Last week, I was still listening to SPB-Illayaraja songs. Songs in A. Kodandarami Reddy’s abhilASha were among them. The movie has some wonderful songs, but that is not my point. There are three wonderful male characters in abhilASha — CKP Chiranjeevi, Sentry Sarma, and the great criminal lawyer Sarvottama Rao. In fact, there are three other smaller yet memorable characters — Obulesu, “Dhara Singh”, and the creepy servant. I have made my point.
Let me elucidate.
I haven’t watched abhilASha in years. Nevertheless, the well-etched characters have written themselves in the “Cinema” folder in my mind, forever. The protagonists and antagonists, especially, need solid characterizations. You can’t write a story without them, much less imagine shelling out crores to bring them onto the celluloid. But we do not find such characters anymore.
When I see today’s movies — mind you, my focus is on the more popular ones — I miss the old villains the most. A character like the great criminal lawyer Sarvottama Rao demands everybody’s respect. They seem to have an implicit perception of their limitations, and an unquenchable desire for power. While this may be an underlying attribute among many villains of the yesteryears, they still remained unique.
Gone are such white-collared criminals. Today’s villains are mostly rowdy-sheeters, mafia dons, or faction leaders. People only fear, and not respect, such fellows. They are such guileless fools full of themselves, it’s a surprise that their hyper-myopia goes undiagnosed. Their downfall is nobody’s surprise — they would have boastfully banged their heads against rocks and died anyway.
The heroes are no better. Their unrealistic strength can shudder Hercules. No matter how many rowdies are running with butcher knives towards the unarmed hero, the fearless bloke never doubts his capabilities. Whether he too, like the villain, is myopic or is terrible at counting numbers or is just brain dead remains vague.
These characterizations can be characterized as a trend of retro-film-making. Please don’t fool yourselves and blame me for over-simplifying or stripping off all other characteristics of these characters. This is how pathetically plain they are.
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