“Open the door. It is me Aftab.” He shouted pounding the door with his fists. There was no answer. He looked back at the street. It was empty. He knew it wouldn’t be that way for too long.

“Nitya, open the door. It is me.” He shouted again.

A sweet voice boomed from inside. “What was the name of the restaurant where we had our first date?”

He didn’t have to think. “Afghan Palace.”

The door opened. He rushed in and bolted it again. “Aftab. Where have you been?” Nitya hugged him tightly. “I am scared Aftab. I am. Suraj and Salma are having trouble digesting all this. What is happening Aftab?”

Aftab didn’t reply. He just hugged his wife and closed his eyes. A few minutes passed. He whispered into her ears. “Situation is out of control. There are riots everywhere. Hindus and Muslims are killing each other in mad frenzy. Our neighbors are also in one of the groups. They want to kill all the Hindus in the city.”

Nitya was aghast. “But we are in Juhapura. This is a Muslim area. I am married to a Muslim. We shouldn’t have any problem. Right?”

Aftab was silent.

“Aftab. Tell me we are going to be alright. They are not going to kill us – right?” Nitya was become hysterical.

“Where are the kids?” He tried to change the topic. Half an hour back he overhead a conversation which confirmed his worst fears. “Weed out all the Hindus from Juhapura. We should avenge the death of our brothers and sisters.”

A few hours back, in Satyagrah Chavani – a predominantly Hindu area, a mob had gone on a rampage and killed seven Muslims including two kids – of the same age as Suraj and Salma.

“Suraj had trouble sleeping. I put him on a tablet. Salma is doing her homework.” Nitya composed herself.

“Homework?” Aftab exclaimed, “Now?”

Nitya shook her head, “It is one way to keep her mind away from this madness.”

He nodded. “Nitya, listen to me. Rahman is leading a group of men who want to kill all the Hindus in this locality. He knows you are a Hindu. And he will be here any minute.”

She started crying. “Why! O why?”

There was a big noise. “Open the door.” Rahman’s voice was cold. “You can’t hide them forever Aftab. We have to avenge our brothers. Faith comes first. Let us in. We are more than fifty here. You can’t resist.”

Aftab stared at his wife for a moment. “Nitya, it is all over. I am sorry.”

She squeezed his hand. “Kill me Aftab.”

He was bewildered. “What?”

“Kill me please. And kill the kids yourself. I’d like to die in your hands. Don’t let Rahman kill us all.”

Nitya was no longer crying. He saw determination in her eyes. The front door was about to be overcome. He had to act fast.

He pulled his service revolver out – “I love you Nitya.”

“I love you too Aftab.”

Just one bullet. The sound reverberated through the walls. The pounding on the door stopped abruptly and resumed after a minute. A minute later, Rahman heard two more shots. He was not sure what was happening inside.

“All of you. Come with me.” He ordered his fellow rioters. With his hand clutching the pistol tightly he kicked the door one last time. It flung open.

He could see Nitya in a pool of blood on the floor. He ran inside and found the two kids dead on the bed.

“You killed them yourself?” He asked Aftab incredulously.

Aftab was crying. “Yes I did. Please go. Leave us alone.”

Rahman kneeled before Aftab. “You did the right thing. Bhai. God will protect you.” He looked at his companions, “Let us go. Police may be here any minute.”

Twenty minutes later a police van came to a screeching halt in front of their house. A unit of police marched into Aftab’s house. The inspector was the first one to react. “O My God! O My God! I can’t believe it.” He kneeled in front of Aftab, his head constable.

The next day – newspapers would cover the massacre – just in terms of numbers. How many Hindus died in Satyagrah Chavani. How many Muslims died in Juhapura. They would report the facts nonchalantly. People affected would be reduced to numbers and facts. Sensationalism could be found in the numbers – not in the actual tragedy. No one would know about a certain Nitya and her two kids Suraj and Salma. For the world they didn’t exist. For Rahman – who was killed later that night by an unidentified gun man – they were dead. For Aftab, the world had come crashing down. It would take him quite some time to get used to the new way of life hundreds of miles away from Amdavad – in a South Indian city – Chennai.

“Are you OK?” She asked leaning against him and watching the waves hit the shore feverously in Besant Nagar.

He nodded. The kids were playing with the kite.

“I still get nightmares.” He told her.

She smiled, “All’s well that ends well.”

Life for them – is still on.

16^th September 2003.

I slowed down a bit. “This is it?” I asked her.

She nodded, “Just around that corner.”

I stopped the car on the shoulder and examined the surroundings. There were a couple of shops selling cool drinks and other assorted stuff. Next to the shops was a small cart vendor supplying idlis and dosas.

“Ramesh Cool Drinks” She said in a low tone. I stared at it for a long time unsure of what to do.

“Are you OK?” She asked me. She was concerned about me. I smiled and nodded, “Just the jitters you know. I will be fine.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” She felt it was too soon for me to handle this task. “Maybe we should wait for a month or two more.”

I shook my head. “It wouldn’t matter Swathi. Let me do it now.”

She leaned back and looked at me. “Have fun.”

“Aren’t you joining me?” I asked her.

“No” She was firm, “That would bring back those memories. I will wait here.”

“But will they recognize me?” I was not sure.

“They may not. In that case I will join you.”

I slowly walked to the other side of the road. Ramesh Cool Drinks was at that moment manned by an elderly person. “Can I have a Coke please?” I asked him.

“Chota ya baDa?”

“Chota”

I sipped the coke and said, “Kaka, do you remember me?”

He was surprised, “What beta?”. Then he put on his spectacles and examined me intensely.

“You look familiar beta. But I am not able to recollect. Who are you?”

“Three months back Kaka! A sunny afternoon. I was riding a pulsar…” I couldn’t complete my sentence.

“Beta! Is that you? Thank God you are OK. Arre Ram, idhar aao jaldi. Dekho koun aaya hai” He was thrilled.

I felt like an idiot. I couldn’t even remember what happened on that fateful day.

Slight Cerebral damage resulting in short term amnesia – said the doctor. There was some mention of fogging in the CT Scan report. When I woke up in the ICU, I did not know why I was there. I asked the duty doctor who told me patiently that I’d been asking the same question all through the night.

And I didn’t remember his face.

Ram came out and was all over me when he saw me. “Bhaiya, aap teek hogaye? Remember me? I drove you back to your house.”

I smiled again.

When I was brought to the hospital, my memory span was one minute. I could remember what happened in the previous minute. And then my memory was reset. I had asked Swathi – where we were going – at least thirty times during the one hour drive to the emergency room. She had endured it all. The tension, the pain, the tears everything.

“Actually my memory is affected. I don’t remember anything about the incident. In fact two days in my life were completely wiped out thanks to the incident.” I explained him.

“Arre baap! How are you now?” he asked me with concern in his eyes.

There were no visible injuries on my body. Thanks to the helmet 95% of my brain was protected. However the skid happened at hundred kilometers per hour. The impact of the hard concrete was communicated to the brain right through the helmet. That mild shock was enough to fog the most important part of my brain.

“Imagine what would have happened if you were not wearing the helmet” the doctor told me later, “You would have been pronounced DOA.”

“Sir” I was brought back to this world by a shrill voice.

The man was about fifty. Frail and poor. He was standing there with his hands folded. “Mujhe maaf karo saab.”

I was confused. Ram came to my rescue. “Rajan was the reason you fell off the bike sir. He supplies cigarettes to us daily. That day he was coming in the wrong way and suddenly tried to cross the road. You could not control your bike. Thank God there were no heavy vehicles coming right behind you.”

I stared at the men who made me spend ten days in the ICU, one month on the bed and lose two days of my wonderful life. I strangely felt no anger. It was a feeling of detachment.

“He spent the next one week at home bhaiya. He was crying and blaming himself for everything. We didn’t know where you were admitted. You had moved your residence. We couldn’t trace you.” Ram explained.

On the second day, my memory improved. I could retain fifteen minutes of information. Later I could remember everything – but for those two days.

“Please accept that there has been an irreversible brain damage, Venu. However you are lucky that this is not a serious issue. You will not remember those two days – except maybe in dreams. Don’t try to remember them. Otherwise you are perfectly healthy. You were able to recite the SI definition of “Second” without pausing the other day. And you recognized your friend Pooja who was introduced to you only a week before the accident.” The doctor told me gently.

Swathi spent those days – sleepless in the hospital. My cousin rushed from Nellore and together they managed the whole situation.

I put a hand on Rajan’s shoulder. “It is OK Rajan. I am alright now. I just came here to thank to you all personally. You didn’t leave me on the road fearing it would be a police case. You had called my wife…” I stopped abruptly. How did they know what my wife’s number was!

Ram smiled. “We asked you bhaiya. You told us the mobile number.”

I looked up. Thank you God for not taking my memory fully.

“Then your wife came here in your car. I then drove you guys back to your house.” Ram told me.

Then my neighbor took us to the hospital. The rest is history.

I finished the coke. “Ram, kaka, Rajan – I don’t know you all. You were strangers. But I can never forget your help. Thank you for saving me.” I said.

“Half an hour delay could have put you in great jeopardy” the doctor told me, “You are lucky.”

“Arre… kya baath kar rahe hain saab, we can’t let people stranded on the road like that.” Kaka smiled.

I looked at Rajan. “Rajan, I have a request. Be considerate to the other people on the road. It is a request.”

I walked back to the car and got in. Swathi had dozed off. I stared at her. I had never found her so beautiful. “I love you.” I mumbled.

She woke up. “You are back? Good. How is Ram?”

“He is fine.” I said and started the car. She closed her eyes again. “I know you don’t believe in stuff like this but your accident happened right in front of a Sai Baba temple. I believe it is the main reason why you are still alive today.”

I laughed, “Swathi, I am alive because of you. I am lucky you married me.”

She blushed, “Whoa! What is this? What happened? I think we need to get your brain checked ASAP. This is not YOU talking.”

The End.

It wasn’t daybreak yet.

I wasn’t man yet. I desperately wanted to be a man. I hated being a boy. I was still two years from that glorious Adult mark. I hated the wait.

My elder sister loved my agony. She was all of eighteen. She could vote in the assembly elections. The day she came back home after exercising her voting right, I didn’t talk to her. That black mark on her index finger was constantly ripping me apart. She could contribute her two cents to the country. I, on the other hand did absolutely nothing to change anything.

I stepped up the speed. The bicycle responded beautifully. It was an age old Herculus bicycle. My grandfather bought it in 1932 from his friend. Even after sixty years of relentless usage, the bicycle had shown no signs of giving up.

The cool breeze was refreshing. It was the river’s way of welcoming me everyday. She wanted to talk to me always. In fact she did. However I rarely listened to her. The ripples carried messages. I never looked at them. In all probability she was in love with me.

But I didn’t want to love rivers. I wanted to love Sandhya. So I didn’t pay much attention to the river’s advances. Nowadays she was not so friendly. Perhaps she had understood where my heart was.

Sandhya was swallowed by the river a month ago. I blamed it on jealousy. My friends said it was an accident.

I didn’t care. I knew the river could do anything. She was like a majestic Queen. She wanted all the villagers to be on Her Majesty’s Royal Service. If anyone went against the tide, he or she would be punished by the river.

The river thought I would start loving her if Sandhya was removed from the picture. Poor little river! It didn’t know that I wouldn’t even look at her. So what if Sandhya wasn’t alive any more. Her image was still afresh in my memory. From my point of view, she was still in front of me. I could see her image clearly. I knew it was all my imagination. However I didn’t consider reality and imagination to be mutually exclusive. At the grassroots level, it was just information sent to our brain. Shouldn’t matter if it was the eye that sent her image or the mind! In my reference frame Sandhya was alive.

She smiled, “What? The boundaries between logic and desire disappearing?”

Sandhya in fact was not a very sharp girl. I knew it was part of my mind talking like Sandhya. But I liked it. I wanted her to be intelligent. I knew my mind wanted me to have a conversation with Sandhya.

“Not exactly. For me, you are real. As real as our villain here – the river.”

The river swirled in protest. I didn’t care.

Sandhya laughed. “Oh my! You are going mad.”

I nodded. Yes madam. Mad about you.

“Why not look at something more real? Like for instance, Nivedita from B-section?” She asked me.

Nivedita was the uncrowned Miss Universe as per the youngsters of my village. However she never even looked at me. I hated her arrogance. So what if she looked like Aishwarya Rai, she could never be Sandhya.

“Why is this fascination? You should move on Yaji.” Sandhya told me gently.

I shook my head.

“You can’t marry me. What is the point then?”

I stared at her. I would have married her if I were not fifteen. I wanted to wait till I became a Man. The wretched river spoiled all my plans. The river would surely propose on the very day of my eighteenth birthday. I would bet my life on it.

“Yaji, What are you doing here? Amma would be searching for you. Go home.”

I looked up in disbelief. This couldn’t be Sandhya talking.

My sister was looking at me seriously. Sandhya had disappeared.

“What are YOU doing here?” I asked her. It was too early to go to college.

“None of your business honey!” She smiled, “But I will tell you anyway. I am going away. I am eloping with my boyfriend. I will see you later.”

I was aghast. From the clearing mist I could see the silhouette of a man. “Nagarajam?” I couldn’t believe my eyes. Or was it my mind playing games with me?

“Yes honey. It is Nagarajam – Karanam’s eldest son.” She confirmed the reality.

I didn’t understand. Why should they elope? They could get married here itself.

“You are still a kid Yaji. He is not a Brahmin. Our folks will never agree to this match.”

She hugged me and kissed me on my forehead. “Study well and get out of this frog’s well. Sandhya is history Yaji. She is not coming back. You have to cross the river and explore the world. God willing, I will see you again.”

She left amidst tears. I waved them off. The river took complete control of them. I knew it wouldn’t harm them. It had this animosity only with me.

“Let us do it.” Sandhya appeared from nowhere. “Let us also run away.”

“What? Hello! I am fifteen.” I was angry with myself for being a kid.

“That is enough for me Yaji. You are cute and clever. You are witty and intelligent. We can survive. Let us cross over Yaji. Let us just cross over.”

I shook my head violently. I was hearing voices. My head was splitting. And suddenly it all subsided. I opened my eyes. The river smiled at me. Sandhya was expecting me to say something. The ripples came till the shore hoping to get some ear on our conversation and went back disappointed because we talked through our mind. And our mind was just one mind. My mind.

Sandhya walked towards my bicycle. “Give me a ride. Will ya?”

I nodded. She hopped onto the bicycle. I started pedaling. We came to a bridge. I had never seen it before.

“How come I never saw this bridge before?” I asked Sandhya.

She laughed, “Because you are a kid Yaji. Kids don’t know many things.”

“You are also not an adult. You are just a year older than me.” I reminded her.

“The scale is different for girls Yaji. Don’t worry about it.” She said.

We both stared at the bridge for a very long time. The sun was witnessing all these – crimson red in color… not because of the romance involved.

She got off the bicycle and ran towards the bridge. “Careful” I shouted.

She stopped and blew me a kiss. “Come to me Yaji. I will show you the heaven.”

She looked absolutely stunning in her dazzling white salwar kameez. I could see an open invitation in her beautiful eyes. I forgot everything.

“Wait. I am coming” I said and steered my bicycle onto the bridge.

The river smiled. First gently and then victoriously.

The End.

Pokiri

Before I start my review I would like to thank GL mama for getting me a ticket.

Jayaprada theatre in Chennai was a sight to behold today. The crowd was simply unstoppable with fans dancing on the seats – well for exactly the first five minutes. Then they went relatively silent unsure of whether the fight they were watching would get over before the interval break or not.

Let us leave such unending fights aside for a moment. I would like talk about the Devuda song. It has been quite some time since I watched anything of such quality. Cinematography at its best – excellent camera movements and some nice steps by the leading man. This song stands apart from the rest of the songs – save the last song.

I wanted to write about the songs too. But alas! I don’t remember any of them now. I don’t even remember the leading scenes for most of those songs. The film has at least two songs that can be cut easily.

Mahesh had the best lines and the best character sketch in the movie. Poori Jagannath obviously spent quite a gazillion years working on Mahesh Babu’s role. It is a pity then that he didn’t spend an iota of that effort in sketching the other characters which pass off as merely one dimensional and in some cases – like Venu Madhav and Ali – zero dimensional.

Poori Jagannath’s fascination with totally unnecessary villains continue in this movie too. Like songs, two villain roles can be safely cut. Prakash Raj need not be living outside the country. He can very well be in India for this story. And that would have made things simpler for the viewers.

A few years back, there was a Tamil movie called Run. It holds a record of sorts in the tinsel world. The comedy track in that movie had absolutely no connection with the main thread. The characters did not overlap. There were no common scenes. It was just a digital switch between the highway and the parallel dust track.

The comedy track in this movie comes very close to that. The sad part is that it falls flat. There is something called the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility which the director was perhaps unaware of. He kept on barking on the same concept again and again and again and again. By the time the comedy track entered its climax – viewers in the movie hall were actually groaning in frustration.

Ileana – the hourglass lady – A future bollywood prospect – With a figure like that she is not gonna be with Tollywood for long. One of the reasons I was so looking forward to this movie was Ileana. I missed her in Devdas. One of my friends then sent me her photos through email. (He incidentally liked this movie very much.) I was stumped. I was floored. I scolded myself for not watching Devdas. When I found that Pokiri had Ileana, I was determined to see it at least twice.

Oh but what a disappointment it has been! Ileana sure was gorgeous. In fact I am all for awarding her the second place after Sonali Bendre. However the director failed to capitalize on her craze. She has not been presented properly in this movie. I don’t mean that she should expose. There are ways to show a lady beautifully. Take Sneha in Radha Gopalam or Bhoomika in Missamma. Those characters stay etched in memory forever. Poori Jagannath had the best looking girl in the industry at his disposal. What does he do? He resorts to rapid fire editing in duets! Give me a break man. I want to properly ogle at Ileana. You take her off the scene in like 0.02 nano seconds.

Let me come back to the fights, the fights that never end. If trimmed properly, these are really comparable to Hollywood stunts. Breathtaking visualization, cinematography, smooth transition between scenes – all wasted because all these keep on happening for an eternity.

This movie has all the ingredients to satisfy the fans. However it has a serious problem. There is absolutely nothing in the movie for the family audience. There is no romance worth speaking of, no sentiment at all and the action scenes are extremely gory. We have knifes protruding from human heads. In my opinion this can be a potential threat to the movie after the first two weeks. (That’s when the normal audience start coming to the theatres)

Poori Jagannath should seriously think about where he wants to place his loyalties. If he wants a slick Hollywood action thriller, he should do away with two songs, trim the fights and cut the comedy track entirely. If he is also looking to satisfy family audience, he should reduce the violence and build the relationship between Mahesh and Ileana on a deeper scale with a sustained focus on romance.

As it stands out, cardboard characters are aplenty in the movie with just one well rounded personality – Mahesh Babu. Fans will be happy. Action movie fans will relish this. But then, does it have a future after the third week? Remains to be seen!

Platy.

Veerabhadra

Disclaimer: This is not a review of the movie. This is just what I personally feel about the movie. Since it is a personal opinion, the write up will definitely be pretentious and condescending at places. Please note that it is better to go with real reviews and not personal opinions like this - if you are trying to judge if this is a movie really worth watching.

Strange are the preconceived notions of human beings. Not even once in the last one month have I thought that I would find myself watching Veerabhadra on the very first day of its release. The possibility itself did not cross my mind at all. However four days back, when I saw that it was on the marquee in the best theatre of Chennai, I decided to book the ticket.

Veerabhadra works. It may not be the best movie around these days. However it is honest to itself, has a tight script, a gripping screenplay and zero boring moments. The story is not anything remotely new. However the treatment is pretty good. All the actors did justice to their roles. To my surprise even the songs which normally take a backseat in any Balakrishna movie are refreshingly good except for the last song. Yedukondalu song is the pick of the lot. There are a couple of melodious numbers which are shot very well and recorded nicely. Rerecording by Mani is pretty good.

The story has a little bit of everything. However the director takes care of the emotions very well. An emotionally charged scene is immediately followed by a wisecrack remark by M S Narayana and the tension is eased up.

A special mention should go to Peter Haynes. The fights till the climax are extraordinary. There is some thread work but it was minimal. The power conveyed by the choreography of these fights tells us that given proper direction, Peter Haynes could work miracles. In stark contrast the climax reminds one of the Samara Sinha Reddy or Narasimha Naidu fights. I am not exactly aware of the reason why PH had been replaced by the other stunts man for the climax fight. The difference shows pretty clearly on the screen.

That brings us to Balakrishna, the man who single handedly drives the show right from the very innovative and enjoyable title entry. It is clear that he has put in more than 100% into this movie. At times I really felt pity on him - especially during the songs. He tried hard to manage some really difficult steps - like the one where he has to lie on the floor and make a 360 degree sweep. I really don't think Balakrishna should attempt such steps at this juncture of his career. It really really looked awkward. He doesn't need to prove that he is good at dancing. He should stick to what he is really good at.

And he excels in his forte. Take for instance the much talked about and sometimes laughed about dialogue: \i{"Rakhtam lo uDakapeDutha"} and \i{"Narikaanante, mukkalu erukodaaniki rendu rojulu paDuthundi"} (Not the exact words). When delivered by Balakrishna in the context of the scene, they are really powerful and do not seem out of place at all.

That is one of the plus points of the movie. At no place you'll feel that the dialogues were written keeping Balakrishna in mind. It all blends quite nicely into the screenplay. Balakrishna's histrionics and voice modulation then take them to the next level.

First half of the movie is immensely enjoyable. My opinion on the second half is that the sentiment factor has gone overboard. However it may click with the family audience. A little bit of trimming here and there would have definitely helped the movie.

The movie falls well short of expectations in the department of editing. That is putting it mildly. In the first half Editing is really awful. The transition between scenes is almost always very abrupt. I had to actually put 2 and 2 together to understand what was happening on the screen.

Prakash Raj is the surprise packet. These days I see him only as a larger than life villain. In this movie, he has a three dimensional role and gets a chance to act - instead of shouting dialogues. He essays all the emotions quite nicely and underplays his character to perfection.

Shayaji Shinde on the other hand is unbearably loud - always shouting at 130 decibels. Someone needs to tell this guy that it is getting repetitive these days.

On the whole, Veerabhadra is a nice movie - worth watching once at least. The way the story unfolds at breakneck speed and the high number of non overlapping incidents give this movie some repeat value.

Balakrishna delivers a better movie this time. Whether it becomes a decent hit or not - Only time will tell.