HOW TO LEVERAGE THE POWER OF POLITICS

          2017 and 2018 were landmark years for the enterprise of cinema. But it was not only because of the audiences' growing fascination with stories, or the profitability of the star-studded films. There's another bigger phenomenon... films managed to impact politics and politicians. The magnetic power of films and the massive impact on the media was evident no more than in the case of the national Awards event this year, which was boycotted by the filmy celebs because the President of India refused to stand in the ceremony. Earlier, the biggest chunk of the public attention was seized during Bhansali's defense of his PADMAAVAT and the course of the events so embarrassed the establishment that parliamentarians took turns to grill Bhansali.

          As the media waited with bated breath for the possibility of widespread rioting after the release and stage governments across most of the Hindi belt were put on high alert, luckily for the director, the fringe elements and their protests dissipated after the film was released. Last week, we highlighted the sense of alarm in the film industry after Deepak Mukut-Anubhav Sinha's MULK was targeted by fringe elements for seeming to project a nationalist stance from the perspective of patriotic Muslims, which is a no-no concept for the ultra-right. We hope the film is given a peaceful release. In this latest case, a brush with politics is actually helping another movie. This event is also proving that movies are very much part of the contemporary idiom and play a major role in defining sentiment inside the parliament and also outside.

          So, how effective for a movie is a debate in the Parliament? Sample this. After TDP MP Jaydev Galla used the references of the Telugu hit BHARAT ANE NENU to lash out at the government during a no-confidence motion in the Parliament, the financing for the film's second edition has been locked. Once again, it will be Koratala Siva directing Mahesh Babu. So, politics isn't essentially bad.