As I mentioned last month, I ended up combing through Prakash Raj’s IMDB page, and found nine films that weren’t on the list before. The most exciting find of the nine was the 1993 film Tropical Heat, a US production that was probably a direct-to-video or late-night cable TV release. I think this may be Prakash Raj’s only English-language film, and it’s fascinating in so many ways, so I decided it deserved its own post.
Monthly Prakash Raj Movie Total: 10(December, 2015)
Overall Prakash Raj Movie Total: 307 (as of 12/31/15)
Mr. Airavata, Mr. Rascal, Love Story 1999, Maa Aavida Meeda Vottu Mee Aavida Chala Manchidi, Khiladi Gandu, Bhoolagam, JK Enum Nanbanin Vaazhkkai, Pilla Nuvvu Leni Jeevitham, Neetho, Tropical Heat
I started December with just one film on my “to watch” list, so I planned that I’d watch that film between the holidays and be all caught up. Then Mr. Airavata, which was released this past summer, became available to watch (through methods.) So that meant I’d see two films in December. Then I got a google alert that Boolaham was finally going to be released on December 24. I went to IMDB to confirm the release date, and discovered another 9 (nine!) films that were not on my list AND were all available either online or to rent. So I went from 1 film to 10 in December, and I’m delaying my “all caught-up” post for January.
Monthly Prakash Raj Movie Total: 5 (November 2015)
Overall Prakash Raj Movie Total: 297 (as of 11/30/15)
Lion, Heart Attack, O Kadhal Kanmani, Thoongavanam, Size Zero
The end is in sight! Only five movies this month, and then several TV shows, which will be updated in another post. Themes for the month: dramatic deaths and looking at computers:
Monthly Prakash Raj Movie Total: 23 (August, 2015)
Overall Prakash Raj Movie Total: 267 (as of 08/31/15)
Thillu Millu, Cameraman Gangatho Rambabu, Gouravam, Santhosam, Thulli Vilayadu, Heropanti, Rainbow, Anukoolakkobba Ganda, Khakee, Pandhyam, Saravana, Govindudu Andarivadele, Collector Gaari Bharya, Naam, Raghavan (Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu), Lee, Saguni, Hoo, Pillaiyar Theru Kadaisi Veedu, Mumbai Mirror, Zanjeer, Rajjo, Singh Saab the Great
Wow, I think 23 films is definitely my record for most Prakash Raj films watched in a month. I think in the past I was probably sprinkling more non-PR Indian films in the mix, and I wasn’t watching as many K-Dramas this month, so that may explain the current binge.
Themes of the month: Remakes of Telugu blockbusters and the full range of noble cops, corrupt cops, diagnosing doctors, villainous politicians, and gaudily-dressed gangsters.
I didn’t watch any films in June, but got back into the swing of things in July. There must be something about summer that screams “binge-watch South Indian Films.”
The theme for the month is divine characters, since I watched films in which Prakash Raj portrayed:
Overall Prakash Raj Movie Total: 234 (as of 05/31/15)
Hai, Thekkekara Superfast, Juniors, Preethi Prema Prenaya, Bimba
Still working through the early 2000s. The find of the month were two great Kannada films directed and written by Kavita Lakesh, that were really interesting "slice of life" films with well-developed female characters.
Before the long break I was mostly watching the films in no particular order, as the mood struck me. Now that the end is in sight, I’m trying to be methodical and watch them chronologically. I was so happy that I’d made it through the 90’s, and was done with 2000, when I decided to check up on the Prakash Raj filmography on Wikipedia. To my surprise, another 8-10 films, mostly from 1990-2003 had been added to the list! The good news is, most of the films are also available on youtube channels. So back I went to the slow, rock-up-the-hill task of checking off films, year-by-year.
Themes of the month:
1) This street set in Ramoji Film City.
Tirumala Tirupati Venkatesa
Shart: The Challenge
2) Prakash Raj characters burying murder victims, then frantically digging them up again.
Overall Prakash Raj Movie Total (as of January 31, 2015): 208
Race Gurram, Mithileya Seetheyaru
I watched two (!!) Prakash Raj movies this month, which is already two more than I watched in all of 2014. During my hiatus, it seems like a lot more films are available online, which is helpful since I'm so used to watching just about everything (American TV, K-Dramas, etc) through online services. I've also noticed that a lot of the older Tamil and Kannada films that I couldn't track down are now available online. It's fantastic that so many older films may get second life, AND that I was able to move five-six films from my "can't get" to "watch online" column!
These are all movies I watched after I started getting into K-dramas. I have very little memory of most of these (my file folders full of screencaps are evidence that I did watch the films), so I blame Hyun Bin and Lee Min Ho for distracting me.
Overall Prakash Raj Movie Total (as of July 31, 2012): 201
Keerthi Chakra, Veerappu, Harakeya Kuri, Bodyguard, Subash, En Swasa Katrae, Ajay, Premaku Swagatham, Koduku, Pistha.
Note: I'm writing this 2 1/2 years late, so my descriptions and impressions of the films is going to be fuzzy, at best.)
Prakash Raj in water seems to fit films I watched in the summer.
Greetings to anyone who still checks in with the blog. You are probably wondering, "What happened to the blog? She didn't watch them *all* yet, did she? Prakash Raj is still making films, so what's going on?"
Spoiler Alert: The blog is back!
All good questions! The last post was in May 2012, and then several things happened that altered my pop culture consumption and blogging:
I have nearly reached the 200-film mark in the quest to watch all of Prakash Raj’s films, which means the end is in sight!There are 73 films left to watch (not-including new films and future films), of which I have confirmed access to, or have possession of 47. That leaves 24 films in which Prakash Raj appears, that I cannot seem to find. I have scoured dvd sellers in the US and India, youtube, torrent sites, and more, all to no avail.
(Prakash Raj wanted a large chart,but we settled for an Excel spreadsheet)
I’m posting this in the hope that more eyes looking for these films will yield results. I’ll update and post this list from time to time, in the hope that these movies might show up:
in the bargain bin at a local dvd shop
on television, in the middle of the night
in a mysterious corner of the internet (youtube, dailymotion, etc), discovered by someone with superior google-skills
available in the usual places, but in a different language version (Hindi dub of Telugu, Telugu dub of Kannada, etc.)
the illegal trade in Soundarya-Jagapati Babu films of the early 2000's
Monthly Prakash Raj Movie Total (December, 2011): 12 Overall Prakash Raj Movie Total (as of December 31, 2011): 145 Suswagatham, Konchem Touchlo Vunte Cheputanu, Rajasthan, Sandhippoma, Poomani, Vinodam, M. Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi, Dongala Mutha, Aravindhan, Oru Yatramozhi, Raasi, Vidukathai
I decided to try and knock out some of the 1990's movies that are out in internet-land, so December had lots of subtitle-free films. I was struck, particularly with the Telugu film, with the range of types of stories and characters vs. the current films. I watched films in which the hero didn't end up with the heroine, and movies that were a straight comedies. It could be that there are more types of Telugu films being made, but I'm just catching the big, tent-pole, hero movies where problems are solved with fists, not pratfalls, and the hero ends up with the heroine, if not two.
Monthly Prakash Raj Movie Total (August, 2011): 3 Overall Prakash Raj Movie Total (as of August 31, 2011): 112 Mrugaraju, Choodalani Vundi, Mirapakaay August was light on film-watching, but big on film-blogging, with the Nag Panchami Film Fessssstival. For Chiranjeevi Megabirthday Celebration at Cinema Chaat, I finished watching all of Prakash Raj's films with Chiranjeevi, and I also caught the recent release Mirapakaay.
When I hit "publish post" for the first time on September 7, 2010, I had watched 42 films with Prakash Raj. Since then I have watched another 70+, and I've written about, screencapped, and video-capped over 110 total films. And only 200 more to go....
Thanks to everyone who has stopped by to comment, and to all of the other film bloggers who have organized film projects and participated in my little blog project.
Here's to another year of "My Year of Prakash Raj!
Monthly Prakash Raj Movie Total (July, 2011): 10
Overall Prakash Raj Movie Total (as of July 31, 2011): 109 Iruvar, Bbuddah Hoga Tera Baap, Mahantudu, Alli Thanda Vaanam, Ko, Poi, Nagamandala, Illalu Priyuralu, Singam, Josh
In July, I watched a LOT of films, but then August was crazy with the non-Prakash Raj-film parts of m life, so I'm finally catching up. There were a few common themes in the August films: 1) characters putting the movies on the ladies, 2) characters (good and evil) crying. Since I just learned how to make clips in VLC media player, I went a little clip happy (although I still haven't figured out how to include the subtitles in some of the clips.) Enjoy the many embedded videos!
Prakash Raj and Chiranjeevi have appeared in8 films together: Hitler(1997), Choodalani Vundi (1998), Sneham Kosam(1999), Mruga Raju (2001), Indra(2002), Tagore(2003), Andarivaadu(2005), and Stalin(2006). I've watched them all, and am pleased to present "A Visual Guide to 10 Secrets to Successful Film Acting, Featuring Megastar Chiranjeevi and Gesturing Star Prakash Raj."
The Kannada film entry for the film fessstival is Nagamandala, 1997, which is an adaptation of the play by Girish Karnad.
This is the film that inspired the Nag Panchami Film Festival, since it combines two the things that I've been obsessed with: Prakash Raj and snakes! I thoroughly enjoyed the film, and it ended up leading me down some fairly intellectual paths. (Which I plan to make up for with some write-ups of a few more cheese-tastic snake films.)
The Story:
The film begins with a scene of magical lamps floating around, lighting one another, and presumably singing the song. It did a nice job of setting a magical tone, and is an interesting, visual adaptation of the framing devices of the play (see more notes about this later.)
We then meet Rani, a young village girl played by Vijayalakshmi, preparing for her wedding and interacting with her family and friends. Next we meet her groom, Appanna (played by Prakash Raj) as he works out at the local wrestling gym, and walks through his cobwebby home. We also meet the an old blind woman and her son who will prove important in the story.
Rani and Appanna get married,
but their first night does not go well, when Rani is frightened by Appanna's advances, and when they return to his village, he goes back to his mistress.
(For a long time, this video, titled "Sexiest scene ever-prakashraj enjoying vanitu vasu to the core" was the only evidence of the film I could find on youtube. It is fairly sexy, but did not feature any snakes.)
Appanna locks Rani in the house, but she is still able to talk to the blind woman through the window, who offers her a love potion. Rani cooks the potion in her husband's milk, but burns it/chickens out at the last minute and pours it out on the anthill near the house. Living in the anthill is the Naga, snake king, who drinks the milk and becomes infatuated with Rani. I thought it was interesting that the Naga was motivated by love, rather than revenge, and was essentially "tricked" by human action. At night he slithers in through the window and onto Rani's bed
Rani locks herself in another room, and the snake changes into the human form of Rani's husband, and remembers at the last minute to change his light-colored snakey eyes to dark-colored human ones.
He knocks on the door, Rani opens it, and he reassures her about her scary encounter with the snake, and proceeds to woo her:
The next night, when the husband leaves, the Naga returns for more sexy times:
I like how "slithery" Prakash Raj's body language is in this scene.
When Appanna comes home the next morning, he realizes that Rani has been sleeping with someone, yet seems really happy too see him. Appanna has a watchman guard the entrance to the house, but when the watchman tries to break in on the lovers, the Naga goes out, turns into a snake and kills him. The next night Appanna and his friends try to flush out the snake, who slithers back into the house, where Rani nurses his injuries. Appanna hasn't figured out that the snake that killed the watchman and the guy with his wife are the same. Rani still doesn't know that he's a snake, but she does know that she's pregnant and tells the Naga. Word gets back to Appanna that his wife is pregnant, and he drags her out in front of the village council to accuse her of adultery. She sticks her hand in the snake burrow, holds up the Naga, and swears that she has never touched any male other than her husband and the snake in the burrow.
(The snake is moving in this scene, so it's clear she's holding a live snake.)
The villagers hail Rani as a Devi, and the mistress kicks Appanna out and he finally returns home for a night. He sees Rani arguing. He doesn't see who she's arguing with, but he does see the snake slithering out.
He follows the snake to the anthill, and the Naga changes into it's human form. They argue and have an epic fight:
The Naga (loose-haired Prakash) defeats Appanna (ponytail Prakash) but decides to let him go, at which point Appanna kills him. I suspect that the dialogue here is important to the story--I've actually ordered the play, and I'm looking forward to finding out what is said.
Appanna returns to Rani, changed into a loving husband, and the scene closes with the floating lamps putting themselves out.
More thoughts:
My main takeaway from the film is that now I really want to read (and see) the play, especially since so few Indian films are adapted from books or plays.
-according to this article ("Mythical Structures in Girish Karnad's Naga-Mandala") the lamps are actually just one of four layers of narrative structure, and the play includes some ongoing dialogue between the "playwright", the lamps, and a female storyteller.
-another article that I read, "Feminism in Girish Karnads Nagamandala" talks about female agency in the play. I'm intrigued about whether Rani really has agency, since she seems to think that she's with her husband the whole time. In other takes on a similar theme (Paheli, Le Retour de Martin Guerre), if I recall correctly, there was at least one scene where it was implied that the wife knew about, and was choosing the imposter husband.
-A search for Nagamandala turns up several hits for recent productions in the US (Shunya Theater, Houston and Rogue Theatre in Tuscon.) The most recent was the University of Southern California Theater School, which may have been in conjunction with Girish Karnad receiving an honorary doctorate.
-I'd love to see how they stage the love scenes in the play. In the film, they were pretty sensual and explicit (This month I've seen at least three films with Prakash Raj in a lover role, and this one is by far his sexiest role, what with romancing two women.)
-I'd also love to see how they do the snake in the play. The film had some top notch snake wrangling, and the snakes looked good, were pretty active and were used in a lot of different settings as the Naga changed forms.
Here are some photos from the USC production and a production in Tuscon:
