Telugu cinema has been an epitome for “mass-masala” films and Puri Jagannadh has been considered to be the flag bearer- a rather problematic flag bearer.
When Bahubali – The Beginning was released in 2018, little did we know that Telugu cinema would grab the attention of not just the whole of India, but also the world. Pandemic conditions along with the steady rise of OTT platforms have given Telugu films a front-row seat in Indian Cinema. Recent releases like RRR and Karthikeya-2 have only added weight to the fact that Telugu Cinema might emerge as the face of the Indian Film Industry soon.
Amidst such a thriving atmosphere came Liger- a much-awaited film with ultra-high expectations. Directed by Puri Jagannadh who is often regarded as the king of mass masala movies, Liger failed to charm the PAN India audience and ended up rather disastrously at the box office.
While a section of the audience has pointed out the film’s poor storyline and clumsy screenplay as the primary reasons for its failures, one who is familiar with Puri Jagannadh’s filmography would quickly spot what else adds to the failure of not just the film, but of the director too.
Puri Jagannadh swears by films that have a unique mass appeal. Extremely cringe dialogues which often have abusive language, a male character with a mannerism or an own punch-line who saves the day or gets the girl, a heroine who has nothing to do with the story but brings glamour to the table, either a strong or a pitiful mother character and an intimate song by the beach- these pretty much explain almost all films of Puri Jagannadh.
But, is that all? No. Quite often, the director’s films have glorified or rather worshipped toxic masculinity, have had scenes in which rape culture was cleverly disguised as romance or comedy, have had sexist punch lines which became the dialogues of the year, and even more often have shown women and their bodies in poor light.
Though Puri Jagannadh has been a two-time prestigious Nandi Award winner, has given some classic blockbusters for Telugu Cinema, and has also been the Telugu Director after Ram Gopal Varma to take over the Bollywood space, it’s about time he’s told why most of his films are severely problematic.
Consider 5 movies of his that prove the point.
1. Amma Nanna O Tamil Ammayi
Starring Ravi Teja, Asin, Jayasudha, and Prakash Raj in the leads, this film ruled the box office in 2003 and was also the recipient of several Filmfare awards. What made it problematic? The hero finds the heroine smoking secretly with her friends and blackmails her to hug him. In another scene, he “funnily” says that he has 4 Rape cases on his name, again leading the girl to hug him.
2. Idiot
“Idiot” was an idiotic film. Period. It glorified the act of stalking girls like never before. It had a song fully dedicated to showing the boys “love”- him grabbing her legs without her consent as an act of begging, he and his boy gang jumping into a pool in which the heroine and her friends were, which is nothing less of sexual harassment, and also a scene of convincing the girl through an act of suicide attempt. This film needs TWs on everything.
3. Businessman
Verbally abusing the female lead and a supporting actor in two different scenes, a song named “Pilla Chaavve” which when translated means telling the girl to die because she won’t accept his love proposal, and drugging the girl to bring her to him- this film personified toxicity “stylishly”.
4. Iddaru Ammayilatho
Starring Allu Arjun, this film has a scene in which the hero explains and encourages girls to fearlessly go behind the bushes with boys- a rather misleading scene directed with ZERO social consciousness. In another scene, the film funnily portrayed “rape”, saying girls falsely accuse of “losing their bodies” to frame guys as jerks.
5. I-smart Shankar
This film was the last ever blockbuster from Jagannadh’s kitty bag. One would be stunned to see the amount of rape culture this film encouraged- the guy enters the girl’s home forcefully, she calls the cops to inform them that he’s trying to rape her, he pins her to the wall and then to the bed, says he’ll rape her, the cops are eventually sent back- because it’s lovers’ quarrel and “romance”. You’ll have a massive headache!
The fact that we are a part of a toxic society and have failed to differentiate between what is supposed to be entertainment and what is not, is the reason why these films gained immense popularity despite glorifying misogyny, sexism, rape culture, and toxic relationships. It’s time we looked behind the weak argument that “It’s just a film!” No, it’s not.
Puri Jagannadh needs to understand that film-making is a form of ART. Good art empowers, educates, and moves people. Anything that does the opposite is bad art. We are living in an era in which crimes against women spike up daily and yet women are fighting for their rights and are raising their voices against sexual exploitation, rape, harassment, and toxic masculinity.
Hence, we need movies with socially conscious content. We need movies that represent women in a realistic and positive light. We need movies that don’t dilute the #MeToo movement.
Puri Jagannadh Sir- we need GOOD ART.