1st April 2005

Banner: Vijaya Krishna movies
Presented by: Superstar Krishna
Music: Ramesh Naidu.
Cast: Superstar, Vijayanirmala, Jayanthi, Satyanarayana, Prabhakar Reddy, Gummadi, Jaggayya, Sreedhar, Pandaribaayi and others.

Few days ago, I read an article that was talking about how rapidly the concept of 'speed dating' is catching up in some of our mega cities like Bombay. Unable to find a soul mate, some "guppies" (the lap top touting techies in Gurgoaun, Delhi, are now labeled after Yuppies, their American counterparts) are taking the help of some websites like Bombayspeed8.com to find one instantly-each client is given just three minutes to impress a blind date failing which, he/she has to move on to the next one. Most of these believers in instant gratification, I am sure, would, now brand Devadas as a looser and think of him as someone who failed to get a grip on his life. But, there is still a significant number of people who consider him a hero with a 'tragic flaw' - error of a tragic hero that leads to his downfall.

No matter what position one takes on his personality, one has to certainly agree to the claim that Sharath Chandra's Bengali novel Devadas, is a magnum opus on unrequited love. Starting with K.L.Saigal, some of the best known names in Indian cinema - ANR, Dilip Kumar etc-have played their odes to this character by brilliantly portraying him on the celluloid. Moreover, all these actors benefited immensely by doing this role and till this day, people shower rich accolades on them. But Superstar Krisha is probably the only hero in the Indian cinema, who will be remembered for not getting any mileage out of this role.

A calculated risk:
Having starred in several action oriented films like Mosagallaki Mosagadu, Aveekallu, Gudachari 116, SuperStar Krishna's career was progressing well. The year 1974 was a special one for him for two reasons: 1.With his ASR, he joined the select club of people to star in 100 films as a hero 2.his riveting portrayal of the legendary ASR earned him both commercial success and critical acclaim.

However, there was an imminent danger of he getting caught up in the (emotional hero) image trap. Conscious of this, Krishna deliberately starred in several soft movies like Manushulu, Mattibommalu, Radhamma Pelli, Gouri, Deergasumangali etc. Unfortunately, none of these clicked at the box-office. Desperate to change his image, decided to remake the classic film Devadas in the same year. Hearing his detractors scorn at this idea, Krishna's well-wishers tried their best to stop him from making this risky move. But all their efforts went in vain as Krishna was already determined to gamble with his image. Since it was a huge project, Krishna did not want to burden outside producers and decided to produce it on his home banner.

During the same time, Vijayanirmala, who tasted success as a director with her maiden venture (Meena, 1973), wanted her 100th movie (as an actress) to be something significant. She found this idea equally challenging. But it required a lot of persuasion from her to convince her husband to handle her responsibility of directing and producing this film.

Story:
Devadas (Krishna) and Parvathy (Vijaya Nirmala) are child hood friends who become soul mates with the passage of time. But Devadas's inability to act against the wishes of his parents separates the two lovers forever and Parvathy marries another Zamindar (Gummadi). A shipwrecked Devadas becomes a chronic alcoholic and befriends a beautiful courtesan Chandramukhi (Jayanthi). But even her unflinching devotion does not give him solace and he sets out to meet Parvathy for one last time. The story ends when Devadas dieing just few yards away from Parvathy's house.

Why it failed:

In one of the greatest marketing debacles of all time, Coca-cola, in order to protect itself from the onslaught launched by its arch-rival Pepsi cola, tampered with its taste and launched a sweeter version of its classic coke during its centennial year 1985,. Fans of the original Coke were enraged with that decision ("there are only two things in life God and Coca-Cola. Now, you have taken one of these things away from me" commented a fan. "When they took the old coke away from the market, they violated my freedom of choice. It's as basic as the Magna Charta, the Declaration of Independence...." said another) and took to mass protests before its headquarters at Atlanta, Georgia. But, in several blind tests, several people, in fact, liked the taste of the new cola better and yet protested because they did not like the idea of changing the 'most successful product in history'.

The same had happened with Superstar's Devadas. A controlled performance from Krishna in the title role, good direction by Vijayanirmala, a huge casting ensemble, melodious music by Ramesh Naidu- "Jeevitham Yeemiti,Veluthuru Cheekati","Meghaalaloona theelaali", "Porigintidoragaariki pogaruekkuva","Idhi niseedha samayam" and dialogues loaded with philosophy make this a good film per se. But audience rejected it flat out because of their strong association with the ANR's version. Moreover, SS's decision to remake this film infuriated ANR and he re-released his movie all over the state with brand new prints around the same time. The newer generation audience also flocked to theaters, where it was screened, to know why it is revered as a classic.While the newer version was getting terminated from theaters in its first four to five weeks of run, the older version completed its 100 days run in some centers. In simple words, it is one risk that did not give any returns to Krishna. It is one experiment that failed and made SS to re-position himself as an action hero. It is a different story that SS reached greater heights of stardom eventually.

Also read Deja Vu article on Soggadu.

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