V for Venkatesh

There was a time in my life when it wasn't K for Karan Johar. There was a time when the alphabet K had nothing to do with mother-in-laws and daughter-in-laws fighting to gain control over the kitchen. Because K was for Kshana Kshanam. And V for Victory. V for Venkatesh. There was a time when every self-respecting Telugu filmgoer muttered "Devuda, devuda..." under his breath at times of pressure. There was a time when, "Nenokka donga," (I am a thief) was a fashion statement, and wearing flower shirts with jeans with the top two buttons open was a way of life.

That was the time when Ram Gopal Varma made stunning crime thrillers laced with intrigue and adventure, and had one-liners to kill for. Truly sad that his last four films as director have been Darling, Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag, Nishabd and Darna Zaroori Hai. Ah, digressions from the main topic.

This morning, driving back from the airport, a dull radio announcer on AIR FM Rainbow, who sounded like a college professor on sedatives giving the same lecture for the hundredth time, said "Ko ante Koti!" (equivalent of 'C for Crore'). My heart missed a beat, I went up one gear and increased the volume. Sure enough, Sridevi's slightly off-tune voice sang, "Kingula Kanipistunnadu..."

I was taken back to those times - when V was for Venkatesh, and K was for Kshana Kshanam and Ko was for Koti.

Kshana Kshanam, about a bank employee (Sridevi) who accidentally comes in possession of one crore rupees robbed from a bank and a petty thief (Venkatesh) running away evading the cops and the robbers, is a masterpiece. Venkatesh is stunning as the thief (Chandu, I think his name was), and Sridevi was even better as Satya and the two together rival the greatest screen chemistries in all cinema. For years after watching KK, I wanted to get stuck in a forest with a girl. (I did also, once, but that wasn't really a forest, and we weren't really stuck.)

For years after that, Venkatesh remained my favourite actor, and I watched Sahasa Veerudu Sagara Kanya, Anari, Super Police (which had music by A.R.Rahman - and along with Gang Master, it was Rahman's only two Telugu movies to date) when V started standing for Vidhu Vinod Chopra, and K for Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Many years later, I did watch Malleswari starring Venky opposite Katrina Kaif, and I noted that he had lost none of his original timing or delivery. "No caste feelings," is amongst my favourite lines in Telugu cinema.

But there was a time, when cops, robbers, railway cloak rooms, tribal songs in the forest and a chilling Paresh Rawal created one of the best movies of all time!

"Tandatarara. Tandatararaaa. Tandatarara..."