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Home > Contents > Article: E.Sathya Prakash |
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'Bihar' in the Telugu Cinematic Imagination
E.Sathya Prakash
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I
Introduction
Tollywood a.k.a. Telugu Film Industry in the past few years, or to be precise in the post-liberalisation period had a significant increase in the number of films, in which the narrative takes place in 'other' regions. I mean the film's narrative unfolds in other administrative regions or states and even in other countries.
Quite a few Telugu films during this period had their narrative set in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Chattisgarh, Bombay and Bihar. Films like Simhadri (2003), Chudalani Undi (1998), Lakshmi (2006), Vikramarkudu (2006), Andhrawala (2003), Andhrudu (2005), Chatrapathi (2005) are some examples. When the narrative takes place in other regions the protagonist continued to be from Andhra region, for the box office reasons. But the villain, most of the time, was shown as a native of that region. Among the regions, Bihar seems to offer more rewards to the cinematic imagination than the other states. Villains are imagined as individual crooks when they are from states other than Bihar, but, in the case of Bihar the whole region is imagined as a lawless place infested with criminal elements.
This essay specifically focuses on two relatively recent Telugu films - Andhrudu and Chatrapathi, and the way they imagine Bihar and Biharis. When one watches these films, one is left wondering why Bihar is chosen in this manner and the advantages in this choice. Andhra Pradesh does not share any physical boundary with Bihar and it does not share any significant relationship with it, in the political, economic or cultural spheres. Andhra does not even have a large immigrant Bihari population as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Delhi and the Northeast do. How then does Bihar find a place in the Telugu cinematic imagination and why are its connotations so negative? These are the two questions that need to be answered.
II
Andhrudu and Chatrapathi
 The brief storylines of the two films in question would be of immense help to get an idea of how Telugu cinema imagines Bihar.
Andhrudu is a film directed by Posani Krishna in the year 2005. Gopichand plays the role of Surendra, an honest and hot-blooded cop. Archana is the daughter of Police Commissioner. They meet accidentally and their relationship blossoms into love. Their parents agree to their relationship. When they are about to get engaged, Surendra expresses his reservations for unknown reasons, explained later in the flashback as due to pressure from their Bihari relatives. Under these unusual circumstances, Archana goes back to Bihar to wed her brother-in-law, a local thug named Sinha. The rest of the story is all about how Surendra goes to Bihar, defeats the Bihari hoodlums both physically and mentally and wins Archana back.
 Chatrapathi is a film directed by S S Rajamouliin in 2005. Prabhas plays the role of
Sivaji, a Telugu settled in Srilanka. Due to political problems, his family is evicted and they return to India. During the eviction process Sivaji is separated from his brother and foster mother and he reaches Vishakaptam. There, a cruel Bihari gangster named Baji Rao forces the refugees into bonded labour. Unable to put up with this treatment, Sivaji kills Baji Rao and liberates the refugees but he still has Baji Rao's brother to contend with. To recapture the criminal empire of Baji Rao, his brother Ras Bihari now comes to Vizag. Sivaji kills Ras Bihari too and is finally united with his reformed step brother and foster mother.
III
Explaining the Imaginaries
This essay does not intend to discuss the obvious aspects of these films; rather it tries to place this imagining of Bihar and Biharis in the larger context of media production and consumption at one level and, at another level, in the context of competition among regions in the era of globalization. While there may be many ways of understanding this, the essay proposes two ways of approaching it:
| 1. |
Examine this imagining in the larger context of mainstream images of Bihar in the media viz. newspapers, magazines, TV news channels and Hindi films. |
| 2. |
Examine it in the context of Andhra Pradesh trying to re-position itself as a modern and forward-looking state in the era of liberalization, privatization and globalization. |
IV
Media Stereotypes
Every region has its own imagined underbelly, as for instance Andhra Pradesh has Rayalaseema and Tamilnadu has Madurai. This image is then fortified by repeated media representation over a period of time and it becomes a stereotype. In the mainstream media Bihar is stereotyped as the criminal underbelly of the whole nation. Bihar is imagined as a blot on the nation. It is imagined as a lawless state, where kidnapping for ransom, murder and loot are routine.
Both the news media and entertainment media engage perpetuate this way of imagining Bihar. The news media does it more subtly, while films have fewer inhibitions. News media perpetuates the stereotype by talking of low GDP, low per capita income and Bihar's abysmal performance under the various parameters of the Human Development Index. The news media widely uses acronymic puns like BIMARU and terms like Cow Belt as identity markers for Bihar. The entertainment media, which has a more unfettered imagination, dwells on Bihar's backwardness and its criminality. When film makes claims to being art, it perpetuates the stereotype even while taking refuge under 'artistic freedom'. Prakash Jha's Gangajal, and Apaharan, E-Nivas's Shool are also examples of such stereotyping in the non-mainstream cinema.
This stereotypical imagining in the media over a period of time become shared public opinion. The effect of this is that those who have never seen Bihar can be quite eloquent about its negative aspects. This opinion about Bihar gets produced and consumed, without correspondence in any actual experience. As one instance of its reach, the former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee quite naively remarked: "Main Atal to Hoon, Bihari Nahi" thereby sparking off serious protests. Pun apart, his urge to distance himself from Bihar and Biharis needs to be understood in the context of the negative imagining of Bihar in the media.
Why do the mainstream media imagine Bihar in this fashion? This essay proposes to consider the argument that this negative imagining coincides with backward classes occupying political power after a long period of rule by the powerful forward castes in Bihar. This "imagining" can then be read as reprisal by the media, which are full of forward castes and reactionary elements. No discerning reader/viewer can miss the fact that this imagined Bihar, a criminal haven, is not S. K. Sinha's or Jagannath Mishra's Bihar but Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi's Bihar. The Telugu media and films seem to depend on this imagining of Bihar by the national media. Opinion about Bihar therefore gets produced and consumed, without a check on whether opinion is justified by experience. The two Telugu films in question seem to be a byproduct of this shared stereotypical Bihar imagined by the national media.
V
The Region in a Federal Market Economy
Liberalization, privatization and globalization have triggered severe economic competition between the states. Rudolph and Rudolph in their work, "Iconisation of Chandrababu - sharing Sovergnity in India's Federal Market Economy", document the trajectory of India from being a centrally planned economy to a federal market economy. They also document how de-regulation along with coalition politics gives rise to new icons like Chandrababu, in a context where states became prime movers1. Some enterprising states move ahead while others lag behind. This divides the states into leaders and laggards. India Today magazine started yearly reports entitled "State of the States" in 2004, and the report comprehensively records states as leaders and laggards on the basis of various parameters2. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh has notoriously been called the "Bihar of the South". In terms of violence, AP is the most violent state in the South with a heavy dose of Naxal and factional violence.
In this context, Chandrababu Naidu's regime tried an image makeover. In an effort to position Hyderabad as a global technopolis and Andhra Pradesh as investor friendly state, Naidu hired communications specialists like Alyque Padamsee, and consultants like Mckinsey to create "Brand AP". Millions of middle class Telugus in India and abroad enthusiastically responded to this new mythology. The pre-existence of notions like 'Telugu Pride', 'Telugu Self-respect' successfully invoked by N T Rama Rao and the role played by Telugu media especially Eenadu newspaper is well documented in the work of Robin Jeffrey3. The emphasis on linguistic identity slowly lost its sheen and Naidu successfully created a hi-tech image for AP to suit the times. The extensive political maneuvering to bring Bill Clinton, Bill Gates and George Bush to Hyderabad at the cost of the bigger metros should be seen as an organized effort to announce the arrival of Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh on the international scene.
A 'leader' is best measured in comparison with the 'laggard' and vice versa. So, to announce Andhra Pradesh's tryst with modernity and its position as a 'leader' it becomes necessary to compare it to Bihar. Telugu cinema therefore tries to take this newly forged 'modern' Telugu identity to its spectators. In order to herald Brand AP, Telugu cinema invents and makes use of the 'non-progressive other' in Bihar. Both the films discussed here - Chatrapathi and Andhrudu try to picturize Bihar as Andhra's "other". This other cannot be Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Kerala or Maharashtra, AP's immediate neighbors, since they are known to be more progressive and less violent. It can only be Bihar or states like Chattisgarh and Jharkhand which are eligible to be Andhra's 'other' in order to make Andhra appear a progressive, modern state.
(Acknowledgements: An earlier version of this paper was presented at the National Seminar on "Nation, Region and Ideology in Film" organized by the Department of English, University of Hyderabad between 28, Feb to 2 Mar 2007. I am very thankful and feel privileged to acknowledge the discussions I had while working on this paper with my colleague Dr.Thirumal and Ramakrishna Bharghav, an MPhil student in Centre for Regional Studies.)
Notes:
| (1) |
Rudolph I Lloyd, Rudolph Susanne Hoeber, Iconisation of Chandrababu: Sharing Sovereignty in India's Federal Market Economy, EPW, (May 5, 2001), 1541-1552 |
| (2) |
State of States, India Today yearly Special issues 2004-2008 |
| (3) |
Jeffrey Robin, Advertising and Indian Language Newspapers: How capitalism supports (certain) cultures and (some) states, 1947-96, Pacific Affairs, Vol.70, No. 1 (spring, 1997), 57-84 |
Dr. E Sathya Prakash joined University of Hyderabad, Communication Faculty in 2003 and now teaches Video Production and Media Management. His research interests include Communication Policy Studies, Film Studies and issues relating to Representation in Media.
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