Then and Now

On Sunday evening my friend Danny sent me a text message asking if I liked the movie Geetanjali. I of course love the movie! Just one of those amazingly simple and amazingly innocent Telugu movies. Ah I miss those good old times when movies such as Geetanjali and Anjali were made. Where have they gone?

I used to love watching Telugu movies back then and now I absolutely hate them! No good music, no acting skills whatsover, no quality. These days Telugu movies are full of trash, violence and noise (inclusive of the music). The women hardly wear any clothes, the men jump and scream. Who acts? Are these movies or road side nautankis! Nautankis are better.

Let's talk about the music. Compare the super duper Illai Raja to the present musicians. Compare "Amani padave tiyaga" to "Aa ante amlapuram" (was this music or was a female tantrik trying to coax an evil spirit into entering someone's body?)

With all the technological advances one would expect better movies to be made but Telugu movies have gone from being exceedingly excellent to utterly horrifying. 

Geetanjali, Amla as the sweetest innocence suffering with a heart disease and Nagarjuna as the cancer patient coming to terms with his condition by falling in love with Amla. Now, we have Pokiri kind of roles or just no roles, only running around trees or men seducing the women.

Romance is ugly in Telugu movies. Makes you feel its a dirty thing. It wasn't so always. Again I would take the example of Geetajali. The 3 minute or so long kiss between Amla and Nagarjuna looked like the most innocent kiss ever with a classic song playing in the background.

Now the dance. Compare Amla in a white sari dancing with kids in the grave yard trying to scare Nagarjuna and Nagarjuna dressed like Count Draculla trying to scare them back. Compare that wonderful situational dance sequence to Mahesh Babu doing some crazy gij on Pokiri. No match at all!

For me Geetanjali is "The Movie". Let's if any Telugu movie can be pitted against its quality.