Public servants
Koratala Siva is a strict believer in mixing formula with a message: very nearly Telugu cinema’s Ken Loach with the aesthetic sensibility of Michael Bay. Sometimes it works, like in Srimanthudu, which was about rich people adopting a village and developing it; sometimes it is merely cute, like his making the protagonist in Janatha Garage an eco warrior. But the heavyhanded message in his latest movie, Bharat Ane Nenu, is scarcely credible.
The eponymous hero (Mahesh Babu in a restrained performance) gets thrown into the viper pit of chief ministership (of a united Andhra) after the sudden death of his father (Sharat Kumar). Holder of five degrees from Oxford, he brings a technocratic approach to administration, much to the chagrin of his party and the delight of the public.
The movie is already a roaring hit and will certainly hold the “non- Baahubali” record for its lifetime box office collections. I don’t mean to be a party pooper but the fact is that the movie is a giant slog with the odd memorable moment.
My biggest problem is with the director’s simplistic approach to efficient governance in a country that is not at all homogenous, unlike the western country his protagonist hails from. Chief Minister Bharat thinks that a country of 1.3 billion people simply needs unfettered access to technology to become first world. He introduces eye-wateringly high penalties on traffic violations the moment he ascends the seat. To dissuade law-breakers, he could have introduced stricter laws, including impounding licences after repeated misdemeanours, like in the first world. But that would have been merely pragmatic rather than dramatic.
Siva must be commended, though, for making the movie almost a documentary on the inner workings of the state Secretariat and Assembly. There are long takes of IAS and IPS officers holding parleys with the CM and discussing policy issues — unusual in a big-budget movie with a lot riding on it. Siva makes these scenes work. He also generates much hilarity by mining the antics of ministers and Opposition leaders in the Assembly. Making Mahesh Babu speak a smattering of English to put across his point effectively and then asking his chief secretary for a Telugu translation is refreshing.
Siva, however, needed a more down-to-earth approach, like the one Sekhar Kammula employed in the 2010 release Leader. Rana Daggubati as the Andhra CM was far more pragmatic and realised that corruption is so endemic in the system that the most he could do was reduce it and ensure more money reaches the public. Siva throws around highfalutin policy decisions like “local governance” and elimination of expensive private schools so much that it becomes a classic case of biting off more than he can chew.
The Nayanthara-starrer Aramm, about a committed and honest bureaucrat who stands up to thieving politicians in a Tamil Nadu village, released last November. Nayanthara was the epitome of restraint and gave a career-defining role where she didn’t preach but acted, and toughly. Director Gopi Nainar had the advantage of a female protagonist that allowed him to concentrate on a gripping story, unlike Siva who had to constantly project Mahesh Babu as larger than life.
Siva also had a pertinent point to make about government schools not using English as the primary medium of instruction. Recently, Rajinikanth, who announced his plunge into politics, drew flak for saying that Tamilians need to pay more attention to English to have a secure future. In a country where movie stars have tremendous leverage among the public, it’s incumbent on filmmakers to pass on important messages.
“We feel morally ill because we became used to saying something different from what we thought,” said Vaclav Havel back in the day, and that seems to perfectly describe the current political zeitgeist. Siva effectively shows the audience that politics, to quote William Empson, “is the wickedest thing yet invented by the black heart of man”. But he thinks the country needs an Ayn Rand character like John Galt at a time when it may need someone like Bernie Sanders.