I FOUND Telugu movie Bharat Ane Nenu (Song of Bharat) interesting for the offered concept o local governance, and how it might solve governmental corruption!
After marrying subtitles to the movie, I found it an enjoyable watch — mostly.
What I didn’t like were the dance-and-song segments – so cliché, no?
The story is about Bharat (ably acted by Mahesh Babu) who loses his mum, and his dad remarries. His stepmum has little time for him while his politician dad (R. Sarathkumar) does what he can for the kid.
As luck would have it, his best friend’s family is off to London, and Bharat gets to tag along. He proves to be brilliant at academics. When his dad dies, he rushes home but finds the body has been cremated, and last rites done already.
Fishy, yes? Anyway, Bharat gets to be the chief minister of the state when party chief Varadarajan (Prakash Raj) asks him to do so. And watch out people – he gives change a new face!
He takes the oath to the letter of the law, and the old guards cannot stand their lifestyles being wrecked so easily in months.
It’s a piece of fiction, and you wonder if life can ever follow art, in this case.
Where la so easy to make politicians and criminal factions toe the line? Walk the talk of corruption-free governance?
But the part of giving money to villages so that they can deal with their own problems, without having to ask ministers or MLAs, to fix the roads, the wells, etc, does hit home.
We Malaysians are asking for local government elections so that we ourselves can sort out the problems of our own kingdoms, as we know the problems first-hand.
In the movie, the villagers do just that. Well, of course, you ask if non-political people can be trusted to do simple governance work, without falling prey to stealing money to build a big house, or send their kids abroad for a better education or to buy a much-wanted handbag.
Or you can believe an ordinary person is an honest person, for that is his nature.
Pic romhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56429088