to undergo to regain their lost name for the street, rendering the name of the street to just ‘Street’ which was named in honour of his late grandfather. It took time and many efforts to make the powers be understand that Chari need not essentially denote any caste as there are Charis in Brahmins, in Carpenters and in Goldsmiths.

Late Chinnaya Pillai (who was our erstwhile neighbour when we lived next door in the street) was a renowned advocate/lawyer and the street was named after him apparently because his was the first house in the street. If today someone wonders who the Chinnaya was on whom the street was named, they, perhaps, would draw a blank.

Dr. Nair Road became just Dr. Road.

Apparently no significant protest has been made about Reddy Street becoming just Street. Now it looks like people found a middle path by putting the caste name in parenthesis and made it (Reddy) Street.

Gopathi Narayanaswamy Chetti Road is an arterial road and after removing the caste name Chetti (other equivalents are Sreshti, Shetti, Setti etc.) finally it became G. N. Road.

The story of K. G. Nair street is interesting as this happened fully in my presence. My father was the first to construct his home in the street of the area which was originally called Meenakshi Street, when the layout was made. So one day Mr. K. Gopalan Nair who also had a plot in the street but constructed his home much later walked into our home (he was our electrician and his sons were selling us fresh milk from the cattle they owned too) and asked my father whether he (my father) was interested in naming the street after him. Now came the interesting dilemmas. My father’s name was Venkateswara Rao. As per government Rao is supposed to be a caste name and so is not permitted. The next road was already called Venkateswara Street and the colony cannot have the same name for two streets as it won’t serve any purpose.

I was keen in naming it after our surname Pamarthy (to be pronounced Paamarthi) but my father vehemently did not agree. His logic was that inevitably my Tamil brethren will successfully kill the name in the pronunciation. Tamil script has the same alphabet for ‘pa’ and ‘ba’ and so is the case ‘tha’ and ‘dha’ as is the case with so many other syllables. So what is Pamarthy now will soon become Bamardhy (to be pronounced Baammardhi) which in Telugu means brother-in-law or Saala in the Hindi slang. My dear father visualised this possibility in a jiffy while on his toes. Then I said let us name the street after my mother and my father objected to that too immediately, saying that he didn’t want all and sundry to keep calling my mother’s name. That ended our side of the argument.

Now that my father did not want any name from our side, Mr. K. Gopalan Nair asked whether we have any objection to naming the street after him as K. G. Nair Street. We said we did not have any and so he moved the authorities convincingly to keep the name as K. G. Nair street which was short lived as, soon it became K. G. Street. Mr. Gopalan Nair also contested the Panchayat elections for Saligramam Panchayat and successfully lost.

Interestingly the portion of his plot onto the said road has been sold away but that part of the street is still called K. G. Street. Our part of the street has been reinstated with the old name of Meenakshi Street.

The story of Vyasa Rao Naidu Street is truly hilarious. First the caste name Naidu was removed. Then after sometime, as an after thought Rao was removed rendering the street to become Vyasa Street. Then the authorities wanted to add reverence and so made it Vyasar Street. But the point missed by the authorities is that Rao is not a caste name anywhere in India except in Tamil Nadu. Tamilians anyway don’t name themselves as Rao. But for some reason, maybe because of naivety, many of my Tamil brethren think that the suffix ‘Rao’ denotes a surname of Brahmins. Little do they seem to know or  realise or would like to learn is that it is just a suffix used after names, by people belonging to 'all castes', in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Telangana. My Tamil brethren are very intelligent but somehow appear to be obstinate in this aspect, probably because they do not want to give away their staunch belief so easily. Now who will bell the cats?

The story of Sadan street is interesting and for me, a bit touching too. Mr. Sadan (Late) was a stage and film artist, mimicry artist, film singer and may be some instrumentalist too. He constructed a cute and petite home, off Kumaran Colony and now behind the Nexus Forum Mall in Vadapalani, which I loved and used to admire much. He was famous for his mimicry in the song ‘Kadavul amaiththu vaiththa medai…’ (Tamil) which was made into Telugu as ‘Thaali kattu subha vela…’. So, the street leading to his house was named Sadan Street for a very long time. Sometime later Mr. Sadan passed away. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattom_Sadan)

However, one fine day when I was passing through the street, I found that cute house was no more in the plot and now some other construction is there, which to me is insipid and a big let down. What more, the name of Sadan street seems to have silently transformed into Kumaran Colony 7^th Street. Every time I pass the place, where his house used to be, I feel sad for the good times his family must have had there in their cute house. I do not know any more information about him or his family.

Names to the streets are given to remember people and whatever their little contribution or history was. So, tinkering with them not only is an insult but also a step towards obliterating history in its true sense, in the guise of creating equality. Like poverty eradication, equality, in my opinion, is a myth.

But then, we have never been good in keeping things for posterity. If at all there is any history, most of it is thrust on us from the northern Indian history. Whatever is left, is lost like this. And as for the future, it appears most of the millennials and ‘Gen Z’ hardly seem to have any time for such trivial things as history.

Still hoping for something good and until the next,  

Krutagjnatalu (Telugu), Nanri (Tamil), Dhanyavaadagalu (Kannada), Nanni (Malayalam), Dhanyavaad (Hindi), Dhanyosmi (Sanskrit), Thanks (English), Dhonyavaad (Bangla), Dhanyabad (Oriya and Nepalese), Gracias (Spanish), Grazie (Italian), Danke Schon (Deutsche), Merci (French), Obrigado (Portuguese), Shukraan (Arabic and Sudanese), Shukriya (Urdu), Sthoothiy (Sinhalese) Aw-koon (Khmer), Kawp Jai Lhai Lhai (Laotian), Kob Kun Krab (Thai), Asante (Kiswahili), Maraming Salamat sa Lahat (Pinoy-Tagalog-Filipino), Tack (Swedish), Fa'afetai (Samoan), Terima Kasih (Bahasa Indonesian) and Tenkyu (Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea), Malo (Tongan), Vinaka Vaka Levu (Fijian)

 

Hemantha Kumar Pamarthy

Chennai, India

 

 

 

 

 

Hemantha Kalam - 105 "Memory Streets"

                                                                                  Memories don’t leave like people do;                                                  They always stay with you...

Sir Tom Jones

Men and some animals (known to us) have memories, however vague or strong they might be. We will not be able to say whether animals could have favourite memories, but as human beings many of us have some or more favourite memories. Well, so do I. In fact, I have too many memories that many of them are more of a burden as I belong to the breed that forgives a lot but seldom forgets!

So I was dwelling on my favourite memories and then started writing this blog with one favourite memory of mine (in fact that of almost all of our siblings), which is about my father. I have so many memories of my father that I can perhaps write a book on them. So this is a slice of those.

As mentioned by me in my earlier blogs, my father was working in whichever way his talent pushed him, to make ends meet.

During the early 1960s, he started stabilising a bit when he started working for a gentleman who ran two companies – one was called SYGA Corporation and the other SYGA Movies. My father was the manager of the first and an associate director in the second. I have reasonably distinct and vivid memories of his work in both.

But the favourite memory is from the first – SYGA Corporation. This was an indenting office in Madras (Chennai),  for an Indian company called the Gwalior Rayon Silk Manufacturing Company Limited (later name changed to Grasim Industries), with its manufacturing plant located at Mavoor, Kozhikode (Calicut), Kerala, India (if I am not mistaken, this manufacturing plant does not exist anymore there). The job of the indenting office was to check on the availability and prices of raw material needed by the plant, on a daily basis, from various sources in Chennai, and inform the factory appropriately and promptly so that their procurement department would place orders directly to a vendor of their choice.

My father used to go to office around 11.00 am, work in the office to cater to the needs of the plant, as also taking care of the necessary communications, leave office to go to George and Park Towns and the Sowcarpet area in Chennai (between Chennai Central Station on the West, DARE house on the East, Broadway area in the South and Mint/Mannadi area in the north).

For this purpose, his company did not provide him with any vehicle, not even a bicycle. So he used to commute initially by bicycle but as we started growing up he too started aging and preferred to commute by public transport and the nearest facility to his office was the bus service.

Depending on the day’s requirement of material, he used to alight sometimes at Wall Tax road (adjacent to Chennai Central station) and start walking the streets to meet vendors and find out the availability and prices of the raw material needed for the day.

He would cover areas and streets like Pai Kadai, Evening Bazaar, Mint Street, Govindappa Naicken Street, Flower Bazaar, Godown Street, Badrian Street, Anderson Street, Lyons Square, Broadway, Sembudoss Street, Armenian Street, Thambu Chetty Street, Linghi Chetty Street, Angappa Naicken Street, Thatha Muthiappan Street, Seven Wells, Mannadi, Muthialpet, II Line Beach, Burma Bazaar etc., and many more depending on the need. For at least a couple of decades he was the uncrowned king of these streets like many other petty traders in these streets too. Every vendor my father met or had business in these streets loved him.

This walk would continue till about 9.30 pm by which time he would have covered a major portion of the area, when he finally would call it a day, more because the vendors were closing than because of lack of energy on his part, and take a bus from Broadway bus stand. The last buses of the day were always crowded and one needed deftness to find and hold a seat which my dad used to do with aplomb. Even the most irritated and irate person used to calm down on seeing his smile.

As I entered school and later college (which was located at less than 500 meters from his office) he started taking me around too, just to show me the ‘world’ in its true sense. Being a bit of laissez faire guy that I am, I never had his energy levels and used to crib often for walking so long and for so many hours. Being a foodie, one of my favourite cribs was to ask him for evening snacks; in restaurants where the different aromas used to waft onto the streets; which he almost always used to pass by saying that we are ending our work for the day and should not stuff ourselves, else we cannot justify our dinner. There were times when I used to point blank refuse to accompany him, if he did not buy me snacks in the evening.

Once or twice a week he also used to buy and bring home vegetables from ‘Kotwal Chavadi’ which was the wholesale vegetable market in the city (before it was relocated to Koyambedu) at the time and was located at Lyons Square. Part of Broadway near the Lyons Square was cobble stoned (British era) and even in the normal times it used to be a bit painful to walk on the smooth polished dome like cobbles. In rainy season it used to be dreadful added with slush and stink. There used to be ankle deep water filled with vegetable wastes and walking on the slippery cobbles, without spraining an ankle, was an art.

My father used to hold his office brief case in one hand, umbrella in the other and used to bargain for vegetables where no bargaining was available. But those vegetable sellers, who loved my father, used to offer him good prices and generous in measuring / weighing too. My father used to wear real stylish cooling glasses or they all just looked good on him whichever way, but also used to lose them mostly at the vegetable shops by forgetting to pick them up when they fell from his pocket or when he placed them on some vegetables while picking the good ones!.

I must have moved with my father in the evenings like this for several years alright. My cribbing continued, but later, only much later, could I (the dumb guy that I am) understand the value of my father’s personal tutelage in teaching me (later, all my siblings) the markets, the products’ availability, the art of negotiation et al., for which I am forever indebted to him. Unknown to me then, the seeds, for my qualifying in Materials Management study, were sown in those days itself.

My favourite memory in this episode is that somewhere in 1973 (yes, half a century ago) one evening my father asked me to come to his office straight from college to go to Parry’s corner. We met Mr. Kishan Lal Khanna, a good friend of my father, at a pre-fixed place on Thambu Chetty Street and slowly walking through Armenian Street, Broadway, Lyons square, Bundar street, Govindappa Naicken street, we finally reached Kasi Chetty street. That was the first time I was entering Kasi Chetty Street as earlier, there was not much of an occasion for us to go there since it was a street well known for products in the grey market.

But, apparently, unknown to me as yet, that was a special day. We went shop after shop where my father was asking for good and stylish imported wrist watches. Allwyn and Titan were not born yet and HMT models were considered not stylish enough at that time.  Finally both of us could agree upon one model of a watch, interestingly in grey colour. Those days, my father used to wear a beautiful white dialled and light weight Swiss ‘Favre Leuba’ watch, and I was wondering why he was buying another watch, as he is not known to squander his money. This watch, after a deep bargaining, was fixed for Rs.230.00. My father paid the cash and asked me to wear it. He had a twinkle in his eyes when he saw me wearing it.

That was my first watch and gifted by my dad on the occasion of my entering a college, the first to do in our family. That was one happy day and this is an unforgettable memory of my father. I tried resurrecting the now defunct watch several times, even last year, but though it has not lost its sheen, it is just not functioning. Perhaps, its function now is to remain a good living memory for me.

Later my first job was in the same area for about a year and a half when both of us used to meet sometimes in the evenings and together bring vegetables home. My work over the past eight years takes me to the same area again and every time I walk on any street in the area, I find myself walking along with my dad, invisibly though. I see him everywhere in the area.

Today (14^th July) is the day he passed away six years ago. Interestingly that was a Friday and today is a Friday too!  There has not been a single day when I don’t think of him or do not reminisce my association with him. He had been a dad of a different stock and I could not or can’t ever be like him and I am glad of that, so my father’s uniqueness is unscathed and untouched.

I do hope that he would be busy wherever he is with that infectious smile of his and bringing more smiles on to others’ faces, or would he be singing, without a care for time? How I would love to know!

So folks that’s about it for this blog.

Until the next, 

Krutagjnatalu (Telugu), Nanri (Tamil), Dhanyavaadagalu (Kannada), Nanni (Malayalam), Dhanyavaad (Hindi), Dhanyosmi (Sanskrit), Thanks (English), Dhonyavaad (Bangla), Dhanyabad (Oriya and Nepalese), Gracias (Spanish), Grazie (Italian), Danke Schon (Deutsche), Merci (French), Obrigado (Portuguese), Shukraan (Arabic and Sudanese), Shukriya (Urdu), Sthoothiy (Sinhalese) Aw-koon (Khmer), Kawp Jai Lhai Lhai (Laotian), Kob Kun Krab (Thai), Asante (Kiswahili), Maraming Salamat sa Lahat (Pinoy-Tagalog-Filipino), Tack (Swedish), Fa'afetai (Samoan), Terima Kasih (Bahasa Indonesian) and Tenkyu (Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea), Malo (Tongan), Vinaka Vaka Levu (Fijian)

 

Hemantha Kumar Pamarthy

Chennai, India

 

Hemantha Kalam - 104 "Interesting Play"

I am apolitical and remain to be so. If at all, in politics, my interest is more academical as I am sometimes fascinated by the strategies of various political parties which should easily be good case studies for discussion in class rooms.

Today I am writing again on politics of my native state, Andhra Pradesh, as today the 11^th February, 2023 seems to be historically significant as, today the state ruling party is launching a unique programme, which to the best of my knowledge, belief and trust, has not so far been tried by any other political party in the country. If this play / ploy succeeds, this might easily become a precedent for future political parties in the country.

The state of Andhra Pradesh is to face state elections in the year 2024 but there are many parties who believe that there could be early elections in the year 2023 itself. So, all the parties are already on the field campaigning vigorously for winning the next elections. Strategies, counter strategies, bad mouthing all are going on unabated from almost all sides for a few months since.

During such campaigning times, the State ruling party, the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) took an interesting step of pasting posters and stickers on each and every household in the state which says, in Telugu ‘Maa Nammakam Nuvve Jagan’ meaning, ‘Our Trust is Only You Jagan’. Interestingly, the poster also says, in small letters, that it has been released by the state government (at taxpayers’ cost), but the sticker says that they have been released by the party. Now this is not an issue at all.

The issue is that the Government’s volunteers, ‘Graama Sachivaalayam’ (Village Secretariats) employees and ‘Gruha Saarathulu’ (true translation is ‘Home Drivers’) will be entrusted the task of overseeing this project of ensuring a poster and sticker on every house.

For those who are naive and uninitiated about the matters of Andhra Pradesh, to understand this blog further, it is necessary for them to know that as soon as YSRCP came into power in 2019, with a thumping majority of 150+ seats out of 175, parallel administration has been created in the name of volunteers (Rs.5,000 salary per month flat) with responsibility of a ward or a street and it is the volunteers who bridge the people and the government. Later, in the place of Panchayats, Village Secretariats have been created. Some say that this is because the new government did not have enough trust in the old systems and people and also that they had to provide employment for all their party cadre and loyalists so these new entities and establishments have been created. Only the creators know what the truth is and I have no comments on these.

Very recently a third entity of ‘Gruha Saarathulu’ has been created. Experienced people say that this is almost like the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) system of ‘Panna Pramukh’ where the Panna Pramukhs are made responsible for a certain number of households in a demarcated area, and it is their job to ensure that the people of those houses in the area are ‘touched’ on a daily basis with the latest developmental activities of what is happening what the party is doing, blah, blah, blah.

In other words, they have been doing earlier what the WhatsApp groups are doing now, Propaganda - to the point of sickening. The important matter in the case of Panna Pramukhs is that they knew which way the wind is blowing and so remedial action can be taken swiftly. This is what I understand on the role of Panna Pramukhs. If I am wrong I am willing to listen and learn for the better.

Now YSRCP is alleged to have been in the good books of the ruling party at the centre (at least so far) and they may be taking in a few leaves to follow here too. So the ‘Gruha Saarathulu’ have been pushed into the arena now.

But then I am digressing.

Now read carefully from hereupon, please.

Imagine a Gruha Saarathi is approaching a householder and says he has to put up the poster and the sticker on his house. Independent guys like me would tend to say that this is a house I have built up with my hard earned money and why I should put up a politician’s or political poster on my house. Nothing may happen immediately as the government (note, the government) says that this is not a compulsory exercise.

But your reluctance is now known and you immediately become a suspect that probably you belong to the opposition party.

Now look at some of the possibilities!

1) Because you are a suspected member of the opposition party you may suddenly find your name missing from the voters’ list (a brilliant way to find out culprits who won’t vote for you, right?)

2) Your monthly ration and other government schemes may stop forthwith

3) A lot of new conditions might be applied only to your and other households refusing to put up the poster and sticker

4) Officials could frequent your house at all odd times on some silly excuse

5) Suddenly you will find that your house has encroached by 5 inches onto the road and so your front portion or even the full portion of the house may be officially collapsed / razed

6) Your telephone might be tapped.

(again for those naive souls, there is now a big hue and cry that in Andhra Pradesh, not only the opposition, but also the ruling party politicians’ phones are all being tapped since 2019 – again only the government knows whether this is true or not)

I never came across such a ‘brilliant’ idea of muzzling people so silently just with a poster and a sticker. Well, whoever got this idea!? (It is strongly alleged that this could be a strategy designed by the ‘I-PAC’ team advising the party but then what or how do I know anything? Nothing).

As a teacher, I am just eager to see the results and also know if any discussions on this would be held in management institutions as learning points!

If this programme really goes on and succeeds, democracy in the country will have interesting times to see from now on.

So folks that’s about it.

Until the next, 

Krutagjnatalu (Telugu), Nanri (Tamil), Dhanyavaadagalu (Kannada), Nanni (Malayalam), Dhanyavaad (Hindi), Dhanyosmi (Sanskrit), Thanks (English), Dhonyavaad (Bangla), Dhanyabad (Oriya and Nepalese), Gracias (Spanish), Grazie (Italian), Danke Schon (Deutsche), Merci (French), Obrigado (Portuguese), Shukraan (Arabic and Sudanese), Shukriya (Urdu), Sthoothiy (Sinhalese) Aw-koon (Khmer), Kawp Jai Lhai Lhai (Laotian), Kob Kun Krab (Thai), Asante (Kiswahili), Maraming Salamat sa Lahat (Pinoy-Tagalog-Filipino), Tack (Swedish), Fa'afetai (Samoan), Terima Kasih (Bahasa Indonesian) and Tenkyu (Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea), Malo (Tongan), Vinaka Vaka Levu (Fijian)

 

Hemantha Kumar Pamarthy

Chennai, India

 

Hemantha Kalam - 103 "Pass Pass Just Time Pass"

Well, it is already a month since 2022 joined history. After the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic in the years of 2020-2021, the past year was milder, but in retrospect I wouldn’t call it spectacular in any manner. Just time passed and one more year elapsed. I became poorer by one more year of my life as would have been every other living person on the earth.

I had ups and downs (many more of the downs than the ups though) during the year but my guardian angel and pari took care of my job and income. In general, I had time on my hands which I used fruitfully on entertaining myself thanks to my daughters who have generously subscribed to several of the OTT channels.

So, in the process, I have watched many movies of all genres in several languages and conveniently forgot several but could remember some remarkable ones. So, in this blog, let me attempt rating some of those noteworthy films that I watched and remembered. During this year I watched all those movies without reading or being influenced by any of the reviews given by others.

My tastes are weird and so many may not accept my ratings but then that should be their problem and not mine. This is my blog and I have doggedly decided to rate the movies on my terms. So let me start from the top!

1) The numero uno is ‘Kanthara’ – the Kannada/Tulu Action Drama.

One of my close friends, who apparently went all the way to namma Bengaluru to watch the film with another close friend, mentioned that the film has been over hyped and though it is good to watch, it is just that – good to watch once, said my friend.

In my humble opinion, one needs to relate to the place to enjoy the movie thoroughly by understanding the customs, the feelings and the thoughts of the natives.

During 1990-1994, the South Canara district has been like my second native place while I was crisscrossing in every which way from Kundapur to Kukke Subrahmanya, from Agumbe to Ullal beach traversing their paddy and pineapple fields and areca-nut farms and forests with equal elan.

So I preferred to watch the movie in its original version in Kannada language so that the subtle humour and digs are not missed and savoured whole-heartedly, which inevitably would be lost, at least partly if not fully, in the sub titles.

Since I did not read any information about the film prior-hand, the turn of events, the suspense all could be enjoyed fully.

So I rate this picture as the best among those that I watched during the year.

2) At the second place is ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ – the Tamil classic.

This richly made film should have been number one for its grandeur, and well mounted production. The art direction has been great (I am not saying this because the art director is my brother in law, assisted by his daughter and my niece, whom I never met so far though) and the picture resolution has been memorable.

The only reason it got pipped at the post is because of the story which at my age became difficult to remember with so many connections and twists. Too many characters sort of crowded the story of the film. One needs his head firmly in place to follow it coherently. Though I grew up with my Tamil brethren, most of who have been brought up on the book ‘Ponniyin Selvan’, for some reason I never attempted to read and rued it while watching the film.

Also this film now is part-1 and part-2 is still in the making. So sooner or later it may become number one in my ratings too.

3) At the third place is ‘The Power of the Dog’ – English Western Drama

I have a severe weakness for western movies be they be from Hollywood or the Italian spaghetti versions. There have been times when both my father and I used to simply love watching western movies, together - even the crude Indian versions too.

This must be because of the so many western comics that we all read in the family during our childhood. I probably know more of places like Texas, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Dakota, Wichita and Mexico etc and the canyons and the Mesas. And mind you, I have been to USA only once and for just two days in the capital of Washington DC. I had the pleasure of teaching the history of 'Wells Fargo' to an Indian employee of the company!

So it was a casual watching of ‘The Power of the Dog’, which slowly enveloped me into its cold and warmth. The end was fantastic and un-thought about. I enjoyed the film alright. If it is not for the slow burning and a bit of more drama than action, this film could have rated better by me.

4) At the fourth place is ‘Aapla Manus’ – Marathi Crime Drama

I watched this movie sheerly because I was attracted by a guy riding a bullet motorcycle on the thumbnail.

I watched this film also in its native language Marathi and started picking up the vocabulary that I had lost many years ago. But then my Marathi was more of the Thanjavur Marathi and the film’s was the true Maharashtra Marathi. Still I could enjoy the original flavour with whatever little I could understand of the language.

The crime picture is pleasant, intense, without gore, without too many histrionics, calm dialogue delivery, diabolical possibilities and the end is fantastic, though too dramatic.

Being a budget film, they must have used the protagonist to play double roles which, in my opinion was unnecessary and reduced the seriousness and value of the film.

5) At the fifth place is ‘Uunchai’ – Hindi serious comedy drama

I watched this movie just because the OTT ZEE5 kept on prompting this film on the TV screen.

I didn’t regret watching it at all, even though it was quite long. Apart from Mr. Amitabh Bachchan and Mr. Anupam Kher with Ms. Neena Gupta, it also featured Mr. Danny Denzongpa whom I watched ages later and that all time beautiful lady Ms. Nafisa Ali. Mr. Boman Irani was so lively. Mr. Danny’s smile in the film is so infectious. Ms. Parineeti Chopra fit the bill very well. Surprise is Ms. Sarika.

The picture was mischievously pleasant - heavy here, light there, adventure here and bantering there. The scenes were beautiful and culturally rich. I couldn’t help relating myself to some characters in several scenes, especially in the adventurous parts. Everyone did their job well and one doesn’t feel the passing of time. Real time-pass film.

It did not feature in the top ones only because the others were a shade different or better.

6) At the sixth place is ‘Roudram, Ranam, Rudhiram (RRR)’ – Telugu concoction of a fantasy, fiction and action

(The Sanskritised Telugu words of Roudram, Ranam, Rudhiram mean Ferocity/Fierce, War and Blood)

I generally don’t like to watch movies which are too publicised or hyped. But one evening, I gave casual company to my wife in watching this elongated film. I watched it more with a curiousness of a Professor and a Sophomore of Management, both at the same time, more than an average audience.

The picture is based on a wild story created by the film’s director Mr. Rajamouli’s father Mr. Vijayendra Prasad and supported by the music by his uncle Mr. Marakatamani Keeravani (for the Bollywood he is known as M.M. Kreem).

For the admirers of the Telugu real life heroes Alluri Seetarama Raju and Komuram Bhim, the story of the film could even be blasphemous, but I was amused by the chutzpah displayed in mounting the story as one of the large budgeted films.

In fact RRR seems to be representing Rajamouli (Mr.), Ram Charan (Mr.) and Rama Rao (Mr.). Junior NTR is named after his grandfather Late Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao garu.

It appears that right from the word go, the entire film was planned for marketing. It seems to have been produced and packaged to suit that marketing. This is the reason that I watched the film more as a management student than as an average viewer.

The success of the film is evident. The nation went gaga over the film. It resulted in the writer becoming a nominated MP of Rajya Sabha and the music director getting a Padmashri. The director was already awarded a Padmashri in 2016. 

The budgets set aside for the purpose apparently got the results – the song ‘Naatu Naatu’ got a Golden Globes award for the ‘Best Original Song’ category. ‘Naatu Naatu’ was sung apparently by Mr. Kala Bhairava who is the son of Mr. Keeravani. RRR won the Critics Choice Award too. And now intense lobbying seems to have ended up in ‘Naatu Naatu’ getting nominated for Oscars too. The film should become a case study in Marketing Management Classes. Whoever said that family enterprises cannot succeed? Here is a visible example.

My Tamil brethren are quite intelligent and have been indulging in experiments since long in the film industry of Kollywood. But how did they not think of making all these efforts for their ‘Naakku Mookka’ song beats me. After all, that song also has been a native and original song. It was tuned nearly similarly too, if I dare say.

Well, all said and done, I am shamelessly happy that someone from my native state could dream, plan, mount and scale a movie so meticulously to attain ‘all results’ planned for. How parochial of me!?

7) At the seventh place is ‘Kaapa’ – Malayalam Crime Drama and Action

I was a bit let down by this film whose story had a great potential to show women empowerment, even in crime. Instead, the story and the director allowed Mr. Prithviraj Sukumaran's character to overshadow all other characters and actors.

Usually I love Malayalam films for their nativity depiction. Yes, this film too had the nativity but somehow the film became a run-of-the-mill stuff. Only the final twist saved the film is what I think and made eligible for at least some rating from me.

In addition to the above films that I have rated, there are a couple of Telugu films worth mentioning though I am not rating them as both are remakes.

The first one is ‘Andaroo Baagundaali, Andulo Nenundaali’ (All should be well and I should be among them) appears to be a remake of the Malayalam film ‘Vikruthi’(2019). It is a serious comedy and has been pleasantly made. The protagonist is Mr. V.K. Naresh, the yesteryear’s hero and the antagonist is present day’s comedian Mr. Ali. There are no fights, but humour and agony. Even those have been picturised elegantly.

The second one is ‘Dongalunnaru Jagratta’ (Beware of thieves) which is a remake of the Argentine-Spanish Crime thriller ‘4 x 4’ (2019). The picture is a total action drama with hardly any fights.

Both appear to be low budget films but brilliantly made. I did not regret watching either of them at all.

So folks that’s about it. Do watch the films, if you are interested, and let me know your thoughts.

Until then and until the next, 

Krutagjnatalu (Telugu), Nanri (Tamil), Dhanyavaadagalu (Kannada), Nanni (Malayalam), Dhanyavaad (Hindi), Dhanyosmi (Sanskrit), Thanks (English), Dhonyavaad (Bangla), Dhanyabad (Oriya and Nepalese), Gracias (Spanish), Grazie (Italian), Danke Schon (Deutsche), Merci (French), Obrigado (Portuguese), Shukraan (Arabic and Sudanese), Shukriya (Urdu), Sthoothiy (Sinhalese) Aw-koon (Khmer), Kawp Jai Lhai Lhai (Laotian), Kob Kun Krab (Thai), Asante (Kiswahili), Maraming Salamat sa Lahat (Pinoy-Tagalog-Filipino), Tack (Swedish), Fa'afetai (Samoan), Terima Kasih (Bahasa Indonesian) and Tenkyu (Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea), Malo (Tongan), Vinaka Vaka Levu (Fijian)

 

Hemantha Kumar Pamarthy

Chennai, India