This is an ode to those colorful characters whom I recently happened to remember...those stalwarts of South Indian cinema, who have, over the many many years, provided more entertainment to the masses (including the likes of us "elites") than they have been given due credit for....so, I decided, these guys deserve a bit of ink...even as I recall them and their antics with fondness (?), a certain heightening of my senses, and yes, laughter...plenty of laughter.
A friend sent me a link to a Kannada song website which triggered it all off..a link to a song that went as follows...(Here, you have to really get into trying to sing a Kannada song with English lyrics with a Kannada accent)..."Life is a merrrrrrrrrrrry mellloddy.......life is a haaaaanting rhapsody....". I have to admit I didn't get past those two lines...it was a different matter that the lyrics were really quite indecipherable, but I was busy rolling on the ground laughing my head off...
But once I scrambled back onto my chair, and wiped off the tears, I scrolled through the rest of the movie list, and saw some classics...."Prema Loka" was one such....and when I clicked on "Nodamma hudugi, kelamma sariyagi"....I could visualize Juhi Chawla, in her white mini-skirt...the hot new babe in college...and Ravi Chandran, the college rowdy-to-turn-irresistible-hero, with his bee-hive hairdo, tight white pants, and the smouldering look...singing "hosa hudugi antha bidtheeni, naale indha nodkoltheeni, underrrrstaaand?"....what a hoot!
The other character who deserves an honorable mention here is Vishnu Vardhan...who as far as I remember always, always had a paunch, wore white pants and matching white shoes, and a lock of hair falling over his forehead...
Hailing from Bangalore and not including Lingo Leela of the Radio City fame would be unacceptable, so here is my toast to "Colloquial Class with Miss Lingo Leela". Excerpts...
"Wellcome to calloquial class. Today's word of the day yis.."Jing-Jak". Yit myeans to suggest ye bright multi-colored blinding yand gaady piece of clothing. For yegzample, " Rajeshwari, yene neenu langa dhawani haakondu olle jing-jak aagi bandhidya". Myeans, "Ey Rajeshwari, what man, you have worn ye haalf saari and are looking draap-dead gaargeous, like ye baambshell".
But the high-point of this ode is to none other than the (in)famous RajaniKanth...who is next only to God in million's of people's eyes, I'm told. My picturization of RajaniKanth is of a guy with black baggy pants, white keds, sleeveless, red vest (banyan), unruly hair, cigarette in mouth (of course), and loads and loads of attitude. Do I need to go into his famed stunts (watch out James Bond), unparalleled in Indian Cinema (except maybe by Mithun Chakravorty...no...for sure Mithun comes a possible second...Rajani RULES)...
Imagine if all movie stars looked and behaved like Tom Cruise or Shah Rukh Khan...how boring. What would life be without these colorful characters, so much a part of our childhood memories...
I'm so glad that we got to witness these characters (in moderation, thank God), so that now, years later....we can send emails, reminisce, laugh, and have a happy moment.
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