Why Did TDP Refer to This Mahesh Babu Film While Describing 'Plight' of Andhra People?

Even as the finely-wrought and terribly wreaked drama in Parliament today proceeds, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has moved the no-confidence motion against the Modi government. Guntur MP Galla Jayadev says it is a war against the injustice meted out to the people of Andhra Pradesh. He says, "It is not a war between the TDP and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but between morality and majority. Motion of no confidence is against the lack of fairness, lack of trust, lack of unbiased approach towards Andhra Pradesh, the option to vote for Andhra Pradesh lies open now. You want to vote for a clean, corruption-free Andhra Pradesh by voting for us or choose to go for the rival opposition party and push Andhra Pradesh into corruption. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom we trusted so dearly has deceived the state."

Indeed, calling the motion a war of dharma for his party, the TDP, Galla went on to draw a parallel between the events in hit Telugu film Bharat Ane Nenu and the situation of the Andhra people.

And what is Bharat Ane Nenu, which so clearly highlights the plight of Andhra Pradesh?

When Shekhar Kapoor opined after chairing the National Film Awards jury that there is no such thing as regional cinema any longer, he hadn't seen the Mahesh Babu-starrer Bharat Ane Nenu, a wish-fulfillment parable on a new political awakening, which had a superb run at the box office earlier this year.

"We always knew our film will strike a chord among the masses. Indian politics has hit an all-time low in many places. There is widespread disillusionment with the people we elect to represent us in Parliament. Why is there no accountability in governance? This is what bothered me when I got down to writing Bharath Ane Nenu," said director, Koratala Siva whose four Telugu films so far (Mirchi in 2013, Srimanthudu in 2015, Janatha Garage in 2016 and now Bharat Ane Nenu) reveal a very high level of special commitment.

"Promise," says Siva, "was the key to the plot in Bharath Ane Nenu. When politicians are elected to public offices, they take an oath to serve the people...we the people for the people by the people... But the promise is soon broken. Why? Here was my protagonist who thinks promises are sacred. This gentleman's word, whether given in his childhood to his mother or to Mother India in his maturity, is never to be broken. The promise was the key to my film."

You know what they say about promises, though.(With IANS inputs)