2019, the last “teen year” of the 21st century, has brought about a complete turnaround of fortunes for some people and also ruined the fate some others in the Telugu states.
While ups and downs are common in every person’s life during the course of time, the concluding year has witnessed extreme ups in case of some persons and extreme downs in case of others, if one would compare the beginning of the year with the end.
Take the case of YSR Congress party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy. At the beginning of the year, Jagan was not sure what was in store for him and whether the response he had received during the padayatra would translate into votes.
But this year has made Jagan’s long-cherished dream come true. After witnessing several major upsets in his life in the last 10 years, Jagan finally achieved what he had been longing for – capturing power in Andhra Pradesh.
He concluded the year on an extremely happy note, winning the hearts of people with a slew of welfare schemes and decimating the opposition beyond recovery.
There is a saying in Hindi: “Upar wala jab bhi deta hai, tho chappar phad ke deta hai" (If the Almighty decides to give you something, He will give you overwhelmingly). That is what has happened to Jagan this year.
He waited patiently for his turn and also had done enormous hard work. And the God has blessed him with huge mandate – his party had won 151 out of 175 assembly seas and 22 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats.
If what Jagan had witnessed was overwhelming, it was completely reverse in the case of Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu.
At the beginning of 2019, Naidu was extremely confident, or at least he appeared so, as he doled out one welfare scheme after the other.
Now, at the end of the year, he is down in the dumps by facing the worst-ever debacle in the elections and even among the few MLAs his party had won, one after the other has started leaving him. He is now struggling to maintain his grip over the beleaguered cadre.
Same is the case with his brother-in-law and Hindupur MLA Nandamuri Balakrishna. At the beginning of 2019, Balakrishna was at the peak of his career – he won all round appreciation by daring to make a two-part biopic on his father – legendary actor and former CM N T Rama Rao. Though the film did not do well at the box office, he got the rave reviews for his bold decision.
But by the end of 2019, Balakrishna proved a miserable failure both in politics, as well as films. His latest film “Ruler” turned out to be the biggest disaster in his career and now, his next film with Boyapati is in doldrums, as the film maker is not able to decide how to go about it.
On the other hand, it is an exactly opposite story for director Puri Jaganath, who began the 2019 on a dull note, following a string of flops and was financially down so much that he had to sell his own house to sustain. But one film that turned around his fortunes – Ismart Shankar, which was a block buster and he bounced back strongly.
As the years comes to an end, Puri Jagannath is in full demand in Bollywood and Tollywood. Next with Vijay devarakonda will be a pan-India movie collaborating with Karan Johar.
And the year also proved extreme for real estate dealers of Amaravati, the capital city of Andhra Pradesh. At the beginning of the year, they were doing the brisk business. Now, after the TDP lost power and YSR Congress government dumping the Amaravati project, the realtors suffered huge losses and as the year comes to an end, they are staring at a bleak future!
