Part 2

Continued from Part 1
Commercial movies are such an easy target. The improbability of the plot is the first casualty. How could the hero...? Why does the story.....? Where was it explained....? How is it even possible....? It is an unnecessary exercise to even indulge in the process of finding greater meaning, replete with solid plot structure and interesting story arcs in the commercial format, because, the commercial movie lays out all its cards upfront, at the very beginning. It does not have great hopes and aspirations of stimulating the audience's intellect and neither does it claim to aim high. It has a solitary purpose and that is to entertain. Now how well can do it go about doing its job of entertaining, decides how good the movie is, even if it is ultra-commercial in nature, inspite of its p(l)ot holes, implausibility and low-brow nature. Lord Indra's daughter descends from heavens for a sight-seeing tour and loses her ring, the entrance ticket to home, in the process. Hero gets hold of it and stakes ownership while she tries to get it back from him for the rest of the running time. Well, if she is shown to have magic powers to control the villains (for generating comedy), why can't she just make the hero unconscious and take it away from it? Because, that is not the purpose of the movie. The purpose of it is to generate ample comedy by throwing an angel from heaven in far-fetched situations, generate enough romance between her and the hero, generate taut drama in the climax for when she has to choose between her home in the heavens or her heart on the land. Considering all these, commercial plot is just an excuse to harvest all these elements in equal measures, and still be entertaining while at it... which is where Jandhyala's true talent comes to the fore, starting with an implausible idea and making it greatly entertaining. Case in point, Vetagadu.

NTR comes back to the Rao Gopal Rao's place, this time in a disguise, which is nothing more than a heavy wig, a heavy moustache and a menacing mole on the face. Again, brushing aside the ridiculousness nature of the setup (how could Rao Gopal Rao & gang not recognize NTR, even if it is for a heavy wig and a heavy moustache), the script starts piling one hilarious event over another ("aendi bae DOngre, evannaanu" to Satyanarayana and makes his repeat the insulting words, "evaru bae gooTlae, aa bATlee", this time to Rao Gopal Rao referring to a fine-looking Sridevi), even going to the extent of Satyanarayana 'pimping' Sridevi to dance with and entertain NTR. Remove this same situation out of context, like a prospective husband asking his fiancé to entertain another man for some material gains, and it reveals how thin ice Jandhyala was treading and how fine a balance he struck between what is entertainment and what is excessive. (This same setup has since been used in many movies that were made in the 80s and 90s, where the villain goads on the heroine to go and dance with the (disguised, sometimes) hero, to varying degress and for varying results). The audience are least bothered by degradation of the heroine character and rather loose morals the movie promotes as long as it is treated to witty situations and rib-tickling dialogues ("chooDu naanna, vaaDu nOTikocchinaTlu gaa tiTTaDamae kaakunDaa, aemannaanoo ani maLLee maLLee mana chaetae aa tiTlannee anipistunnaaDu" complains Satyanaraya to Rao Gopal Rao).

Late 70s and early 80s were the times when commercial medium was just trying to make up some serious ground, which was already staked by family-oriented strong thematic movies. To break this strangle hold that story-based movies had on the medium (whether for good or bad is a different argument for another day) and to steer them way towards flimsy grounds, which did not have strong foundations to start with, and to be successful at that, needs not only a thorough understanding of the commercial format, the pitfalls and all, but also the ability to make sense of the medium. The situations in the commercial format exist for the sole purpose of elevating the hero status. The dialogues in the commercial format exist for the sole purpose of deifying him. The songs, to extract his dancing talents and the fights, to embellish his track record. Hero is the be-all and end-all of these movies and all others characters, though spinning their own way, have to necessarily rotate around the hero. This adulation, if not backed up by the right words and the right situations, could result in the entire movie falling flat, turning the whole fare farcical than fantastic. In "Adavi Ramudu", which stands as a textbook example for commercial movie making, the hero himself maintains a low-key all throughout, while fanning (and fawning too) to his fares are taken up by the characters surrounding him. This choice glorifies his character in a better way, than taking on the responsibility of tooting his own horn, and banging his own drums.

Comedy is such a vital component of commercial cinema standing along-side songs and dances, that it sometimes makes or breaks the movie. A writer's job while scripting comedic situations is not just to for the punchlines alone, but also build the momentum and let it evolve into a funny situation, than just be satisfied with a single joke scene. "amrutamu unnadaa maanavaa", "aa vundi [indicating with his hands] full bottle! koTTUku rammanTaavaa","koTTuku anagaa naemi maanavaa", [already exasperated by the questionnarie] "naenu cheppalaenae, tingara bucchi", "tingara bucchi anagaa naemi maanavaa" and the scene builds on. Dialogues singled out, they are not rib-ticklers in their own right, but put them together in a funny situation, the words more than make up for themselves. Jandhyala's forte is his ability to pick the exact word for the right situation. [hotel boy]: Newspaper poddunae vastundi [heroine, hesitantly]: yeah, sure, 6, 6:30 ki [hotel boy] 6 kaa, 6:30 kaa? Another situation - "mee paeru", "su su sunaadamaala", "adaemiTi, mooDu "su" lu unnaayaa", "laedu, oka su nae", "naae paeru V.Vihari", [pause], "renDu V lanDOyi, okaTi inTi paeru, renDu, vanTi paeru". Nothing too pompous or wordy, just the right words to get out a chuckle. "Ori sooryaandhakaaraa, inkaa vadalanaa, maaTala tooTalu, vaak baaNaalu, samaasaala Saraalu". The audience was all ears!

To be continued in the part 2

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