You know that the title is clickbait, right? I don’t hate Telugu cinema. To be totally honest, it’s more of a love-hate relationship.
At a recent dinner, I asked a child (who is about five years old) if they watch movies. Immediately, they chirped, “Pushpa! Thaggedhele!” and rubbed their chin with the back of their hand, imitating the actor in the movie Pushpa. They were familiar with all of the songs in the movie and could dance most of the steps.
Children are so impressionable, aren’t they? So what does this have to do with my feelings for Telugu cinema? Let me explain.
I love Telugu cinema, of course I do. It’s an art form that expresses ideas and shares stories through my culture, my language, and my community. In what other movies can I hear beautifully written songs in Telugu? Where else can I see stories that are uniquely relatable to me? Movies are one of the mediums of thought through which ideas, arguments, and emotions can be communicated to the masses. Inspiration, comfort, and an escape are just some of the things that you can derive from the experience of cinema.
I grew up with cinema. Before I learned Telugu, I had a cassette tape my father made for me with about twenty of my favorite Telugu songs. I was obsessed. I played those songs over and over while goofily dancing to them. Fast forward to 2003, we moved to India temporarily. There, my exposure to Telugu media expanded overnight. I don’t remember the theater I went to or who exactly I went with, but you know what I do remember? Sivamani’s phone number, the word “lancham”, boxing on the beaches of Chennai, and dreaming of a man who would write songs for me.
(Movies referenced in order: Sivamani, Tagore, Amma Naana O Tamil Ammayi, Satyam)
I immersed myself in the movies. I loved every bit. When we moved back to the US, I remember going once a month to Cerritos, where there was a huge Indian community. We would stock up on groceries, sometimes visit the jewelry store, always stop for mango lassi, and then my favorite stop: the movie rental store. We would rent or buy the latest Telugu releases available and those DVDs would be my Indian entertainment for the next month.
With my entire family being fans, I don’t think there was ever a time I stopped watching movies. You would think upping and moving to the Philippines for medical school would stop me. But no, I scheduled my week around almost any Telugu movie that was playing in the theater.
While there is much to enjoy in Telugu entertainment, the more I’ve grown as a person, the harder it has become to watch Telugu movies and not be triggered, hurt, or disappointed.
What is it that bothers me so much? The narratives.
I have a bone to pick with quite a few narratives, in case you haven’t noticed. Repeated narratives have an effect. Whether we’d like to accept that or not, they do. Especially the ones that we don’t pay enough attention to, it’s called the illusion of truth: The less we pay attention to a statement or idea that is repeated to us over and over again, the more we tend to assume that the statement is the truth.
Here are some (not all) of the narratives, in no particular order, that have tarnished my relationship with Telugu cinema.
Being Woman
While the male-protagonist-with-a-savior-complex-and-the-damsel-in-distress is a cliché that immediately comes to mind, I want to talk about something else. Something I’ve noticed recently and actually evaded my scrutiny for quite a while. Whenever someone points out the lack of representation of women in Telugu movies, usual immediate responses will include the names of movies that have women in lead roles. While there are a few great ones among that list, most are purely tokenistic in nature. Sadly, there is a further perpetuation of misconceptions in these movies.
Sorry about that long word vomit, stay with me.
Tokenism is the act of doing something to avoid criticism and to have the appearance of a pointed effort. For example, writing movies about queer characters for the sake of “representation” and casting straight people in the role. It may seem like the presence of queer characters is enough. But, without having actual queer people play the characters and be involved behind the scenes in character and story development, will those characters ever be authentic enough to share their stories? Of course not. Queer people go through various struggles in their daily life because of their identity, while straight actors playing these characters cash out, and get awards and praise by putting on that identity temporarily without any true perspective. Moreover, if you think about it, that’s one less opportunity for a queer person. A good way to sniff out tokenistic actions that I use is to ask questions, let’s take the same example:
- Who is really benefitting from this effort? In other words, is the community that the effort is supposedly for, actually receiving anything from the action?
- Generally, in Indian cinema, when queer characters are present, they’re usually presented as the target of a joke. Their sexuality is used to the advantage of the story or for comedic purposes, without any true representation in the form of queer actors, writers, directors, etc.
- Was the presence of community members wholesome or reductive?
- Was the queer character’s storyline as complex as that of a straight person? Or were they reduced to their sexuality and presented as a stereotype?
- Was there any harm, directly or indirectly, caused by the action? Was it intentional, or convenient?
- Misrepresentation of communities that are underrepresented is harmful. People who don’t know about the community will be exposed to narratives that don’t coincide with what’s happening in the real world. It’s convenient to have a queer character and make fun of them for “comedic value” while doing nothing for the queer community. Jokes at the expense of community are not comedy at all, as much as we’ve been taught to think so.
So, why do I call the movies and roles played by women tokenistic? Here’s a small exercise for you:
The next five times you hear a dialogue about how great it is to be a woman, count – how many times is motherhood, no, no, the ability to become pregnant and give birth mentioned? Yes, there’s a distinction. There are multiple ways to become a mother, and all of them don’t require pregnancy.
Now, to give some context for comparison, think about the hundreds of thousands of lines written about men. They’re about integrity, resilience, courage, and strength. Do you notice a difference? Not a mention of sperm or fatherhood.
Being a mother, without a doubt, is an amazing, life-altering experience, I’m sure of it. You know what else was life-changing? Working 80-hour weeks in hospitals during my final year of med school for free. Just because something is amazing or life-altering, doesn’t mean it’s for everyone.
Women = pregnancy = motherhood is an idea that hasn’t been questioned enough, even though the idea isn’t true at all.
Take me, for instance – the invisible person behind these wonderfully insightful rants: If womanhood was defined by motherhood, pray tell, what am I? Yes, me, the person behind this blog, born with a uterus that has no intention of being fertilized. What am I?
Here’s the twist, that question is not for any of you to answer. This is where we’re all getting it wrong.
Someone’s gender, gender expression, and sexual orientation are not for us as a society to decide. As much as our nosy curiosity burns and heteronormative standards push us to do so, our job as humans is to accept people as they are.
For another brilliant example, let’s take me again. I have no problem talking about my gender and gender expression, mostly thanks to my cisgender privileges. So for people who would like to know, I am a woman. Why? Not because my vagina burns for the presence of sperm inside me, not because my uterus throbs for fertilization, and NOT because I may or may not have biological children in the future. I am a woman because I said so. The end. It’s that simple.
While we’re at it, I’d like a moment of sheer contempt and appreciation for the brilliance of the patriarchy. These ideas are so deeply ingrained into our society that they’ve seeped into the arts and are being thrown right back into our face, concealing the truth.
To every woman out there, if you want to become a mother, great, but if you cannot or do not want to – DO NOT let people tell you that you are incomplete without children. Fuck them.
By the way, what if the world was all up in men’s business demanding their sperm count and valuing them by those numbers? There’s some perspective.
To every PERSON that has the ability to get pregnant – I pray that you get to exercise that choice you have on your own terms.
Love and Marriage
Love seems so easy in the movies, no? The wind is blowing at just the right speed when the guy first lays his eyes on the perfectly smiling, photogenic girl. A moment in time that seems like the entire universe worked to bring those two souls to that place together. And that’s it. Who cares about each other’s personalities, likes/dislikes, values, etc.
I’m no expert on love, but I can attest to the fact that there are a lot of Indian teenagers that have no source of conversation around relationships other than in movies. I’ve witnessed multiple kids eloping, not a shred of practicality in sight.
There’s also something else I’ve seen happen, I’m not sure if there’s a word there is to encompass this scenario, so let me explain. I’ve seen this too many times for it to be a one-time unique occurrence. Adult men (such as drivers, street food vendors, etc) who have access to teenage girls manipulate them using tactics and lines from movies, making the girl think that they’re in love. Hoping that all in the movies is true and that ahead of them is a life full of dreamy romance, many young girls agree to elope with these men. Then, the man extorts money from the girls’ parents in exchange for leaving their daughter alone. Most of these incidents are hushed up because it becomes a matter of prestige and avoiding the girl’s image being damaged.
Why do these young people have such distorted ideas about relationships and love in the first place? While forcefully keeping these minors at home may serve as a band-aid, how do we help the next generation grow up with healthier and truer ideas about these things?
The conversations around love, friendship, marriage, and sex are basically nonexistent. By not talking about it, we are allowing children to grow up with the ideas given to them from movies with no opposing accounts. Conversations around single young people in my community circled around sending them to the best schools, landing a job in the best company, and having the best car. WHY for the love of Sita, can we not talk about the essence of life – connection, finding family, having a home in a group of people. My most cherished memories are of those when I connected with my best friend, when I confided in my mother, and when my sister knew what I needed before I asked. Why can’t we bring ourselves to talk more about this?
Fine, let’s say you hate all children and have no intention of having children yourself. What does this have to do with you? Look around, at your friends, your family, people on the internet. I doubt even one person can tell me they’ve never witnessed to some degree, the normalization of toxic behavior in relationships. Off the top of my head, having children to “solve marital problems”, a slew of “minor” behaviors that are actually verbal, emotional, and financial abuse, imbalances in household chores, and power dynamics from financial inequality. None of these very common scenarios are talked about, they’re written off as “how things are done” and “how to just get by”.
While cinema may not have been the core source of these ideas, it has definitely significantly contributed to these ideas running unchecked. So, please, enjoy movies all you want but always question. Do your due diligence, for yourself and the people you love.
Friends
This narrative is probably not as rampant as the others but it still bugs the shit out of me. This is just my experience, but if I’m in a restaurant eating with my friend and a guy keeps staring at me, my friend is not going to giggle, smile and egg him on. Depending on the level of the creepy vibe we’re getting from him, our response would range from ignoring him to ordering a cab. My friends don’t become friends with strangers who are trying to date me. Why? Because my friend’s prioritize my happiness and wellbeing over someone they don’t even know, as it should be.
My group of friends made plans together, our lives don’t circle around only one person’s life. No one person outshines the rest in our group. It’s so weird to see so many friendships in movies being so one-sided. Even though there are storylines that involve the friend’s life, those scenes are in turn used to elevate the lead’s character, but not let their relationship flourish in a way that complements the movie in its entirety.
A good group of friends can be so valuable. Nowadays receiving that silly meme at just the right time is enough to better your day. Friends are the people that know something is off through your last seen. They’re the people you look forward to meeting. For many people, friends become their chosen family, and yet this beautiful relationship isn’t given the shine it deserves.
My final prompt to you dear readers, would be to go appreciate your friends, because life would be dull without them.
Until next time
Be First to Comment