Hyderabad Blues

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Explicably, I’m getting a severe case of the Hyderabad blues. One of the nation’s largest film-producing centre with several studios dotting the hills, just isn’t the talking point among Bollywood’s top echelons — the way it was not so long ago.

Periodically, rumbles are heard from the Padmalaya Studios that it’s returning to the Bollywood fold, but then see what happens. Himmatwala is being remade by producer Sajid Nadiadwala with Ajay Devgn and a Tamanna.
Tollywood’s killer instinct seems to be on a dim simmer. More’s the pity. Because Andhra Pradesh’s film industry certainly works far more professionally and with a more deadline-oriented schedule than their Bollywood compatriots. And D. Ramanaidu, Dadasaheb Phalke Award-winner, can take some pride in the fact that he has produced films — even critically feted ones — in practically every Indian language.
Umm, his son Venkatesh did make some initial impact in Hindi language films (Anari), then evaporated. And now Naidu’s grandson, Rana Daggubatti, has committed double suicide by featuring in the eminently forgettable Dum Maaro Dum and Department. Rumours about a liaison with Bipasha Basu didn’t help much either. Again a pity: Rana could have made an impact, if he had debuted in a vehicle driven by his grandpa, who at the age of 76 still has cinema business coursing through his veins.
The Ramoji Rao studio, on the outskirts of the city, has been preferred to Mumbai’s Film City for films of every kind, from Shyam Benegal (Hari-Bhari) to the Govinda potboilers and The Dirty Picture.The media baron-cum-movie-producer also made inroads into the Hindi language market with Pratighaat. To be sure, he could have continued to be a major factor on the Bollywood scene.
Superstar Chiranjeevi made an impact Aaj ka Gunda but after Gentleman and a few other films, which didn’t do his screen appeal justice, he chose to rock on home turf.
Nagesh Kukunoor’s micro-budgeted Hyderabad Blues was a surprise hit way back in 1998, but its sequel, six years later, wasn’t. Kukunoor has since veered away from home soil. Mani Shankar could draw housefull shows for his first Hindi feature film, the thriller 16 December, but then Rudraksh, Tango Charlie, Mukhbir and Knockout, didn’t add to his trade equity. Like it or not, every filmmaker is judged and valued, unfairly, according to collection figures.
If you ask me, Hyderabad’s varied locations and its distinctive form of culture haven’t been tapped sufficiently. If vestiges of the Nawabi lifestyle survive, if there has been an ascent of an internet savvy generation, and if the economy has led to the emergence of an extraordinary business strata, filmmakers seem to have closed their eyes and ears to the New Hyderabad.
In any case, why am I getting the blues today? It’s simply because I would once travel frequently to watch films being shot — be it at the Annapurna or the Ramanaidu Studios — with Sridevi, Jayaprada, Rajesh Khanna and Jeetendra. Rajesh Khanna had once slaved in the blazing sun for an afternoon shoot for Aaj ka MLA, explaining that the city’s cuisine kept him energised. When he returned to Mumbai, it was with tiffins of khatti daal, bhagara baingan and biryani.
The Banjara Hotel was the place to be at: Its lake was a retreat for director James Ivory when he shot Heat and Dust, with Julie Christie and Shashi Kapoor. Ms Christie, being quite a bohemian, had shifted to a more ethnic hotel, insisting that she wanted to experience the real Hyderabad, and not a multi-star hotel.
So can you blame me for missing Hyderabad? It’s made as much for cinema as the Swiss Alps, Mumbai’s expressways and Delhi’s India Gate stretch are. Truly, it’s time for filmmakers to say salaam alekum to Hyderabad once more with feeling.