Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Telangana 58: Impact of Movies

Most Indians do not realize the impact of media caricatures on the minds of the masses and how these depictions may perpetuate some of our prejudices leading to large scale discrimination.   Our movies, ads, TV serials are laden with negative characterizations of certain people being unconscionably lapped up by biased Indians without an iota of squeamishness that most civilized world would normally experience.   There are many references to caste, color of the skin, weakness of a woman, etc, that continue to fuel our prejudices perpetuating large scale discrimination of certain sections of people on a daily basis.  

For example, in many Telugu movies, there is consistent negative characterization of dark people.  They are looked down upon, laughed upon and are easily dismissed with a slap on the face or kick in the butt.  And this portrayal perpetuates our low opinions towards dark people in many families, leading to massive inferiority complex for dark skinned girls and boys who get taunted by many family members.

Only very recently, some of us in India have started to appreciate the impact of such negative portrayals and have been fighting off such characterizations.   References to lower castes, which were used as abuses or insults, are now being pushed back, of course with lot of reluctance, because some Indians tend to justify those abuses as ‘part of our great culture’ which needs to be preserved at all costs, even if means subjugating millions of peoples for another two thousand years.

One commenter writes on my blog:

I always thought that movies are made with a primary aim of making money (by appealing to as wide an audience as possible, and making everyone watch the same movie again and again). Or have things changed lately?

It’s a simplistic way of looking at the world, thinking that leaders are supposed to lead us, or that courts are supposed to deliver justice, or believing that books are for academic purpose only.   And then ask, ‘have things changed lately?’  And yet, we don’t trust many of our leaders; we don’t necessarily look up to them.  Courts don’t always deliver justice.   And books are not always for academic purpose.  Many books were banned by the ruling British in most of their colonies fearing that the readers will be enlightened to new ideas that could bring in a revolution.  Most communist countries banned many books for the same reason.   Books have transformed our societies and brought revolutions.  At certain point of time in recent past, rulers persecuted the authors and carriers of any literature which spoke of freedom to people.  The rulers feared these written words so much they had to ban them completely with ruthless force.  

Why did these rulers fear such ordinary words printed on a paper?  Because those words carrying new ideas had the potent force to change one’s mind.  A new idea is a powerful notion.  Once it takes seat in a human’s brain, it can cause great wonders and bring revolutions.  In the same way, repeated wrong characterizations of certain people can create hate, xenophobia, and apathy towards other sections of people.  One such massive propaganda led to death of six million Jews in the Holocaust.

We should not underestimate the power of the media.  The media can make a dark girl feel inferior in the Indian subcontinent pushing her to try 101 ways to improve her skin color.  The media can characterize Blacks in America as thugs and unintelligent, unworthy of a respectable job or profession.  A first-time foreigner visiting United States behaves very differently when he sees a bunch of Black guys on an empty street compared to seeing White guys.  Automatically, he cringes when he sees Black people and his heart starts beating faster.  Without having any experiences of his own, why does this visitor behave differently depending on the color of the people he faces on the street?  That is completely due to the movies and TV serials he has watched which has created certain impressions.  And those impressions are being played out when he encounters the Black people on the streets. 

The West has realized how such negative characterization in the media and books could lead to deepening our prejudices resulting in discrimination on a massive scale.  Many articles and books have been written to highlight the impact of such negative characterization leading to furthering discrimination in United States.  Of late, Hollywood makes extra attempts to move away from such negative characterization of Blacks. 

Searching Google on negative portrayal of Blacks in Hollywood, I found the following.

Ever since its inception, the cinema has influenced the way moviegoers view life. This was an especially powerful reality in early Hollywood films, which depicted their own interpretation of social mores and moral proclivities to mesmerized, largely naive audiences who accepted what they saw on the screen as truth.

African-Americans are portrayed miserably in this film, as docile, childlike domestics or brutal rapists or buffoonish politicians. [1]

Bill Cosby recently lashed out at those in the entertainment industry who he said insult and degrade minorities with their work.  "I will tell all of you this stuff hurts. God, it hurts ... This stereotyping, it hurts because someone sitting behind a desk said, `This is what I want Black people to look like.' 

"I knew there were Black architects, Black teachers and Black store owners, but not on TV," Kennard said. [2]

No such realization has happened in Andhra Pradesh.  No Andhra person is ready to concede that, ‘yes, we have discriminated Telanganas.  And we have shown them in negative light in our movies which has only perpetuated and exacerbated that discrimination’.

Telangana people constitute nearly 40% of Andhra Pradesh, and yet, no hero or heroine speaks Telangana in a mainstream movie.  The setting could be in Hyderabad, the heart of Telangana, but the hero, the heroine, and their good friends, the teacher, the professor, the mom and dad, all of them speak Andhra or Rayalaseema, but not Telangana.  It’s like a movie setting in Bihar but everybody is speaking Punjabi. Doesn’t make sense, does it? How is that a language spoken by nearly 40% of the state population doesn’t get their hero even once in the mainstream movies?

The reference to Telangana is always as a negative caricature, either that of a buffoon or a goon, either a coolie or an eve-teaser on the road.  This image is played out so many times that it becomes a recurring theme, leading to gross misconceptions about Telanganas.  You don’t need to go further to understand what Andhras think of Telangana people.  You can read from comments on my blog.  Consistently, Telanganas are characterized as lazy, drunkards, low class and unemployed youth.   How did this image come about when so many Telangana people are as literate and successful as any people in India? 

Even someone living in remote part of Andhra has already formed certain strong opinions about Telangana person having never met one – and that opinion is usually most often low, full of contempt, and worthy of ridicule.   Negative portrayals of Telangana people in the mainstream movies play a significant role in forming those opinions.

Movies are made for money, books are printed for money, and yet they could be used to change people’s opinions for good or bad.  And when a particular medium is being used consistently to characterize certain section of people, and a big chunk too, comprising nearly 40% of state population, one should ask ourselves whether we are doing the right thing.  We should ask if indeed, it is leading to discrimination as many Telangana people are alleging, if indeed we should admit the wrongs and try to set things right?  Or we want to exercise the option of discarding every allegation as a whimsical and fantastic imagination of some unemployed youth and continue to practice the same practices and harbor the same prejudices? Looks like Andhras have chosen the latter option, unfortunately.

That’s when that 3.5 Crore people revolt en masse.  They don’t need a KCR or TRS to come out onto streets to protest.  They just need Andhras to continue doing what they have been doing all these years.  Their dismissive attitude and behavior of apathy is good enough to fuel Telangana sentiment for another forty years.


A must read:
Nitin Harkara’s article: The Distorted Portrayal of Telangana in Andhra films.  He writes:
The biased, negative portrayal and continued tarring of a whole culture with a broad brush is not accidental. With the evolution of the Andhra film industry over the next few decades, the level of such misrepresentation reached new heights of sophistication. As Andhra’s grip on the core area of the Hyderabad region tightened progressively, the native people of Telangana were gradually pushed to the fringes of control in their own land. To further the colonial expansion of Andhra, there was a growing need to actively portray the people of Telangana as being crude and uncivilized, incapable of coherent communication or normal interaction in everyday settings, and completely unable to conduct their own affairs. The Andhra film became the perfect vehicle to further this discriminatory agenda…

…If there are any doubts as to the insidious influence of these Andhra films on the general population’s world-view, a casual conversation about the average Andhra person’s impressions of Telangana and her people should set them at rest. Three whole generations of people in Andhra have been raised on a steady diet of films like this, films that have consistently misrepresented the language, vocabulary and intonation of Telangana as one of criminals, buffoons and the economic underclass. The fallout from the subtle poison spread by these movies is a complete lack of understanding of Telangana’s people, its culture and its language among the general movie-going population, and that means just about everyone on the Andhra side of the Andhra-Telangana divide, educated or not. Despite its completely escapist character, or perhaps because of it, the Andhra film is the chief vehicle of entertainment for the masses. It is also, unfortunately enough, the vehicle that leaves behind the most powerful impressions in the minds of an audience eager to devour anything the movie maker churns out. 

Few links on negative portrayal of Blacks in Hollywood movies:

37 comments:

  1. Thanks Sujai for covering this topic. Recently, I read a similar post in sulekha.com - "The Distorted Portrayal of Telangana in Andhra films".

    Here is the link:
    http://nitinharkara.sulekha.com/blog/post/2009/12/the-distorted-portrayal-of-telangana-in-andhra-films.htm

    Keep up the good work.

    Jai Telangana...

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  2. Sorry, I did not notice that you already mentioned the blog-post.

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  3. This is tangential to your post, but I would like to share my experience.

    I have been guilty of deriding the telangana dialect as inferior to that of the andhra one. The same goes for rural dialects as well. I also used to think that the way African Americans spoke was dumb and that they were advertising their stupidity. But over the years I have realized how wrong I have been and that there is no such thing as the best language. That sentiment is best expressed in the book The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker. Humans have an innate capacity for language and any language they create (including sign languages) is just as expressive and beautiful as the next one.

    You are right in saying that media does perpetuate stereotypes. My smugness about the andhra dialect was probably because of the stereotyping. I did not have a close contact with any telangana guy till I was in college. That was also probably when I started dissociating with the telangana stereotype.

    Just my aath aana.

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  4. Lije:

    Thanks for sharing your personal experiences. It takes lot of confidence and maturity to accept that we were wrong once upon a time.

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  5. @sujai
    do u have atleast 1% shame tio say , inspite of being an I8ndian that kashmir shd be givren to pakistanis?

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  6. Naagarikuda VinuAugust 24, 2010 8:02 PM

    Mr Sujai
    I think it's better for you to disable all anonymous posts. Those anonymous cowards create unnecessary nuisance here. And coming to your post: +Infinity

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  7. "For example, in many Telugu movies, there is consistent negative characterization of dark people. "
    Indians have an obsession with fair skin.Its not just Telugu films.You generalize everything that is Indian and show that it is peculiar to Telangana. Vaseline has come up with Facebook application that glorifies fair skin. Indians are sexually starved they are fascinated with fair skin. The fact that Sonia Gandhi is able to call shots is entirely due to that. Indians have elected Rajiv in 84 just because of his fair skin....

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  8. "Even someone living in remote part of Andhra has already formed certain strong opinions about Telangana person having never met one – and that opinion is usually most often low, full of contempt, and worthy of ridicule. Negative portrayals of Telangana people in the mainstream movies play a significant role in forming those opinions."
    Same goes for Telanganites ,Andhras are stereotyped everywhere in Telangana.They despise Andhraites for no fault of theirs.Just as somebody shared their experiences let me share mine.In 80s when I went to school I was ridiculed for talking in Andhra accent.I was a butt of all jokes because I spoke in Andhra accent. They used to say 'evvala jollu eskoledmitiraa" Jollu being shoes .I had so much difficulty that I learnt their accent.I as a kid was not able to talk in the language that I was familiar with in my own bloody state.Added to that there were many people who were born and brought up in Hyderabad but could not understand Telugu or refused to speak.How many Telanganites understand Urdu ? But they were made to understand and talk in Urdu even when they didn't like.What was that?
    Did you notice that in your own backyard some people speaking in filthy Yankie accent.Everybody knows that it not the way people in the US speak but the boggers try to imitate the accent so shamelessly that it borders on stupidity. Hey that is not the English that every Indian grew up with.Aren't we accepting that atrocity on the language and label it as being sophisticated? Not just Bangalore even in Hyderabad there are modern English pundits specializing in Yank accent. Just because the Indian English is being intruded,people don't think that they are being sidelined and don't rail at everybody and everything saying they are losing their language.
    Any language is subject to evolution and change and nothing can be done on that.A person from Tajore speaks a different accent that a person from Chennai.Same goes for a person from Bangalore and Gulbarga.Everybody has their own way of speaking ,you cannot just go and demand states because you speak a different accent or slang.

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  9. Sujai,

    This is an important topic to cover. However, I disagree with you on some points. Please bear with my longish comment.

    I was born in Kadapa, but spent the first 5 years of my life in Vijayawada.Then, we shifted to Bodhan in Nizamabad.After 2 years at Bodhan, we moved to Mahboobnagar for another 3 years.After that, my dad's job took us to Nandyal, and I finally completed my 10th class in Kadapa.I left Kadapa after degree and moved to Hyderabad for my PG.This was in 1993.I have been living in Hyderabad ever since, with 5 years spent in US/UK/Blr in between.

    When we moved from Vijayawada to Bodhan, I was ridiculed (even in class 2) for my accent.Even in Mahboobnagar, some of my marathi influenced words were the butt of jokes.And when I moved back to Rayalaseema, I faced the jokes again for my language !

    So, stuff like this happens throughout the world.I am happy today to be a person who can switch effortlessly between my Kadapa slang and Telangana accent, and also speak pure Krishna dialect when required.I am happy for the exposure I got thanks to my dad's transferable job.

    I don't think we need to make a big issue about the jokes around accents.Mind you, the difference between dialects and registers is not very high.All Telugus are mutually intelligible irrespective of which part of AP they are from.It is incorrect to call these dialects as languages.

    Having said that, there is a need for a standard dialect for Telugu (sishya vyaavahaarikam) for usage in Govt matters, mass media and so on.The standard dialect for Telugu is very close to the dialect of educated upper classes from Krishna and Guntur districts.This standard dialect is different from the rural dialect (in intonation and slang) from those districts.However, this standard dialect is close to the intonation of educated upper classes across the State.It was not so initially, but it evolved in this manner over the past 100 years or so.

    Why is the standard dialect closer to Krishna and Guntur district dialect? Why not East and West Godavari dialect? The reason could be many, but an accepted theory is the nature of economic activities from those districts at a time when there was a consolidation of Telugu speaking people across South India, around the early 1900s.Radio, news papers, and the early movies contributed to this evolution as well.During the first half of the 20th century, Telangana was under Nizam rule and Telugu was not encouraged at all.Even people like PVNR and CiNaRe studied in Urdu /Maratha medium.

    But the local literary traditions in Telangana were very strong right from the Satavahana time onwards, and reached a high during the Kakatiya times.A large number of Telugu scholars migrated from Telangana area to Coastal AP during the Bahmani and then Kutubshahi rule.The scientific genius of Telangana's Telugu speaking people was almost unparalleled in rest of South India.You may have heard of the steel making industry near Golkonda during the pre-British times.Science education happened in Telugu, and the standard dialect for Telugu for hundreds of years was actually the dialect spoken in Telangana.

    Unfortunately, the Asafjahi rulers did not encourage scientific or literary education in Telugu.The Telangana people kept the literary tradition alive in spite of great odds.That is why, even during the first half of 20th century we have had great writers from Telangana.The trend continues today.

    Due to the socio-economic reasons we are all aware of, Telugu movie industry has always been dominated by the rich farming communities from coastal AP.And so, even if a writer is from Telangana or Rayalaseema, the standard dialect used became more and more like Krishna district language.Even CiNaRe writes and speaks in standard dialect.Suddala Ashok Teja, Goteti Venkanna, and even Gaddar speaks in standard dialect when on stage.

    (Contd. in comment below)

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  10. Negative portrayals in movies - in so far as I can remember, Pratighatana (produced by Ramoji Rao) was probably the first film to use the Telangana dialect exclusively for the villain (Kota Srinivasa Rao). The movie became a hit and then we had characters like Rami Reddy's role in Ankusam, where again the language resembled that of a Telangana person.The trend continued for a long time mainly because producers assume that it is a good hook for the audience.In Siva, we have Uttej's character (a canteen boy) who narrates ramayanam in Telangana style.This was supposed to be a comedy track.Uttej was doing it earlier in stage shows and the director Varma simply asked him to repeat it on film.

    Some thing similar happened to the Kadapa/Kurnool accent too. There was Samara Simha Reddy, a huge hit for Balakrishna and one of the first films with faction backdrop.And from then on, not just the Seema dialect, but the whole of Rayalaseema has been portrayed as backward, violent, and other worst stereotypes. A land that gave us great poets like Annamayya, Peddana, Vemana, and Veerabrahmendra Swamy, is now synonymous with faction violence as far as perceptions are concerned.This is due to many factors, but the portrayal in movies has definitely caused a wrong stereotype to be created.We could blame the unoriginal producers and directors for this, but not the whole of AP.After a while, the fad for faction films would come down (it is already coming down quite a bit) and we can all move on. The case about Telangana accent for villains is the same.We need to note it, analyse it, and condemn it - but we must move on. We definitely can not blame Coastal AP people for this phenomenon.

    Please let me know if you want to learn more about the evolution of Telugu language.You will be surprised to know that our language first evolved in today's Telangana area and then moved to the Coastal AP.

    In short:The Andhras were inhabitants of today's Telangana. They mixed with Nagas, and Yakshas, and the eventual community came to be known as Andhras.The Andhram/Telugu of Kakatiyas was a mix of three dravidian languages (desi, tenugu and paisachi).And the fertile areas of Telangana was where this mingling happened resulting in our beautiful language. Your hatred towards Coastal AP folks is probably making you forget our roots. While no one ignores the sentiment for a separate state, equating Telangana people with blacks on one hand, and with Kashmiri Sunni Muslims on the other hand, is not just an indiator of victim hood mentality, it can lead to a dangerous black umbrella (the opposite of Sweta Chhattra- please google for the reference), harming the unity and well being of our people.

    Educated entrepreneurs like you should do some poorva paksha, and strive towards an amicable solution to the impasse.I keep coming to your blog with that expectation.But sadly, I always see your rants based on half-research and emotional outbursts.I am sure you can define a win-win solution to this problem.Please try that and be a role model for our Telangana brothers and sisters.

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  11. Good one sujai! A subject like this can never be discussed enough.

    Indians put up with all sorts of insensitive rubbish but the tragedy is when people who are themselves stereotyped and discriminated do not feel the need to protest aganist this or worse think that this is the 'right' way of showing things.

    For example I have asked many dark skinned girls what they feel about the total absence of dusky heroines or the usage of dark skinned women only to depict sweepers, servants or people from the lowest strata. And I was shocked by their replies. Most of them told me that a heroine is supposed to look pretty and exotic and so that would automatically exclude dark skinned women!! You can imagine the kind of message that the movies, media industry and commercials have sent these women and the damage it has done to their self esteem.

    I'm sure in the same way many people from Telangana watch such Telugu movies but don't protest enough or think the sterotypes are justified. If there was massive rejection of such type of movies by all people from Telangana then the movie industry would wake up and put a stop to it immediately for purely economic reasons. But such a thing would never happen because the average telanganite dones't care enough or accepts such portrayals meekly.

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  12. rags:
    Agree with you completely.

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  13. Kumar Narasimha:

    Thanks for writing the history of Telugu movies. I am quite sure many readers would welcome the detailed analysis.

    I am not saying that Andhras are not ridiculed in Telangana. If you do go to remote parts of Telangana, there will be instances when Andhras are ridiculed. But do Andhras get ridiculed in movies by Telangana heroes and heroines? Not really. Do Telanganas ridicule Andhras for being different or for being inferior? And the answer is pretty clear to some of us.

    Here I am discussing stereotyping in the media that perpetuates the discrimination. Blacks may make fun of a white guy in their midst, his mannerisms, and his behavior. But that does not translate into discrimination of Whites by Blacks on large scale. However, stereotyping of Black artists as drivers, workers, porters, janitors, etc, and never as architects, doctors, lawyers, etc, could indeed result in perpetuation of discrimination.

    You need to understand the difference- a joke on someone for being different and a joke on someone for being inferior.

    Educated entrepreneurs like you should do some poorva paksha, and strive towards an amicable solution to the impasse.

    The amicable solution is clearly evident. But some of us do now wish to see it in the eye. The solution lies in creation of new state of Telangana with strong support from Andhra and Rayalaseema people and leaders resulting in a bonhomie that could continue between these regions for a long time to come in the future.

    I am sure you can define a win-win solution to this problem.

    The win-win is when Andhras and Rayalaseema people rule their own regions, and Telanganas rule their own regions. That’s called win-win, you win and we win. But the whole idea of you winning and we losing is not acceptable.

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  14. Kumar Narasimha:

    We definitely can not blame Coastal AP people for this phenomenon.

    I am not blaming the Coastal AP people for the movie phenomenon. But you have to understand that Telanganas see this phenomenon of movies in context of everything else.

    It’s like Whites saying, don’t blame us, blame the producers. But the reality is that discrimination is felt by the common man from another common.

    You will be surprised to know that our language first evolved in today's Telangana area and then moved to the Coastal AP.

    Please educate Andhras first and make them realize that Telanganas do not become inferior just because they speak a language which is different from theirs, just because the current Telangana Telugu has influences of Urdu, Marathi and Kannada.

    You should have come fifty years ago, and maybe we would have had bonhomie between the two regions by now. Unfortunately, such moves did not come from Andhras. It is a strong perception, which is based in many realities, that Andhras never embraced Telangana as equals. It is seen in many facets of our cultural and administrative life. It is a common belief, once again based in many realities, that Andhras have used their superior position to usurp opportunities by belittling the local people.

    Why should Telangana people continue to tolerate this ignominy? Would Andhras tolerate such treatment from Tamil people? If so, why did they not remain with Madras State? What was the reason for breaking up Madras State? On what ground and what pretexts? Why are those grounds not valid for Telangana? Why this false pretense that Telangana Telugu is equal to Andhra Telugu? It is not, and it will never be as long as we remain united in this experiment called Andhra Pradesh. And it is evident from every facet of our society.

    There are very few people out there who want to get into the details of language and its origins. Most others are interested in current perceptions. Telugu might have originated in Telangana (as you say), but the word Telangana does not even feature in our Telugu textbooks. We start our histories with formation of Andhra Pradesh in 1956, but never talk about our different histories. We falsify our histories saying Potti Sriramulu died for creation for Andhra Pradesh, when it is not. When such carefully orchestrated propaganda is being carried out, we lose trust.

    Your hatred towards Coastal AP folks is probably making you forget our roots.

    I don’t hate people of Coastal Andhra. If I was Andhra today, I would have criticized Andhras. May be our roots are the same. But that did not stop the discrimination in my region of Telangana. It did not stop people from stealing the water that should have gone to Telangana. I am quite sure we will have good time as neighbors and go over the common roots as equals. Like we do with Kannada people with whom we also have common origins.

    While no one ignores the sentiment for a separate state, equating Telangana people with blacks on one hand, and with Kashmiri Sunni Muslims on the other hand, is not just an indiator of victim hood mentality, it can lead to a dangerous black umbrella

    Equating Telangana to Blacks is necessary so that people understand and relate to what is already known. Because there is extensive literature on discrimination of Blacks, understanding what happened to them will allow one to understand what Telangana people feel.

    There is no shame in equating oneself to Blacks of America. Hopefully this will make my Telangana people understand their plight thereby train them not to discriminate others in future when Telangana is formed. Hopefully they will be treating their people nicer and not the way Andhra treated Telanganas. I just hope, but I am not confident.

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  15. Sujai,

    Thanks for thoughtful responses to my comments.I think my disagreements with you on this topic are of degree and not of type.In other words, I see the discrimination done by some sections of Coastal AP folks against the ordinary people of all areas in AP.You feel strongly as a Telangana person for the slights against Telangana folks.I feel strongly about the slights for the Telangana, Seema, and also for the poorer communities in Coastal and North AP.The stereotype against Telanganas (lazy, drunkard etc) are similar to the stereotypes created by one upper caste against a BC community in Coastal AP.Like I said, I agree on the discrimination part, but I feel large sections of people who do not discriminate are facing the wrath.

    "Because there is extensive literature on discrimination of Blacks, understanding what happened to them will allow one to understand what Telangana people feel."

    No, there is a world of difference in the discrimination faced by Blacks and by Telanganas.A better analogy will be how the Latino immigrants get discriminated against in US.But again, I don't see the relevance of these analogies for our debate.

    "Hopefully they will be treating their people nicer and not the way Andhra treated Telanganas. I just hope, but I am not confident."

    The Coastal AP people came over to Telangana, bought land, setup shops, got jobs etc. and looked down at the locals (a hateful imperial trait). The Telanganas have developed 'Nativist tendencies' as a reaction to this, which is natural.
    (Please see 'Nativism' on Wikipedia; I am referring to an Indian variant of this concept).

    However, once the root cause of the nativist movement (Jai Telangana, Jai Andhra etc) is removed, if the intelligentsia is leading the people without any divisive agenda, after a while, one could hope that things would come back to normalcy. But the current leadership of the Telangana movement, and the political intrigues of Congress party, doesn't give me (and many people) the confidence.And I can see even you don't have that confidence.

    This is one area where people like you can play a guiding role because your hearts are in the right place.

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  16. Sujai,

    With reference to the nativism concept I mentioned in my previous comment, here's a post from Sepia Mutiny about Islamophobia in the US.

    http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/006301.html#more

    From that article: "Throughout American history, established inhabitants have been manipulated whenever ideologues or politicians decide to use fear of the “other” to win power or wealth for themselves."

    There is an obvious parallel to the way the Telangana sentiment has always been stoked and made use of by Telangana politicians since 1969.I am not ruling out the sentiment among the people, especially among the educated Telangana natives (you for example), but the danger of allowing selfish politicians to lead the movement should not be underestimated.If the Telangana movement today is seen more as 'kick Andhras out' than 'give us our own state', the blame must go to the leaders who exploit the nativist sentiment.

    A corollary would be the case of a party like MIM in Old City.They claim to speak for the Muslim community and have successfully created a vote bank by playing on religious sentiments.And yet, large parts of Old City look like slums, and the fruits of the past 40 years of the city's development do not reach the poor Muslims.And worst of all, there is no one to question this fact !

    The separate Telangana movement has only helped some political leaders, but the masses have not been given a vision of what needs to be done to make Telangana region prosperous and reduce the inequalities within Telangana society.All these issues need to be seen by Telangana people in their own light, rather than a blanket 'Andhras did this to us'. Such an approach absolves the Telangana leaders of any responsibility.In the end, the sufferers are the poor people of Telangana.

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  17. While I fully sympathize with Telengana, I don't think the analogy with blacks in the US is any good.

    Racism was prevalent long before Hollywood. Hollywood was certainly not the cause of it.

    Also, if your heart beats faster when you come across a group of young black men on the street as opposed to whites, you are being sensible.

    In India, the people of Telengana are racially (and even ethnically) the same as the rest of ANdhra, it's only a couple of hundred years of history that has caused the rift. There is no analogy with the case of blacks in the US.

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  18. 1. If the movies are insulting, why are people watching them?
    2. You defended MF Hussein for insulting Hindu sentiments, by arguing freedom of expression. Are you not being hypocritical?

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  19. Ledzius:

    While I fully sympathize with Telengana, I don't think the analogy with blacks in the US is any good.

    Analogy doesn’t mean similarity. One can draw lessons from Holocaust on many aspects- that doesn’t mean we are always comparing the two to equate them.

    Racism was prevalent long before Hollywood. Hollywood was certainly not the cause of it.

    If you read my blog again you will notice that I never said Hollywood ‘caused’ it. I said it ‘perpetuated’ it. There is a big difference between the two.

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  20. "Also, if your heart beats faster when you come across a group of young black men on the street as opposed to whites, you are being sensible"

    Ledzius, you might want to consider the factor of illusory correlation. Studies have shown that people tend to overestimate the rate of negative behaviours in minority groups (esp. Blacks). And also African American men tend to be arrested at a higher rate than the general population for the same crimes committed. For Blacks their low status in society and the stereotypes about their criminality leads to a self fulfilling prophecy and a vicious cycle. Thought you might be interested..

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  21. @Kumar Narsimha,

    Have you heard about the Stockholm Syndrome or grief bonding??

    Well,it is a psychological disorder that deals with identifying or sympathising with your abuser.

    Some people of Telangana seem to be suffering from this syndrome.

    It is extremely disturbing to note that your comments reflect so poorly on you in spite of your vast knowledge about Telangana.

    Criticising/Making fun of the people of Telangana or their language in movies is similar to hurting/abusing people in the name of fun.

    Young adults or teenagers emulate what they see or hear in the name of entertainment,in movies since they are not mature enough to understand the implications or repercussions of it

    Movies are one of the most powerful mediums of influence amongst youth.The good comes with the bad.
    Young kids cannot differentiate between the two.

    Film stars becoming powerful politicians in several parts of the world,with out much exposure in the political arena,goes on to prove that thought.

    Ronald Reagan,Arnold Schwarzenegger,M.G.R,Chiranjeevi, Jayalalitha,Karunanidhi are just a few examples.

    Using film stars for political campaigns is not a new thought,either.

    You seem to be underestimating the influence of films or a film star on the youth...

    Whatever gets portrayed on the celluloid is taken per se by the youngsters,who are at an impressionable age.

    The poor portrayal of our language in the movies is just one aspect of the problem.When such non-sense is portrayed on a larger than life medium,in the name of entertainment,people do get influenced.

    Art emulates life,and vice-versa.

    I don't need to say more.

    I personally stopped keeping count of the number of times this has been done in movies.
    My guess is that,either you haven't noticed or you just don't care.

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  22. @ssb said..

    1. If the movies are insulting, why are people watching them?
    2. You defended MF Hussein for insulting Hindu sentiments, by arguing freedom of expression. Are you not being hypocritical?


    @SSB

    Sir,
    MF Hussein got an artistic freedom where he can draw women naked and can mention them with a name of a girl not from his religion...where as a film maker is a person who makes a film and inturn the film influences each and every person who watches it..(something like a contagious disease) so a film maker is denied of all sorts of freedom and right of expression as it has got negative impact on people....

    In order to understand this you need to do a parakaya pravesam into sujai's mind and think in his terms and understand, his examples, the way he projects an issue, the way he collects information by his own experiences(coz one cannot speak of anything unless he has gone through it).

    When one beleives in what he feels is true its difficult for him to change his stance..in the same way how the header on this blog goes.."Opinions are like assholes".

    one should have an open mind when one is open to any kind of discussion. Who ever listens to him are the persons who understand what pain is and who dont are morons. So decide yourself do you want to be a moron or not? :)

    When he compares modi with Hitler showing some similarities...its true according to sujai..and when some other person quotes some other example then the person is not understanding the intention of the article.(Not true in all the cases but atleast a few)

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  23. Daffy:

    Usually I refer to my fellow countrymen as 'Idiotic Indians', not because they are born with a genetic defect or because they have a biological problem, but because they have consciously arrested a major portion of their mental faculties, stopped reasoning and stopped thinking.

    Most Indians do not understand the difference between a ‘criticism’ and a ‘ban’. Indians like to ban everything they dislike. A wise Turkish friend told me once that his countrymen were barbaric before the advent of Whiteman. He said that his countrymen didn’t know how to deal with disagreements in a civil manner. If someone disagreed with the other person, he resorted to killing the other person. That’s the only way they knew of dealing with disagreements. He said it was the Whiteman who taught their world to say, ‘Let’s agree to disagree’.

    In some respects, Indians continue to believe that if they don’t like something, they need to shut it down, ban it or prosecute it. They don’t know how to deal with things which are disagreeable or displeasing without having to apply physical force.

    You write:
    so a film maker is denied of all sorts of freedom and right of expression as it has got negative impact on people....

    The obtuse nature of this remark actually doesn’t warrant my response. But there is a good chance that many Indians out there may feel the same as you do. Hence I take the pains to explain.

    When Bill Cosby criticizes Hollywood for negative portrayal of Blacks in movies, he doesn’t take away the freedom of expression of the producers. He is not asking for a ban on the movies, or denying the producers their right to make movies. He is criticizing them for their actions which have longer, wider and deeper consequences. Criticism does not always entail a ban. In fact, criticism is a healthy way to deal with disagreeable things without having to deprive the other person of his rights.

    In my two articles on this topic, I never asked for an official ban on Telugu movies. The only thing I did was to criticize them. When one criticizes something he is exercising his freedom to express while not denying the other person the right to express. Only when you go about officially banning the other person’s thoughts or works or prosecuting him for his work, you are denying the other person their freedoms.

    The day you understand this, I am quite hopeful this country will be a great country and we will be able to resolve complex issues with maturity. Till then, unfortunately, immaturity will part of our daily problems.

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  24. Bill Cosby fof Telangana-----SUJAI
    ahahahaha

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  25. "The day you understand this, I am quite hopeful this country will be a great country and we will be able to resolve complex issues with maturity. Till then, unfortunately, immaturity will part of our daily problems."
    A leader is born who is a Telanganite first and then an Indian.
    Where was Sujai the leader when the films made by the Andhra producers were 'banned' or authors like Nalamotu Chakravarthy manhandled in the heart of Telangana.You talk about criticism and ban where is Sujai when the Telangana leaders boldly go about saying that any person who is against Telangana cannot express their opinion in Telangana and that Seemandhra politicians cannot enter Telangana in any capacity? That is 'maturity'? Charity begins at home,my dear friend.. Write a blog condemning the utterance by your dear friends and then address the Indians..

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  26. @sujai..thank you for taking the pain to explain it out..so its a criticism...good..I wasn't thinking it in that way...it would had been better if you would have said "A criticism on Telugu Films: on the lines of telanagana".
    Sujai..every person on this earth may not have the ability to think the way you see things..and yes that would have been an ideal world...and that doesnt make your fellow indian idiotic..might be he has not got the super brain which you possess...

    Sujai..Criticism is a healthy way ..i too agree with it and do that..and also take that with the same sprirt..but as we dont live in an ideal world..atleast in india..i only see people ready to ban things but not to criticise..

    So if you dont mind I would like to know what is that you are desiring as your end result by critisizing that no lead actor speaks telangana or no lead actor is from telangana..and only fair skin people are shown as heroines..

    We criticise so that we can see a change ... So what is the change we are seeking here..i am speaking only in terms of films being related to telanagana movement..

    I am not dumb to call you idiotic for all the things which i dont agree with you. :) Keep blogging..
    (its not a suggestion or a request..you would be doing that inspite of me asking..just said that for teh heck of it).

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  27. @Anonymous

    Thats what i have been asking Sujai..that he is blogging only one side of a story and that too from what he thinks is true(based on some articles, personal experiences, getting info from TV channels, newspapers) from his perspective.

    When there are positive points about an issue..one must also highlight the negative points in it.But it isnt going in that way..It would be more interesting if he can get the facts (known to be facts) from another perspective.

    I hope my wish would be considered in his future blogs.

    @sujai
    "Not a single person on this earth can bare to listen only his negatives, he would like to listen atleast a few positive points".

    and i beleive this is applicable to you too.. :)

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  28. Daffy:

    Thats what i have been asking Sujai..that he is blogging only one side of a story

    Please read from an article on this blog titled “Where do I stand?” where I write:

    I have chosen to take a stand on serious issues. Therefore you will not see me writing two sides of a story here. If I believe there are two stories to an issue, I do not write about it.

    There are many blogs out there catering to Andhra/Rayalaseema side of the story. You are happy to visit them. There is a book by Nalamotu which is available online. You can get facts for your side of the story from there.

    In this blog I do take a stand on great moral crises.

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  29. Daffy:

    You could read more about criticisms at “Why do we criticize our nations” on this blog.

    but as we dont live in an ideal world..atleast in india..i only see people ready to ban things but not to criticise..

    Well, that’s first step toward becoming civilized. If we go on banning everything we dislike we will end up losing all our freedoms.

    It’s sad that I have to even write why criticism is needed. Great changes have happened in the history of mankind only when the problems were highlighted by some brave people. As people we moved from being subjects of autocratic monarch to citizens of a nation with inalienable rights. That did not happen overnight. Scores of literature was printed, read, by which ideas got propagated whereby peoples and nations got enlightened.

    So if you dont mind I would like to know what is that you are desiring as your end result by critisizing that no lead actor speaks telangana or no lead actor is from telangana..and only fair skin people are shown as heroines..

    That there will be a change in our attitudes, that people of Telanganas reject such movies forcing producers to change their attitudes, so that people of Andhras sympathize with the Telanganas for the discrimination that is meted out to them. And maybe one day, we will also have Telangana speaking heroes/heroines the way mainstream Hollywood movies started to have Blacks in leading roles.

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  30. Anonymous:

    Boycott is a form of protest. During the height of Indian Independence movement Indians boycotted many British products. They demanded that Simon should go back and protested on the streets to force him to go back.

    But that does not mean such noncooperation and boycott should become the official policy of the nation once it become independent or that of a state once it gets separated. Sometimes aggrieved parties do take matters into their hands during such boycotts resulting in undesirable consequences.

    Where necessary we urge our people not to go overboard, not to go violent, and not to become the very masters we are trying to topple. We urge our people not take the freedoms of other peoples which are far more important than achieving Telangana.

    Where was Sujai the leader when the films made by the Andhra producers were 'banned'

    There’s a difference between a ban and a boycott. Andhra movies were seen as Andhra products and hence some leaders in Telangana tried to boycott them. When you believe that a movie is a product coming from your oppressor you have every right to boycott it. That’s how most of the freedom movements are based on. But in reality such a boycott never succeeded in Telangana. Almost all the movies by Andhra producers are being happily lapped up by Telangana people.

    or authors like Nalamotu Chakravarthy manhandled in the heart of Telangana.

    That’s unfortunate. Such incidents happen on both sides of the fence. Some Telangana professors were beaten up in Seemandhra and asked to go back. Even under Gandhi’s supervision of nonviolent movement there were incidents of murder and mayhem. Actually I am happy to know that Nalamotu could come onto TV and speak and that he still has his book online. His voice remains unsuppressed and is heard by many Andhras and Telanganas.

    Charity begins at home, my dear friend.. Write a blog condemning the utterance by your dear friends and then address the Indians..

    You miss the point. In these articles I was not talking about who is suppressing whose voice in the ONGOING MOVEMENT. When I do come to that topic, I will write about it. Meanwhile you are free to write how Telanganas are suppressing other people’s freedom on your blog! I am quite sure many readers would welcome it.

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  31. " Some Telangana professors were beaten up in Seemandhra and asked to go back."
    Do you have evidence of such a thing happening. My relatives are Telangana academicians but freely move around in Andhra for seminars,viva voces,Thesis defence,conferences and what not.

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  32. "His voice remains unsuppressed and is heard by many Andhras and Telanganas"
    The moral of the story is that boycotts,manhandling and threats don't cow down people in this modern age.
    " Almost all the movies by Andhra producers are being happily lapped up by Telangana people. "
    The fact Telangana people are lapping the movies by Andhra producers inspite of the warnings,threats issued by omnipotent JACs to boycott itself shows that the people are not fools to be coerced into something they don't want to do.The Telangana people are not that narrow minded to follow the dictates of pseudo regional leaders.

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  33. " Even under Gandhi’s supervision of nonviolent movement there were incidents of murder and mayhem."
    Where is Gandhi in Telangana.You or Kodandaram or our beloved KCR ?
    Curious.

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  34. @sujai..

    Thank you Sujai for asking me to read your “Where do I stand?” blog...Now i have a clear idea of what the blog is about and what you intend to write...good..carry on with your good work..I wish to see the change you intend to..this is the first blog where i thought of writing a comment..i never do that in general coz opinions are like assholes..:) dont know i thought this blog is different..and indeed yes it is different...

    All the best... :)

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  35. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  36. [Re posting the comment after deleting personal information.]

    Dear all,a sincere request to you is ignore this guy.Please for heaven's sake.He is uttering sheer nonsense and you all are getting addicted to this blabbering.we have many other things to do.why popularize this guy.

    Nalamotu chakravarthy's myteluguroots.com is more meanigful than this blog.He atleast makes meaningful comments.

    And the author if this post is using all of you for his own gain,which is to get popularity on internet and he is feeling this as a hyde park of london,where people vent all their feelings.

    Please shun this guy away.In every post of his,I only see hatred and mis interpretations.If that much of hatred existed before,our state would not have been a peaceful plae.we would have had people from both sides killing each other like people did while India-pakistan partition.

    I ask all sane minded people who believe in a meanigful talk,to open up their own blogs and vent their feelings.See the list of postings he made.We can all do it by ourselves.Why provoke this rustic guy for no reason??

    one good blog name could be anti-sujai blog.Just an Idea and is implementable.

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  37. @Moinuddin Baksh
    I don't see anything wrong with Sujai..in fact i see you are a disturbed soul yourself.
    advice: don't read this blog with a pre-concieved mind set...clear your baggage and open up your mind first.

    ReplyDelete

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