Mohan Lal Or Shakeela ?

2003 - Florida Weston

"Let us argue, for argument’s sake." The Telegu boy, Sasidhar, initiated it as a friendly conversation.

"I have no problem."

"Don’t take it personally." Sasi wanted to be sure of his argument not hurting me.

I smiled. "No. You can tell me anything in this world. I will never take it personally. "

"We thought Malayalam movies were B-grade movies; sex movie heroines like Shakila overtook superhero Mohan Lal. We also heard such movies are more popular in Kerala than super star movies.”

"I am not aware of it." After a pause, I continued, "Of course, I read some bits and pieces in the newspaper two years back, about her movie being a hit. That was a hit in B-grade and c-grade theatres."

The Telegu boy tried to grasp the crux of my explanation.

Then he repeated, "I see, for us, Malayalam means those fatty girl movies, you know what I mean."

"Sasidhar, you know, I have not even seen that kind of movie in theatres, the Mallu ones you said popular in Andhra."

[My readers don’t ogle me. That’s the truth. I've seen video cassettes; - international educational films.]

"But, that’s what we hear in Andhra. Malayalam means B-Grade." Sasidhar aired his point of view, not to insult me but to argue.

"You know, Sasidhar, that’s what we also hear in our locality. Telegu means B-grade." Sasidhar was not comfortable hearing that even though argument was his proposal. I noticed some resistance from his side to my argument.

"How come? Telugu movies are collecting world-wide. Just see the money they are making. At times it’s much more than Hindi movies."

“I don’t dispute, at times, very good movies may not make that much money. I am not saying money-making movies are bad. Sasi, I am talking about so-called very good movies. Just by analysing the national academy awards of the last 20-30 years, you will see Malayalam movies' position in Indian cinema. Look at the fact sheet. "

“You know, no one in India knows about it correctly. Everyone knows only about Hindi and Telegu movies.”

“I have no idea of what movies you are talking about. Even if it is a logical argument, Sasi, I thought Bengali movies came out on top overall if we look at overall historical data. Never forget the name Satyajit Ray. "

"I agree with Satyajit Ray. He also won the Oscar award. Then, why Malayalam movies never got an Oscar? "

"Sasi, Oscar is majorly for movies made in Hollywood. Of course, there is a section for other languages. It is an exception. Oscar is not our cinema meter."

I thought he was not convinced regarding money making point. Our argument ended there. There was no animosity with Telegu boy at any point. It was straight forward friendly, a bit heated conversation in certain points.

Was it a fan fight? No, just casual arguments. I remember I never had any problem with him, because he was logical most of the time. In the end, I have reminded him watching Cheeru and Nagarjuna movies to reassure his friendship.