Film: Jai Bolo Telangana
Rating: 3/5
Banner: Mahalakshmi Films
Cast: Jagapathi Babu, Smrithi Irani, Sandeep, Meera Nandan, Nagineedu, Gowri Shankar, AVS, Janardhan Maharshi, Gaddar, Veda Kumar, Desapathi Srinivas, Mallepalli Lakshmiah, Dr Shravan etc
Music: Chakri
Dialogues: Udugula Venu
PRO: Ravi Kumar Panasa (EK Media)
Cinematography: T Surendra Reddy
Editing: Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Story, screenplay, direction: N Shankar
Producer: N Shankar
Release date: 04/02/2011
With the T-movement on, perhaps it was the right time for the film to arrive but how much effect can it convey, let us see.
Story:
The movie starts on a symbolic shot of a Telangana lady (Smriti Irani) feeding Andhra guy in her ashram called ‘amma vodi’. Director has explained what he is going to show in that single take off shot.
Set on the backdrop of Telangana, the story begins with the family of Bandhagi Gopanna (Jagapathi Babu) who lays down his life for separate Telangana movement. His wife Jayamma (Smriti) runs ‘Amma Odi’, a help centre for many. While those around her prompt for a movement, Jayamma’s son Varshit (Sandeep) is not interested since he doesn’t want his future children to suffer like him without father’s affection.
Meanwhile, he meets Sahaja (Meera), a girl from Vijayawada who comes to research on Telangana culture. Both fall in love but in between, the incidents of KCR fasting, the OU campus protests etc happen and at one point, Varshit gets influenced and joins the struggle just like his father. How does that effect the Telangana struggle? What happens to his romance with Sahaja? All this forms the rest of the story.
Performances
Jagapathi Babu had a brief role and for the first time, he sans glamour and did his bit. Though he could not deliver the punch or the voltage with nativity touch, he made a sincere attempt towards it.
Smrithi Irani was matured and though her lip sync was missing at the start, she picked up eventually and did a decent act.
Sandeep shows confidence in his performance but looks, body language, expressions need a lot of working if he is planning a career.
Meera Nandan is an experienced star as she hails from the Tamil/Malayalam circuit. She has sweet looks and did her bit as required.
Chandrasekhar who acted as Chari also made his presence felt.
Nagineedu was natural, the sequences between AVS and Janardhan Maharshi were hilarious, Veda Kumar was okay, Gowri Shankar was general, Desapathi Srinivas is adequate, KCR is seen here and there, Gaddar is there for the song and he is the highlight. The rest could not contribute much.
Highlights
Gaddar’s song is hysterical and stands as best highlight
‘Ok Puvvu Oka Navvu’ song picturization
Music for songs on a whole
AVS-Janaradana Maharshi comedy
Heroine Meera Nandan
Drawbacks
Spreading dangerous message among student community
Too much propaganda on killing and committing suicide
Weak direction
Technical values
Not much content
Using Baba Ambedkar to encourage suicide
Connection to real time characters:
Garapati Venu Gopal (a replica of Lagadapati Rajagopal, Vijaywada MP)
Shiva Reddy imitating Chiranjeevi and Jr NTR holding ‘saimkyandhra placard’
Analysis:
Telangana movement has respectful value.
Telangana movement shakes the hearts of every human being if understood truthfully.
Telangana martyrs and freedom fighters are diamonds in the history of Telugus
Telangana culture has got warmth, love and richness
Telangana has got great history.
But director failed to bring any of the above in the effective manner. He could have made a historical movie but missed the opportunity by committing some mistakes. But still this ‘Jai Bholo……….’ cannot be discarded as ‘nai bholo’. It’s a case study by its own.
It’s a movie banked just on hysterical aspects but not historical. Although he touched elements like Bandhagi Gopanna, he failed to prove the need for separate Telangana in logical way. The depth in his screenplay is missing and hence he couldn’t convince with the root cause of Telangana movement. Director would have worked hard to bring tears for every human being irrespective of regional barriers when this subject was chosen.
Every character in the movie behaves volatile and emotional. Logic never surfaces them. They assume certain things and move as per their whims and hallucinations.
- Chari’s (a replica of Sreekanthachari who burnt himself alive) burning-alive scene in front of Ambedkar statue is connected to this. He gets disgusted with life due to financial problems at his home, he gets frustrated looking at peaceful people despite Telangana movement, he moves on the hallucination of Ambedkar who says that Telangana state will be possible if he dies and hence burns alive.
- Varshit (the hero of the movie) gets perturbed and confused when KCR is arrested by police. He even deserts his love out of volatility.
Coming to director here are a few things to say:
- Director needs to learn basics in direction but EVERY DIRECTOR SHOULD LEARN FROM HIM HOW TO MARKET A FILM.
- Director failed to show his mettle but PROVED HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL IN MAKING A SMALL BUDGET FILM A HUGE ATTENTION PULLER WITH THE TOPIC HE HAS CHOSEN.
- Director didn’t excel in portraying the needful history but proved TREMENDOUSLY SUCCESSFUL IN PUMPING IN HYSTERIA AMONG MASSES WITH A COUPLE OF SONGS AND A FEW DEPTHLESS BUT INSTANT WINNING DIALOGUES.
- Director has made a film but in the standards of TV serial
When a film is made with a political or a movement agenda, it is always a plus point to focus on the sensitivity issues. Right now, N Shankar has capitalized the Telangana trouble to his advantage but was unable to capitalize it to the fullest.
Projecting the richness of Telangana culture and the affection of the people was not focused.
Instead, it was nudging on subjects which are stale and nothing appealing. The most dangerous thing is the director instigating students to commit suicide and create an atmosphere of martyrdom. Commercially, the film might appeal to the hardcore Telangana areas but subject wise and content wise, it has not enough to score success at the box office.
It works in Naizam area but may not in other areas.
Bottomline: Only for TRS and other T-seeking political people
(Venkat can be reached at [email protected] )
