Re: dasara bullodu
Sreenivas Paruchuri (sreeni@ktpsp1.uni-paderborn.de)
Tue, 19 Nov 1996 13:10:24 +0100 (MET)
>> Subba Kunasani wrote:
> I think Sridhar is right. The quality in terms of songs deteriorated
> very bad from then. I know the furore it caused in film industry
> for the movie "gulebhakavali katha' for using teh words in the popular
----
> and so where the dialogues in "lakshama katha or sri lakshamma katha"
> "maa ammayiki soodhi injection cheyyandi doctor'; or something in those ..
> They were considered dialogues of double etendre. But in dasar bullodu
-----
> I think this is an impritant topic to be further discussed to draw
> a line where the quality of language took a nosedive.
I have asked myself this question many number of times. You keep hearing
this complaint right from the year 1931 when the first Telugu Talkie was
released. Those days the famous and highly respected magazine _bhaarati_
criticized the new medium vehemently. The language in the earliest films
was more "graanthikam".
Degressing: Infact the earliest films had very little to no cinematic
values as popular drama troupes were taken to centres like Bombay,
Kolhapur or Calcutta and were put infront of the camera...... It took
nearly six years when "paatrOchita" and "vyaavahaarika" bhaasha was used
(Film: prameelaarjuneeyam, 1936. In that the tribals speak "savara"
bhaasha, spoken in north-coastal dts.) in films.
The (revolutionary) film "maalapilla" (1938) set certainly new standards
both in Telugu films and film music. In that film the song: "ee mabbu aa
mabbu aakaaSa madhyaana addukunnaTlu manamaikya maudaame ...." (written
by famous poet; basavaraaju appaaraavu) caused a lot of controversy as
many found it vulgar.
I have a few articles from the years between 1935 and 1955 where you
continuously hear this criticism of deteriorating values in film
lyrics/dialogues. By early 50s itself B N Reddy was complaining about
falling values. Many people of that time found a line in film (like)
"malleeSwari" (1951) very disturbing (its the conversation between
bhaanumati and A. kamalaadEvi after bhaanumati finds her love; NTR,
in nartanaSaala).
Subba quoted the films: lakshmamma (1950, Ch. naaraayaNaraavu, C kRshNavENi,
Dir: tripuranEni gOpeechand, Music: ghanTasaala) and Sree lakshamma katha
(1950, ANR, anjali, Dir: Ghantasala Balaraamayya, Music: CR subburaaman).
Sreelakshmamma katha is considered to be the first vulgar film in Telugu,
esp. the dialogues between Sivaraavu and surabhi baalasaraswati. But
compared to today's films and standards its a very decent film.
One song in Film: daaguDu mootalu, the first "for Adults only" film
(directed by pratyagaatma) ...... the list can go on and on ....
Our parents generation find the post-70s films vulgar, we find the
post-80s films vulgar,... Probably todays teenagers may find post-90s
films vulgar and so on.
Do the trends (and tastes) change from time to time? Do we have to redefine
the word "vulgar" from time to time? I think so.
Regards,
Sreenivas