Tollywood espouses the RSS cause?

Telugu cinema, unlike its neighbouring Tamil film industry, is not known to openly espouse political causes and ideologies. Barring Pawan Kalyan, who kept mouthing leftist rhetoric and openly advocating Communism in a few films, popular stars have stuck to the straight and narrow and remained entertainers.

Jr NTR, during the 2009 elections, was seen cycling in one of his films mouthing a dialogue which eulogised his grandfather NTR and his Telugu Desam Party, whose party symbol is the cycle. Surprisingly, of all political identities, in a first of its kind, Hindutva seems to have caught the fancy of mana filmwallahs.

The Friday release of ‘Supreme Hero’ Sai Dharam Tej, one of the many youngsters from the hero-turned-politician Chiranjeevi family, openly advocates the RSS ideology. Interestingly, in the first few reels of the movie, Dharam Tej sports an RSS uniform complete with a cap, is shown attending a shakha and praising the organisation for his ‘nation above self’ attitude. A song also features him attacking students addicted to vices and taking on stone pelters, who run for cover as he responds as fast as he gets.

Interestingly, the film shows a Mohan Bhagwat lookalike extolling the youth to take up nationhood as their motto and an ex-BJP MP-cum-character artiste Kota Srinivasa Rao, subtly brainwashing the young lot to stay rooted to the ideology. Not surprisingly, the evil men in the movie are Muslims, operating out of the Old city, but headed by a Hindu hothead, enacted by Tamil hero Prasanna, who is the hero’s misdirected classmate.