Heroism In Telugu Cinema

By M H Ahssan

The Superhero season may have caught up in Hollywood and Bollywood today, but it was there in our own Telugu cinema from the longest time. Surprised? No, no-we might not have a Superman or a Krrish or even a Hulk per se. But just think, what is it that these so-called superheroes can do that our Tollywood stars cannot in their movies?

Chiru, mega-star Chiru. How did he earn such a huge title? Was it self-conferred? No, it was given to him with love from millions of Telugu movie fanatics who were convinced of his 'mega-hero' status. Not less than a Superhero, if not more. The movie 'Alluda Majaka' was titled aptly. The people who first designed a tractor might not have thought it possible, but in Telugu Superman Land, anything goes. The boy-next-door character of Chiranjeevi raises the tractor above the ground and flies with the tractor. Hey, but what can you do when you don't have a bike with you-a tractor will always serve the purpose.

NBK fans who watched Vijayendra Verma will accept, acknowledge and agree with this statement. Remember the scene when Balayya jumps over a truck in pursuit of the evil men aka terrorists? Well, Hrithik does it Krrish, but big deal-he needs a mask and a cape and 'Superhero' Status. But our Balayya is a normal army man in the movie, and still manages to 'fly' over things 10 feet wide. How's that for Heroism? In another instance, army-man Verma flies from India to Pakistan using a Parachute and even lands right in front of the terrorist's place-Supreme Navigation.

The biggest hit in recent times, Pokiri has Mahesh fighting 50 or more armed men, including Prakash Raj, but he succeeds in ripping each one of the 50+ goons apart, without a single scratch on himself. Hearing this, Hollywood Superhero Hulk became ashamed of himself, for, even though mana Mahesh is 6 feet, possibly 150 lbs, Hulk in form is at least 10 feet taller and 500 lbs heavier and does the same thing with more effort than our Pokiri.

For Superman, Kryptonite is lethal but for our heroes, nothing is. May be a bullet won't bounce off their eyeballs like Superman's does, but even a bullet goes deep inside their heart/stomach/lungs/kidneys/limbs, things just function normally. NTR even proposes marriage in the end of the movie Aadi, two bullets down. Who cares about bullets, let's get married first.

Spiderman might have stopped a train in the movie Spiderman Returns, but look at the tremendous amount of effort, time and energy it took him. Maybe the author should take a cue from Balayya and endow poor little Spiderman with some more powers.

In Palnati Brahmanaidu, NBK stops a train in 10 seconds flat. How? Simple, he tells it to stop and signals with his hand and plays with it-the sad little train moves back and forth with Balayya's hand signal. 'Cheti Saigala thoti train apesta', NBK told Spiderman. The poor fellow tried to commit suicide by jumping off the 50th floor of a building, unfortunately for him he couldn't-his stupid webs cushioned his fall. Tough luck, spidey. He does the same thing with a chair in the enemy's den-the chair is at NBK's mercy.

Kondaveeti Donga with Chiranjeevi or Takkari Donga with Mahesh Babu is an imitation of cowboy movies; similarly Superman starring NTR (yeah, yeah it's true) is, obviously, an imitation of the original Superman. And then there are many more such imitations. But Tollywood makers should realize that we don't need to copy from them. Because as far as Heroism is concerned, they should take tips from us. Our regular Telugu movie hero should at least have the following qualities:

He should be able to bash 50 to 100 men without injury to himself. If, in case, injury occurs, then the hero should be able to do the following things effortlessly-eat, sleep, bathe, get married, dance, sing, beat up another 60 men for fun, hit the discos, consummate his marriage, change his costume and if there is time, go to a doctor.

He can have several powers like being able to control vehicles, command electronic appliances and talk to animals (like St. Francis of Assisi).

He should, absolutely should be in a mood to do a little jig after saving the heroine from 25 to 60 goondas. (Fight ninchi cut cheste Ooty/Switzerland velli song esi ravali).

He can outsmart villains in events like car chases, truck chases, etc., and manage to make a clean getaway.

These are the minimum qualifications. Extra talents will earn him some brownie points. And they don't really carry a Superhero tag-that just shows that the normal Telugu man is expected to possess the above powers, if not more. But for Hollywood and now Bollywood, they need a separate costume, a tag and constant encouragement. Do our heroes get any thanks at all? Does anyone write articles about them and win Pulitzer prizes? No! But they still don't complain. They dutifully destroy buildings, save helpless damsels, fight and injure hundreds of men in a movie among other things. They are not aliens like Superman, haven't been bitten by a bug like Spiderman, and were not blessed with Super powers by an alien like Krrish-none of these. They came up the hard way-the fertile imagination of the writer and commercial successes one after another.

Superheroes are a recent trend in English literature and cinema. But for India, all the Hindu Gods possess powers that would shame any Superhero. Hence the initial mythological movies had only superheroes. Then came the independence leaders and social leaders; right now we have Idiots and Pokiris and Factionists (Indra, Narasimha Naidu, Aadi, etc.,) who rule the Telugu Land and are empowered with qualities that heroes across the AP border haven't even heard of. Hail the Telugu Superhero!