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============================================================================
raising money for Temple construction through SCREENING " ANNAMAYYA "
super hit Telugu Movie , the life story of "Annamayya" starring:
Nagarjuna Akkineni.
on September 20, Saturday 2:30 PM - September 20 Sunday 2.30PM at
Center Theater-Bloomfield.
New Jersey Center Theater Tel # 201-743-4701
For Ticket Information Please call Temple office in BridgeWater at
:908-725-4477
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============================== GOD BELSS YOU=============================
If Telugu cinema has an angry young man, then it should be Nagarjuna --
the tall, hunky hero whose
trip in life appears to be to bash up the baddies, if you judge by films
likeShiva.
He's also a cool young man -- very grunge, suave, with it, at ease
surfing in Mauritius, Tabu in tow, for Jab Dil Pe Koi Aati Hai.
But a Nagarjuna with close cropped hair and caste mark on forehead, clad
in saffron, holy beads round his neck and playing a saint to the hilt?
All of Andhra Pradesh took a double take when Annamayya hit the
marquee -- and went again and again to the theatres, perhaps not
believing the evidence of their eyes the first time round.
Or perhaps because it was a good film.
Or perhaps because Nagarjuna's portrayal was stunning enough, in an
unfamiliar persona, to merit a
second visit.
Whatever, now the film is a big time hit in neighbouring Karnataka as
well.
Annamacharya -- or Annamayya -- was, legend has it, a poet whose muse
was Balaji, the lord of the
seven hills (Tirupati, to give it the more familiar name). Annamayya's
curriculum vitae includes an
estimated 32,000 kirtanas and krithis. Mostly on the subject of the
deity he adored, but a few also
casting a rebellious, iconoclastic look at prevailing social evils (we
refer, here, to the period 1408-1503).
Discrimination against women was a favourite theme -- though in the
event, Annamayya did marry
two women, his own nieces -- and legend, again, holds that the chief
guest, if incognito, at the wedding was none other than Lord Balaji
himself. More factually, Annamayya was the court poet of Narasimha Raya
of the Penukonda satrapy.
More from the realm of legend, which holds that Annamayya, on being
appointed court poet, was
asked to come up with a ditty celebrating his earthly patron -- and
promptly refused. When you refuse
a king, you get bunged in prison, which is where the saintly poet found
himself -- till the ubiquitous
Balaji intervened, in miraculous fashion, to procure his release. The
king not only repented but, to no
one's surprise, became a staunch devotee of the patron deity of
Tirupathi. Interestingly, history meets
legend when the king got the poems of Annamayya inscribed on copper
plates for posterity -- said
plates being still very much in existence at the Thirumala Devasthanam
treasure house.
Annamayya, thus, ranks among the immortal names in Telugu literature and
religion -- and thus
provided obvious inspiration for film producer V Doraiswamy Raju who,
just incidentally, happens to be a member of the Tirupati Devasthanam.
Raju roped in K Raghavendra Rao to direct and, in a casting coup of
epic proportions, also roped in Nagarjuna to star as the poet while
Suman, another of the commercially viable heroes in Telugu cinema,
plays Lord Balaji.
Vincent's cinematography and M M Keeravani's (known to Bollywood
denizens as M M Kreem, the
composer of, among other films, Criminal) music are other major credits,
while most of the songs in
the film are Annamayya's original compositions.
Unit members of VMC Productions talk of how they had to erect a replica
of the Tirupathi shrine, as
photography/cinematography is prohibited within the environs of probably
the most popular, and
certainly the most cash rich, temple in India today.
"Also," says producer Raju, "the temple today has several modern
amenities, electric lights and such all over the place, which would
have detracted from the authenticity of the period we were looking to
recreate. So we preferred to do the shoot on a set, erected at Annapurna
Studios in Hyderabad."
While authenticity of locale might be a talking point, it is Nagarjuna's
hugely realistic -- seasoned critics have tended to use superlatives --
performance that has wowed the down south audience. And, in the
process, indicated that there is more to Nagarjuna than mere youth, and
anger.
Article by - Rajitha - Rediff
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