Mahesh Babu – An Ode to the Actor beyond star

 Those were childhood days- the first Mahesh Babu film I watched in Theatre locally was Yuvaraju in 2000. The same goes for the film Vamsi - my first film watched in the Theatre in my grandfather's homeplace. 

 If anyone asks me, what's the first film you watched in Theaters in Hyderabad? Again it's Mahesh Babu's film in the form of Murari. 

Then as days passed, unknowingly, I had many memories connected to each film. Of all movies, Okkadu is one such unique movie having many reminiscences. 

1. Being in residential college during my intermediate days, as part of my outing, I brought an Okkadu Audio cassette in Koti(A place in Hyderabad city). I still remember the audio cassette poster was sky blue. And it just doesn't end there. Traveling in the local RTC bus where you don't have any local radio channels to listen in the bus (Radio Mirchi, Radio City, 93.5 S FM, etc., might have just started in 2003 ) during those days or the songs played on the bus were usually old songs. My friends and I asked the bus driver to play the Okkadu songs, and the songs were played multiple times throughout the ride, starting from Koti until the final stop at Kukatpally. New songs played on the RTC bus then were a big thing, and everyone enjoyed the new atmosphere of listening to new songs. The music from Manisharma is something for this film. 

2. When I went to my home town Nizamabad as part of the Sankranthi Holidays, that's when Okkadu Movie got released. Being habituated to watching the movies alone, I asked my father to get Okkadu Ticket. It was easy for my father to get the tickets as my father knew the theatre circle locally in Nizamabad. I didn't take it seriously and thought my father might not get the movie ticket, but to my surprise, he sent the movie ticket through his office attendant, where unfortunately I was not at home during that time ( So I missed watching the film on the very first day :( ). However, the next day, I got the ticket again and watched the movie from the Box area (Special seats in Theatre given to Guests ). I enjoyed the film thoroughly. My age is mere 17 plus, but I'm mature enough to like commercial cinema, and Okkadu is one such film made to enjoy the aura at that time. 

3. Usually, it's a habit for all hostlers to gather at one place to watch any film as soon as they are in Hyderabad, traveling from different towns and villages, and then we go to Hostel. So again watched the movie in Kukatpally, Arjun theatre, for the second show. Okkadu was a massive hit and received good talk, so we didn't get tickets for 1st show in the balcony seating(Rs ~40), so I tried for 2nd class tickets. I was in the line in the crowded mass, then suddenly I lost my breath due to such a highly intensified packed crowd, and I got squeezed in all directions. As I am not experienced to that environment, I was unconscious for some time and had to come out from that crowded group forcibly. Though it was a bitter experience, it was a different experience to encounter the mass crowd. When the movie gets the hit talk, it's expected to see crowded theaters. (Now you don't have to worry much as when the Big movie is going to release, it's screening in many theatres and we have an online ticketing system). We all hostlers, however, who were high in numbers> 50 plus, the theatre management agreed to allocate tickets for 2nd show, and that's how I enjoyed the movie again and this time with all my friends. 

As I said earlier, every Mahesh Babu film has its memory etched in my mind and pages filled with memories. I was not a fan of anyone, and I'm more fan of Movies, but unknowingly the fanboy moment in me felt during the middle of Under grad for Mahesh Babu. It happened instantly based on different experiences each time for each movie and, of course, the star image he got for his tremendous performances in each film. There were many variations of the style of movies Mahesh chose at that time, whether it was cowboy style in Takkari Donga,  Innocent and Sensitive in Nijam, Action  Packed style with Intelligence in Athadu, Pure mass commercial from Pokiri that gave Superstar image, out of exceptional acting from Khaleja, Pure Intelligence, and Nolanesque thinking through 1 Nen Okkadine - these all have different roles that provided much entertainment to the audience. 

When I was in the U.S., Khaleja movie was released in 2010( My first Mahesh film in the U.S...Lol). As the fan vibe was inside me unknowingly, I was more fanatic about collecting all Mahesh posters. My laptop wallpaper used to be a Khaleja poster (this is common for every fan for their stars ). There was an app released for MaheshBabuu on iPhone/Android - That was a new feeling to install the app, which has all poster collections and updates about Mahesh Babu. 

Every film from Mahesh Babu was different, and he proved that by making experimental films until recent times, where social and moral expressions are common in films like Bharat Ane Nenu and Maharshi. However, each film's context is different, that started from Sreemanthudu. Mahesh Babu might already know by now, but as a fan of Telugu Cinema, we expect Mahesh Babu to make experimental films and different genres as he used to do earlier, which I believe he is doing again now. Everyone is waiting for the future more than life film from Rajamouli, of course apart from other films. 

More than actor, he is living the life of saving many lives through his philanthropic work. Kudos to all his work for society and entertaining us through his movies. 

This post is an ode to Mahesh Babu as he is celebrating his Birthday on August 9th. 

P.S. - There is nothing wrong with being a fan of some movie star, but it doesn't mean that fanism should be mad and provoke unnecessary fights between fans of different stars. The culture of this is so silly and doesn't give any value to the respective individual. I might be a fan of Mahesh Babu, and I m a fan of Ram Charan, Pawan Kalyan, and NTR, but more than that, I'm a fan of Telugu cinema. 

I have been thinking of writing this for many years, and finally, I am writing now.