Tag Archives: Allu Ramalingaiah

State Rowdy

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It is no secret that we are fans of Chiranjeevi, masala, action, dancing, convoluted stories and crazy outfits. State Rowdy fulfils many of our film wishlist items. In addition, this film is often cited as the inspiration for Pokiri/Pokkiri/Wanted.

Chiranjeevi plays Kalicharan – the local tough guy, self designated State Rowdy and goon with a heart. He systematically takes on and eliminates all other rowdies on his turf (the coastal rowdy, the Rayalaseema rowdy, the Nizam rowdy …you get the picture).

Bhanupriya plays Asha, a local girl who witnessed a murder and flees the scene. The killers know she saw them, but don’t know who she is. The SP (played by the impressive and elegant Sharada) also wants to find Asha as the murdered man is the policewoman’s husband.  And oh yes, she is the long lost daughter of… never mind. Just go with the flow!

Kali and Asha cross paths and romance sparks – especially once she gets an eyeful of his manly dance style and gold tipped boots.

The police try to find out who is kidnapping all the rowdies, and the goons plot to rid themselves of the menace who is kidnapping their men.  Meanwhile, the lovely Radha pines over her lost love Prithvi….but how is this all related?

Just to add to all this confusion we also have local crime lord Narendra Bhupati, his merry band of brothers one of whom was responsible for the murders, and local businessman and would-be CM Mankamatti Bhaskar Rao who are all searching for the eye witness for various reasons.

All paths lead back to Kalicharan. Through a series of slightly confusing but very charming flashbacks we learn of his early life as good boy Prithviraj who wore white pants and parted his hair neatly on the side. Prithvi was a promising police cadet but was apparently passed over for promotion, had a spat with his superior, and left the force. His life went off the rails and he became the scourge – Kalicharan.

Radha (played by Radha), Prithvi’s cousin and fiancee, discovers his double life and engineers an emotional confrontation between the headband and muscle shirt wearing Kalicaharan and his sari clad mother.  The truth behind his fall from grace is revealed and like all things confided in secret, becomes well known in no time at all. All parties seek to use him to gain victory and to exploit his vulnerability while he strives to achieve his goal and protect his loved ones…and keep the girls from learning of each other’s existence.   Displaying a fine sense of political fair play he accepts payment from opposing sides and splits his resources to cover both obligations. And then resumes his policing career. There are kidnappings, mistaken identities, corpse swapping, and that’s not even the tip of the iceberg.  Once again, these succeed because Chiranjeevi is believably physical and heroic.

From a heavily customised budget friendly Bond style motorbike to the thrilling conclusion, the laughs and gasps just keep coming.  The climax scenes involve a return from the dead (that corpse swapping incident), kidnapping, blackmail, a masala death trap of delightfully rickety and impractical design and a lot of explosions and crashes.  And a brilliant sequence with Chiru, trapped inside a spherical metal cage, being used as the ball in a game of car-soccer. We said this got a bit convoluted!

Chiranjeevi is in fabulous form. Even in this broadly drawn character he manages to convey some nuance and a deft comedic sense. Prithvi’s flirting with Radha is sweet and a bit awkward and a total contrast to the swaggering Kali. There is drama, emotion and romance galore and his performance hits all the right notes. He seems to be having a fine time in the action scenes, and his dancing is fabulous.  He even puts in a brief appearance as Arjuna in full gilded kit. One thing we just love is that he never seems inhibited by even the most peculiar wardrobe choices.  In fact, he looks so happy and as if this is all huge fun for him.

We must make special mention of the costumes, especially in the song sequences. Even for 1989, and allowing for flights of fantasy and a bit of a fashion time-lag between Paris and Hyderabad, there are some absolute shockers. The star cast give the songs a boost as they all throw themselves into the choreography. Bappi Lahiri does his disco thing and the songs are really catchy and fun.

The supporting cast are all solid and do what they do in every film. Sharada has credibility as the angry SP and as the grieving widow and mother. Allu Ramalingaiah plays Quotation Chakravarti, part of the comic side plot, and is very effective. We struggle with many of the comic side plots but this is fairly well integrated into the story so works better than some.

The stunts and fights are so over the top and fantastic to watch. Once again, these succeed because Chiranjeevi is Chiranjeevi. Of course good will triumph, love will find a way and justice will prevail. But we encourage you to watch the film to see how much fun the journey to a foregone conclusion can be!

Heather says:  This has to be one of the most bewildering films I have watched for some time.    The plot is incredibly convoluted and the various relationships of the characters to each other didn’t seem to be necessary for the story but just added to the confusion.  I felt that there were really two separate films rolled into one, but this did have the advantage of giving us two Chiru’s. One suave, charming and dedicated to fighting crime, and the other tough, street wise and just dedicated to fighting.  He is fantastic in both avatars, and the switch between the two is very clear and well defined.  The female leads – all three of them – deliver some very fine performances, as do the supporting cast.  While the songs themselves are great, they seemed to be oddly placed in the narrative. The really terrible (and therefore fantastic in a ‘so-bad-its-good’ way) costumes didn’t help with this sense of displacement and for me, detracted from some very good choreography.  The dancing and action scenes were of a very high standard, as we’ve come to expect from a Chiranjeevi film, but what stood out for me was the dancing of both Bhanupriya and Radha.  Both kept up with Chiru and managed to make their moves look effortless.   Despite the confusing storyline the film is great fun.  My advice is to forget about trying to understand what is happening and why, and just try to keep up with the action!  I have to say that Chiru in a uniform makes any amount of mystifying storyline watchable. And since everything works out in spectacular style by the end I would recommend this film as a must see. 4 stars from me.

Temple says: I didn’t find the film all that confusing, just unnecessarily convoluted and a bit fragmented as it relies on flashbacks to fill us in on the story. But it is immensely enjoyable as it plays around with the rowdy stereotypes and allows Chiru to be both the good boy and the dangerous ruffian. There is a common theme of justice  in many Telugu films, and a few interesting takes on what justice is. In many instances it seems that despite what the law says, if the consensus is that a good man kills a bad man, then that’s probably OK. These themes do get a work out in State Rowdy but ultimately the law is seen to triumph; albeit with some help from the invincible Chiranjeevi and the determined Sharada. In addition to the excellent acting, the director decided to unleash the full might of the wardrobe team and make sure that Prithvi and Kalicharan looked nothing alike. Some dubious, but very entertaining, outfits were the result and the backing dancers and support cast enjoy the fruits of these labours too. And the ladies didn’t fare much better. For the most part the songs were reflecting the heroines’ wishes or dreams so they didn’t have to look at all realistic or be cohesive to the narrative either. The more pertinent question would be why, if you are fantasizing about a man, would you dress him up like that in your imagination? So much shiny metallic lycra – it’s quite concerning! I was going to say “less is more” when it comes to costumes but that might be misconstrued so let’s just move on. The support cast were very good, and there were some amusing little subplots and throwaway lines in amongst all the dancing, prancing and biffo. I found this very entertaining. I like detail, and this film has lots of it! I know this might not be to everyone’s tastes, but if that is the case then I think there is something wrong with you. Chiranjeevi is just awesome as State Rowdy. I give this 4 and 1/2 stars!

Mayabazar

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There is always so much debate about whether classic B&W films should be colourised.  Opinion does vary depending on how well the colour is handled.  However, don’t hate us; we do think Mayabazar is beautiful in colour. It is such a jewel of a film, and the pastel and gold palette really suits the mythological genre.  It’s reminiscent of religious themed calendars and colourful drawings of gods and their consorts.  The pretty, stylised effect is perfect in this instance, and it is appropriately gaudy without being garish.  It was also a huge relief to see this classic and find that the reputation is more than deserved, and to actually love it. As soon as we mention we love Telugu films, one of the first recommendations  of a “must-see” film is always Mayabazar , and we are grateful to all the people who kept bringing this to our attention.

Although the story itself is entirely fictional, it is based on characters from the Mahabharata.

Sasirekha and Abhimanyu have been meant for each other since their childhood. Each family understands this, and the children grow up secure in knowing who their future life partner is. While they are separated, Sasirekha is given a beautiful gold box and told to open it when she is alone.  When she does this, she sees her Abhimanyu and they warble their love in a pretty song.

A discordant note emerges when Revathi looks into the mirror and sees not a loved one, but only jewels and riches. This weakness and greed creates a fissure in the happiness of this family and allows Revathi to be exploited by those who do not want to see the Pandavas regain their ascendancy.  This sequence was beautifully filmed and served to show the audience the inner desires of each character who looked into the mirror in a pointed yet aesthetic way – years ahead in time and light years ahead in style from Harry Potter!

Savitri is a joy to watch as Sasirekha – a sassy princess indeed, who knows what she wants. When Sasirekha is spirited away, and impersonated by jovial demon Ghatotkacha (S.V Ranga Rao) who has vowed to stop her forced marriage, Savitri’s performance is a delight.  Her body language reflects the much heavier build and demeanour of the demon, and she toys with the unsuspecting family and servants.

S.V. Ranga Rao is wonderfully theatrical and hammy, and amuses along with his army of loony rakshasas.  Allu Ramalingaiah does a great line in slapstick. The comedy track is actually funny and integrated with the narrative.  A highlight would have to be Ghatotkacha’s merry song as he scoffs down the entire wedding feast.

And how about those special effects?  The dire (but kind of awesome) Hindi film Ajooba  ( reviewed by the excellent Beth) is one of our guilty pleasures, mainly because of the appallingly not-very-special effects. It should seriously embarrass some modern film makers to see the quality of visuals in this 1957 masterpiece.   The tricks played by the magician and the Rakshas demons on Shastri and Sharma did appear really magical and would have been amazing for cinema audiences in the fifties.

And as befits a film involving Krishna, love is in the air everywhere you look around!  Couples romance, fight, scheme and gossip all under the watchful and understanding eye of the gently amused Krishna. He even gets to watch a dance based on his own childhood, enjoying the scenes with all the tolerance and affection he shows for his loved ones.  His kindness and strength underpin the romance and squabbling, as he teaches a lesson to wrongdoers, and supports the Pandavas who are being unfairly treated.

And he’s funny. We don’t get a lot of humour from God in Christian literature and film and it was surprising and touching to see a much more personal relationship with the deities.

Krishna is a participant as well as an observer during the lovely romantic scenes where all three couples take to the lake on a beautiful moonlit night.  Although Temple, as a former rower, was rather concerned for their welfare as the boat did appear to get lower and lower in the water.

Another delight in Mayabazar is seeing the forefathers of so many of today’s stars.  N.T.Rama Rao is charismatic and appealing as Krishna. He exudes calm amusement, drops a few excellent oneliners, and generally conveys a mischievous but essentially good persona.  ANR is suitably heroic as Abhimanyu. Allu Ramalingaiah is clearly very comfortable with his comic turn, and makes the most of his time on screen.

The music is beautiful, the jokes are funny, the acting is brilliant and charismatic, and it is so light hearted – not what we expected from a story woven around the Mahabharata.

Heather says: A true classic.  I can see why this is such a loved film.  It features all the Telugu film industry greats of the time and it was a privilege to be able to watch an evenly paced movie with incredible performances by all the actors.  Such a classic story and with all the magical twists it seemed totally new and very special.  It was also a real plus to be able to see actors such as NTR Rao, ANR,   etc and relate them to their children and grandchildren who are setting screens alight today.    I will definitely keep an eye out for more from these actors and hunt down more Telugu ‘classics’ to watch.  The colourisation added another dimension, although the black and white version is just as watchable.  A full five stars for this timeless classic.

Temple says: I can see why this film is so well loved by generations of movie audiences. The production values and the performances are  just amazing, and the songs are beautiful and melodic. Its quite a privilege to be able to watch so many of the greats of an era appear in a work of this calibre.  I had a preconception that the mythological genre might be a bit heavy going or ponderous, but this film just sparkles in so many ways. The colourisation is quite deft in my opinion, and highlights the richness of the costumes and sets, creating a truly opulent and fantastical look to the film. NTR was a revelation as Krishna, Savitri steals every scene she is in, and S.V. Ranga Rao is hilarious. The DVD re-release comes in a 2 DVD pack, and includes both the colourised version and the original B&W. I highly recommend it! This gets 5 stars!