Open Letter to Trivikram

Hi, Trivikram.

I realized my passion for cinema very recently (lately too) and I have many complaints on the present state of Indian cinema. Just thought why not be heard? Why am I writing this to you? For I believe all it takes is one man to bring a change! Let me state my biases beforehand. I love cinema. Not just for the entertainment it gives me but also for the power it has in reaching out to people. I would say cinema is more powerful than a nuke bomb (because in contrast to a bomb cinema can also be used constructively!) I reject anything that is substandard and mediocre. I love Hollywood, its films and its people for their genuineness, lack of hypocrisy, quality work, what not (yet to get a taste of other world-cinema)!

I am not a regular watcher of Telugu films but if anybody caught my attention, it’s you. I have seen some of your works like Chirunavvuto, Nuvve Nuvve, Manmadhudu, Jai Chiranjeeva, Athadu, Malliswari.. no etc.. I think the list ends here. I really liked your work. And what’s so different about you? Obviously, your satirical comedy! You must be a real funny guy, I thought. I’m not going to list out all the good things I found in your films. Everybody does that and I prefer to keep the letter as short as possible.

Here is my biggest complaint. In the present scenario, the biggest writer/director is the person who has the biggest collection of world-cinema DVDs, who painstakingly watches those Bengali and Japanese films by Satyajit Ray and Akira Kurasawa and all the other regional films for ‘inspirations’!

Nobody is an exception from this rule. Here are some of the scenes from Jai Chiranjeeva which I noticed to be direct from Hollywood:

1. Protagonist escaping from the antagonist’s place using a banner – Tomorrow never dies
2. Protagonist being hammered by the antagonist’s men – Payback
3. Protagonist picking his hand-cuffs and killing the bad guys – True Lies
4. Protagonist using the phone bomb meant for him against the bad guys – Payback again

Tomorrow, if our son copies in his exams, we can’t say a thing. Because if we scold him, he will say “you are three times my age and are still doing the same thing!” In Oscars, there is a category for Best Adapted Screenplay. Why don’t we have such a thing here? Taking inspiration from others is good. But why don’t we give the credit to the rightful person? Because they will sue us! When we can spend crores of rupees on remunerations, why not on copyrights? Whats the differnece between a film-maker and a fake-merchant in Koti selling TAKAI (AKAI) taperecorders? Would you buy a TAKAI taperecorder? For example, ‘Leaving Las Vegas’ was based on an “adapted screenplay” and was made on a very low budget. Nicolas Cage had to cut down largely on his remunerations. What’s the result? The film was a huge success and Cage won the Oscar for Best Actor. Now, what’s your choice? I would say do it, but do it with dignity. Forget about Hollywood. What happened to the indian-creativity that created Mahabharata, the lengthiest epic (if it is just an epic) in the world with the most number of characters? Come out of that faction, romance genres and you will see immense scope for creativity.

In my humble opinion, no matter how well we try to mimic Hollywood, it all would look very artificial. Our culture is very different from theirs. Our social-setup is different. Their screenplays won’t just fit into our films. What we want is not an Indian version of world-cinema but a true indian cinema. Please don’t go by your prejudices about what the masses would like. 25 years ago had anybody expected that a rickshaw-puller would hum “Omkara nadanu sandhanamou ganame…” To tell you the fact I still don’t understand much of that song.

Deep pockets or Dada Saheb Phalke… it’s for you to decide. If you can manage both, I’ll be the happiest for you. Steven Spielberg: Oscar winner. Most financially successful film-maker of all time. One of the Times magazines 100 most influential people in the world. From Jurassic Park to Amistad, from Minority Report to Schindler’s list, from E.T. to The Color Purple... what a range !

Finally, I know you know all this blah blah.. Then why am I telling you all this? Am I just emptying my uneasiness on you? Desire to publish something? Nah ! I’m writing this because I know that you have the potential to be different. You are the most sought-after writer in the industry. You are blessed to have reached there after all the hardships. You have set the stage for yourself. Become a trend-setter. Become the torch-bearer for Indian cinema.

Counting so much on you,
A lover of good cinema.

Other Open Letters

-> To Uday Kiran from Radhika
-> To Jagadam team from Prasanna
-> To Allu Arjun from Niru
-> To Ajay from Sravanthi
-> To Hansika Motwani from Murali
-> To Abhishek Bachchan from Vani
-> To Pawan Kalyan from a fan
-> To Sekhar Kammula from Padma
-> Regarding Telugu film exhibitors by Anand
-> To Telugu film exhibitors from promotor
-> To Sekhar Kammula from Vasantha Lakshmi
-> To Chiranjeevi fans from Vasu
-> To Sumanth from Nilanjana
-> To Telugu film industry from Padma Rohilla
-> To Dil Raju from Soujanya
-> To Telugu film industry from Rekha
-> To Siddharth from Prathna Tiwari
-> To Siddharth from Shridevi
-> To Telugu film industry from Vijay
-> To Genelia from Murali Krishna
-> Ram Anand on the ban of Da Vinci Code
-> Music director Sandeep Chowta about Karunya
-> Hema to Allu Arjun
-> Ratna to Telugu film industry
-> The emperors have no cloths... by Stalin
-> To Krishna Vamsi to Kakarla Kishan
-> To Telugu film industry from Vamsi
-> To Vineeth from Ranjeeth
-> To MM Keeravani from Mohan
-> To Dasari from Bhanu Prakash
-> To Ram Gopal Varma from Sudhindra
-> To Pawan Kalyan from a fan
-> To Nagarjuna from Sudhindra
-> To Chiranjeevi from Jhansi
-> To Chiranjeevi from Kishore
-> To Shreya Ghoshal from Meher
-> To Shankar from Ronzit S Simha
-> To Prabhudeva from Nirupama
-> On Telugu dubbing by Sridhar
-> to Chiranjeevi from Sanjay4us
-> to NTR from Jai
-> to Pawan Kalyan from Vinay
-> to Krishna Vamsi on Chakram film
-> by Ravi on Indian Cricket Team
-> to lyricist Chandrabose
-> from Sunil about filmfare awards
-> from Sabita about filmfare awards
-> from Pournami to MS Raju
-> from Deepti Raj to Devi Sri Prasad
-> from Sivaram to Telugu film industry
-> from Ravi to Ram Gopal Varma
-> from Rohit to Pawan Kalyan
-> from Saradhi to Krishna Vamsi
-> from Srikanth on Arjun piracy
-> from Raj to USA Distributors
-> from Srikanth on Remakes
-> from Ravi Kiran to Krishna
-> from Aparna to Chiranjeevi
-> from Balayya fans to political parties
-> from Abhilasha to Venky
-> from Ravi on dubbing artists
-> from Anil on Fans and stars
-> from Rain to Telugu film industry
-> from Venu and Kishore to Bala Krishna
-> from Nandamuri (IBDB) to Bala Krishna
-> from NBK fans to Bala Krishna
-> from Anil to Telugu film heroes
-> from Surendra to Allu Arjun
-> from Vineeth to Allu Arjun
-> from Ramesh on Naani film
-> from MD to YSR
-> On Telugu heroines from Anil
-> From Swetha to Anoop
-> From Raja to Chiranjeevi
-> From Supriya to Nagarjuna
-> From Vijay N to Nagarjuna
-> From Ravi S Banda to Uday Kiran
-> From Ram Narayan to NTR
-> From Kishore to Shyam Prasad Reddy
-> From Malladi KS Pathy to VV Vinayak
-> From PC to Telugu film industry
-> From Archana to Sirivennela
-> From Giri to Chiranjeevi
-> From Suresh to Bala Krishna
-> From Vijay to Shankar
-> From Thodakottu to Hari Krishna
-> From Mahesh to Vamsy
-> From Raghava to Bala Krishna
-> From Rocky to Chiranjeevi
-> From Bhanu Prakash to Nagarjuna
-> From Srikanth to Chiranjeevi
-> From Vijay to the team of KMG
-> From Megapowerstar to Pawan Kalyan
-> From Saradhi to Telugu film industry
-> From Sneha to Telugu film writers and lyricists
-> From Coolphani to Uday Kiran
-> From Prabhakar on Telugu cinema
-> From Raj to director Vikraman
-> From Hardhik about SP Balu's liveshow at NJ
-> From Yathiraja to Chiranjeevi
-> From Mouna Laya to TV Channels
-> From Kiran to Chiranjeevi
-> From Srilekha to Mahesh Babu
-> From Kanak to Nagarjuna
-> From Ashok about Nijam
-> From Srinadh to Chiranjeevi
-> From Simha to Pawan Kalyan
-> From Venkat to Venky and Chiru
-> From Prathima & Sujatha to Nijam
-> From Shaik Abdul to Bala Krishna
-> From Sudheer to Pawan Kalyan
-> From NBK fan to Balayya
-> From Bobby to Teja
-> From Bhargavi Chowdary to Venky
-> From Ram to Teja
-> From Nikhila to RP Patnaik
-> From Vinu regarding Johnny
-> From Murai regarding Johnny
-> From Sreeni regarding Johnny
-> From Krishna regarding Johnny
-> From Raj regarding Johnny
-> From Balu regarding Johnny
-> From Sreedhar regarding Johnny
-> From Nagender on PK-DC Issue
-> From Ranga on PK-DC Issue
-> From Gowtam to Johnny distributors
-> From Srikanth to Guna Sekhar
-> Responses to openletter to Chiranjeevi from DPS
-> To Chiranjeevi from DPS
-> To Pawan Kalyan from LP Harsha
-> To RP Patnaik from Raj
-> To film Industry from Naresh (Jamaica)
-> From Vijay to Krishna Vamsi
-> From Sharjah NRIs to Teja
-> From Rani to Venkatesh
-> From Harish to Devi Sri Prasad
-> From JKV Sharma to Mani Sharma
-> From Malladi to Guna Sekhar
-> From Satish to Allu Arjun
-> From Jhansi to Chiranjeevi
-> From Ravindranath to Okkadu team
-> VJ to Okkadu team
-> From Hemanth to Jr. NTR
-> From Rajesh to Guna Sekhar
-> From Srinivas to Bala Krishna
-> From Shrinivas to K Vijaya Bhaskar
-> From VJ to Krishna Vamsi
-> From Kiran to Khaled
-> From Khaled to Phani
-> From Sankar to Nagarjuna
-> Chakri Response to Anil
-> Phani response to Anil
-> From a fan to Nagarjuna
-> From Anil to Indian
-> From Gowtam to Aswini Dutt
-> To MAA from Soma
-> To Venky from Shailaja
-> To Trivikram Srinivas from Raja
-> To Krishna Vamsi from Hasan
-> To Ravi Teja from Somy Ali
-> Do we know our mother?
-> To Mahesh Babu from Soma
-> To Mahesh Babu from Superstar Fan
-> To K Raghavendra Rao from Hasan
-> To Chiru fans from Prince
-> Think a while by SMD
-> An open letter to IB DB participants by Venkat
-> An open letter to IB DB participants by Kiran
-> An open letter on plight of Telugu movie lovers in Malaysia
-> An open letter regarding Video Piracy
-> From Anupama to Pawan Kalyan
-> From Prince to Nagarjuna fans
-> From Ravi to Sirivennela
-> to editor from Ramana Reddy
-> To Chiranjeevi from Buzz
-> To Teja from Kumar Kuppam
-> From Vikram Aditya to Gemini Kiran and Ramoji Rao
-> Plight of Telugu films by Murthy
-> from a Chiru fan from Bellari to idlebrain visitors
-> to Allu Arvind from Aditya
-> To Nagarjuna from Krishna
-> To Teja from a Telugu fan
-> To Chiranjeevi from a fan
-> From Raja to Teja
-> From Anupama Prasad to Indra Unit
-> From Prakash to idlebrain.com visitors
-> From Venu to Bala Krishna
-> From Rajesh Sonti to Late Rao Gopal Rao
-> From Venkat to Usha
-> From Srinivas to EVV Satya Narayana
-> From Balaji to Pawan Kalyan
-> From Naga Kalyan to Pawan Kalyan
-> From Pavan Karthik to Ram Gopal Varma
-> From Pradeep to Teja
-> From Hrudaya to Pawan Kalyan
-> From BKR to Chiranjeevi
-> From Amit Patel to Chiranjeevi
-> From Anupama Prasad to Chiranjeevi
-> Nagarjuna meets idlebrain openletter writer Raju
-> From Ajay Kumar Reddy to Chiranjeevi
-> From Chandrika to idlebrain community
-> From Raju to Nagarjuna
-> From Bharat to Chiranjeevi
-> From Srinivas Josyula to Chiranjeevi