From shadows to the stars

I think I should start watching Telugu movies. Not because I find them to be fascinating or interesting, but because I think that the content they present should be critiqued when they are still in vogue. I hold no delusions about my power to convince people that what passes for humour and morals in these movies is actually bigotry and prejudice. But I still think that my loyal readers (both of them) and I would effect more dialogue immediately after the movie than, say, five years down the lane. I watched a Telugu movie. Predictably, the feelings that followed were frustration, anger, astonishment and an urge to beat up the filmmaker. The movie in question is 'Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu'. It has many cringe-worthy scenes, but I will single out one. The hero (Mahesh Babu) and his entourage are in a mall, where a girl walks up to him and 'proposes' to him. Mahesh Babu makes some wise cracks about 'Bharata stree' (Indian women) and makes fun of the gi...

I like being meta. Therefore, when I wanted to write about my obsession with pop-culture references, the first thing that came to my mind was a quote from Fight Club. In the movie, Tyler Durden says, “We're a generation of men raised by women.” Perhaps I belong to a generation raised on pop-culture. Or is it just me? For someone whose introduction to pop-culture came quite only in my mid-teens, I think I am still very overdependant on pop-culture. I would imagine that most people draw inspiration from popular movies or books in certain real life scenarios. Don't you like the thought of proposing during the sunset, on a sand kissed beach. Who doesn't want to go on a road trip to exotic locations, on a journey to discover oneself? It feels so wonderful and it happens all the time in movies. It goes far beyond that for me. Whenever I'm entering a zone in social conventions that I am not properly trained in (and that zone is quite expansive), I immediately fall back on...

A few days ago, my friends from University of Hyderabad were outraged. Apparently, someone in the administration had decided that it would be apt to place a statue of a Shiva Ling, Nandi and a Cobra (imagery associated with the Hindu religion) near the main gate. The suspect was of course, the dastardly vice chancellor Appa Rao. "Great way to exhibit our secularism", "University of Hyderabad is supposed to be a secular institution" and similar statements were made in an inspired evocation of secularism. But wait! Don't many departments in the university conduct pujas for Dussehra? Didn't you know that in every kitchen, the first morsel of food is placed before a Hindu deity? Did you never notice the tilaks on computers and other equipment? Where was the call for secularism then? The objection to installing these statues/ idols did not arise from a secular standpoint. It rose from the fact that it was Appa Rao who was installing it. I imagine that if a...

I've just spent over a month in Shillong and also visited Guwahati and Calcutta for the first time. There's so much to explore in India! Which brings to me my next thought. For the past couple of years or so, I've harbored thoughts of doing a backpacking trip across Europe. Due to various reasons, this has not happened. Now, I'm glad that it hasn't. There's so much to explore in India! My stay in Shillong was a completely new experience for me. The terrain, the weather, the culture, the cuisine. It was all so different from what I was used. It was exciting to be there and I long to visit the other states in the Northeast. Anyone who has ever met me will know that I'm not much of a nationalist. And my case for travelling across India isn't macho chest beating. It just seems foolish to me that while there are so many different landscapes, cultures and people here in India, someone should go to Europe (or any other place) to see such sights. I saw la...