Stalin, Rakhi - Movies that failed to deliver
It's been quite a while since a Good telugu film hit the screens. Godavari and Bommarillu are the last really good movies and then there was Pellaina Kothalo, which has the potential but has fallen flat in the second half. Amma cheppindi barring some acceptable cliches would have made a great film for television, but doesn't have the grandeur for a movie to be watched on the big screen.
I don't have problems with typical masala fare and I am happy with the recent movies like Annavaram and Desamuduru, you know what to expect and you get that. But it pains me to see the movies with great potential messed up, not because of the lack of skill or talent, but because of the trivial self indulgences and wrong notions of 'commercial' aspects of a film.
Rakhi and Stalin, great concepts on paper, very skillful and talented directors, all the star power needed to carry a movie entirely on their shoulders. Pity it is wasted to satisfy non existing image in one case and a complete disrespect to the tastes of audience in the other.
Rakhi about injustice against women came at the right time and is very much a need of the hour. Given the treatment of women as second class citizens by the most of the nation. It doesn't need to be laid out in words or deeds, but it is obvious that even the most progressive sections of India still has a lesser regard for women. There might be hundred reasons for this inequality. It might not be intentional oppression by the male kind and I guess many of the women think they are inferior or less capable than men. This has been changing from the past few years with the affirmative actions toward women empowerment with reservations in higher education and in political systems. And with the rise of IT, time is ripe for women to grab the opportunities that doesn't require the physical and stressful work and are positioned equal (probably better) to men.
I was hoping that Rakhi would highlight the small injustices and invisible sexist attitudes in addition to the more serious and blatant crimes and educate the masses. But the movie failed big time in succeeding at any level not artistic, not social and not even commercial. With scantily clad women to attract men to the theaters, needless and pointless romantic songs with not one but two women in the regular telugu movie format defeats the purpose. And showing only the extreme cases like burning women live for dowry which are shunned by the society from long time which are done by the criminal minds. They are done by criminals and is not at the root of the problems. The injustice is because completely normal and intelligent people (both men and women) are still under the notion that women are inferior. This should have been addressed. But my complaint is not because they lost the opportunity, but for the way they ruined it with improbable solutions that are included to cater to the egos of the stars and the same ignorant masses worshipping their screen idols who likely are the most discriminating people and all this seems to be for quick money. And I resent that.
Coming to Stalin, lets start with the name. It is evident from the interviews, that the producer himself knows the History of Stalin and the grave injustices he committed. But retained it because it sounds powerful to elevate the hero character as strong. I had no problem with the the an earlier film titled 'Hitler' as the character is ruthless and the usage of the name 'Hitler' to refer to strict and ruthless people justifies it. But in this case there is no relation between the 'Stalin' and the character of the protagonist. He is a generous and helpful person with a great positive attitude, who can do any kind of sacrifices to help the handicapped and needy.
And about the movie, the first half promised a great movie with heart touching scenes and sensible and feasible solutions. It was a great story with a number of relevant and well etched characters. I've gone into the interval hoping for a great movie that would be remembered for a long time. But that wasn't meant to be.
The second half is turned into a 'hero-villain' confrontations and one-upmanships that we have seen in every second movie in the last 2-3 decades with ill placed powerful dialogues and sequences that not even remotely help the theme of the movie. All because the makers think that is what the audience 'want to see'. Some of the shankar's movies have powerful characters with good social themes, and he didn't need to make the heroes larger than life to make them commercial success? even 'Tagore' doesn't cross the limits and always stayed with in the scope of the theme. But this movie took the concept of 'being helpful' to the society and buried it under the 'commercial elements' and hero worships.
Why?
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