She is now with the Indian National Congress (INC), which has lost its footing in the both the Telugu states. She was elected member of Parliament from the Medak constituency in 2009, the same constituency that Indira Gandhi held until her assassination.

Unlike other states where Dalit writers like Paul Chirakkarode of Kerala and feminist Dalit voices like Bama from Tamil Nadu found recognition and readers, these writers were restricted to their politics and did not find mass readership.

Having criticized Alluda Majaka, I must make a confession. This was the first ever film I saw in a theatre.

The Telugu literature produced during this period stagnated at upper-caste levels. A particular caste-based literary conflict that remains unresolved is the ‘language’ that qualifies as literature itself.

Vijay Devarakonda, the hero who speaks in the ‘impure’ Telugu of the region, ensures that nobody speaks ill about the new state that has so often been side-lined within cinema.

NTR, a year before launching his party, would use the part-history and part-folk mythos around the region of Bobbili. This region is touted to have produced fierce warriors who fought against colonial forces. Tales of the historic battle over the Bobbili Fort and the royal families of the region are retold much like the Rajputs and Maratha retellin

I know two sets of fans who beat each other with hockey sticks and cricket bats because their film dates clashed.

The ‘feisty’ mother-in-law trope was not new. Yesteryear actress Suryakantham was popular for taking on several such roles. She terrorized the women in the audience, making them pray that they never get a mother-in-law like that. Sons wouldn’t want a dominating mother like that either.

‘Because the fact of the matter is that although individual revolutionaries succeeded, the revolution failed.’ —Easy tigers, Raging Bulls