Banality, Thy name is Tollywood.

The first few days of the Telugu film industry were great. The movies that were made were either based on the great epics (vis-à-vis Ramayana, Mahabharata, etc), or on wonderful Telugu plays. They were truly artistic films and people enjoyed watching them. Those were the days of great thespians who were highly skilled in the art of dialogue delivery. They could fit into any character, any role seemingly effortlessly. The only thing is since they were theatre artists before joining the film industry, their actions were a little over-emphasized. The entire country has come out of that mould. I do not think anyone is making “pauranic” films anymore. But that doesn’t mean that the quality has stayed the same. In the transition from pauranic to modern, the movies that roll out of the film industry have lost all sense of originality, they have become completely banal.

One can easily surmise the story of almost all the new movies coming out: boy meets girl, they fall in love, calamity strikes either boy or girl or both, boy and girl overcome calamity individually or together, boy and girl are either shown getting married or engaged, boy and girl live happily ever after.

And invariably almost always the boy and girl are in college. Any deviation from this scenario is so subtle that it almost escapes ones attention. Even the name of the industry “Tollywood” stinks of banality. The Hindi film industry is called Bollywood (I am not a fan of this moniker either) in an imitation of “Hollywood”; the B being a reference to “Bombay” which is the old name of the city of Mumbai where the Hindi film industry is situated. And imitating that, the Telugu film Industry has been named Tollywood.

Despite its shortcomings, Bollywood has managed to produce impressive and path breaking movies such as Rang De Basanti, Taare Zameen Par, Lage Raho Munnabhai that are capable of touching an emotional/patriotic chord in the heart of the audiences. The Telugu film industry on the other hand seems content making superficial movies that leave the audience completely dissatisfied.

Frankly, it seems as if the imagination of the film artists of the Telugu world has gone dry.

Metal

Rock sets you free
Metal is all about ecstasy
Classical is all about the soul
Music makes you a complete whole

Rock is all about pleasure and pain
Metal sets you on a higher plane
Rock makes you open your mind
And makes you forget the daily grind
Metal fills up your senses
And neither of the two has ever been
About false pretences

Classical connects with your soul
It gives you the gift of happiness
Metal too connects with your soul
But it takes you to a darker place
That is if you associate
Carnality with darkness

Metal and classical both
Enable one to tap one’s own
Primal energy
Its an energy that nature’s provided
To every beast it has spawned
It is something primordial
It is something spiritual
And it brings out the animal
In people

I see no difference
Between metal and classical
To me metal
Is just a more aggressive version
Of classical
For both these styles of music
Transcend your physical being
And touch the life force inside

To me metal is more than just music
It is a portal
A portal that takes me to a place
Where everything is the way I need it to be
According to my specifications
A place where I can think
A place where I can meditate
And conceptualize
And develop a better understanding
Of life
Metal and classical both
Put a lot of power in your hands
And that power
Is yours to channelize

You can use it to better your life
You can use it to ruin your life
You can use it to control your mind
The choice is yours
And that is the way it ought to be
For, of what use is it to be alive
When you don’t have charge of your life?
But a catch in that there is
For, to have charge of your life
You need to be able and wise
Or you might take your life
With your own hands
Crush it into oblivion

This is a power that can’t be explained
By science or any known knowledge
Except by the ancient wisdom that
Has been passed down to us through generations.
Immaterial of where you have originated from
Your folklore is filled with such things

This power can’t be otherwise explained
And that which can’t be explained
Cannot be controlled
And it is the neo-human nature
To fear that which cannot be controlled
And that is why metal has been deemed as evil

Many have taken advantage of this
And written blood-curdling lyrics
To metal songs
But
This music has always existed
In places of worship
It has been used to draw your concentration
“Dhyaana” as it is known
Towards the deity being worshiped
It is just the modern open-mindedness
That has brought this musical style
Out of the temple
And into the studio
And given it a name,
Metal.

Rock sends you
Soaring across the sky
Metal sets you
On an orgasmic high
And that empowers you
It can enslave you
But you have to make it
Empower you
You have to be its master
It should not be yours
You should tap all its power
And make that power yours.