The Sri Shakti Upgradation
Sri Reddy yesterday took to the press to express her displeasure on Pawan Kalyan in a rather emphatic manner. Laced with explicit language and indecent curses, Sri Reddy lashed out at the leader of the political outfit and one of South India’s biggest superstars, Pawan Kalyan. Now, why do we describe him with two different monikers? This differentiation is a key to understand why Sri Reddy might’ve picked Pawan Kalyan as her next topic of discussion. Sri Reddy, the agitating actress, who by now enjoys worldwide attention, on April 7th, in a monumental show of strength and revolution resorted to a ‘strip protest’ which not only set off alarms in the Telugu Film Industry, but also forced their hand, rather reluctantly one might add, to the installation of a committee, to take up the issue of ‘Sexual Exploitation’ validly.
A suo moto cognizance of the issue was taken as per the directives of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Sri Reddy achieved what thousands of Tollywood entrants had failed to achieve. She had become a source of inspiration, a revolutionary force so strong that it threatened to wash away all the sins of the industry.
Sri Reddy now referred to herself as Sri Shakti. The reasons behind this name upgradation, today remains anyone’s guess. But just as we started to accept her as Sri Shakti, in her truest form, celebrated her for the fearless spirit she showed, she did one little mistake, which now looks to crumble down all that she built. A small deviance from the juggernaut’s pathway. Pawan Kalyan. It is not that she took his name that we are afraid that what she built will account for zero. It is also not that she cursed him, that we think her doing will be short-lived. But it is because she chose to stray off from the topic of her fight. One stands to wonder – Has Sri Reddy lost track of what she is fighting for? Is she now blindly swinging the sword around, hoping to slice any neck that comes within the radius? Or has Sri Shakti finally had a mortal revelation to her high being, that maybe her agitation can never have a conclusive legal ground to fight upon? My guess? It’s the combination of all these reasons.
Where Does Pawan Kalyan Enter The Discussion?
Let’s take a step back and look at the issue neutrally. Pawan Kalyan in a press conference, when asked to comment upon the ‘Sri Reddy’ issue, spoke thus,
“There is no use going to TV channels. The women should go to police stations. More than this sensationalism, there is a need to fight all such injustice in court. Instead of resorting to such protests, it’s better to approach the police and narrate their problems. Let them handle it. Because how much ever we speak to the media, it is the government’s duty to do justice.”
When one starts to decode the press statement, one needs to understand the source from which these statements come from. Pawan Kalyan, it seems clear from the lines, spoke not just on the issue of Sri Reddy, but also in effect subtly hinted at his last embroilment with the media. In a manner of self-experience Pawan Kalyan spoke about resorting to the judicial system. Today the actor is a political figure. It is in the spirit of the constitution that he made these statements, to place trust in the police and investigative bodies.
As a matter of fact, anyone who is sensible enough to understand the importance of Police administration in the country would suggest the same. If our leaders, and yes Pawan Kalyan is considered a leader, disapprove the efficiency of a system, then literally all hope is lost. If we as the citizens of a democratic nation start to take the law in our hands then Anarchy shall prevail. And the difference between Revolution and Anarchy is stark and true. Revolution is a fire which pprovides light and warmth in total darkness. Anarchy is a wildfire which seeks to purposefully burn down a village.
Yes, no one can be blind to the fact that our system is flawed. Justice is often denied and cases are seldom taken up. It is flawed, but it is what we have. There are associations, NGOs, public administrative bodies, who can be sought help from. However, it is a common fact that when a case is brought upon an influential person in the society it is silently hushed and parcelled out to the trash cans. In stating these lines, Pawan Kalyan was offering the textbook rules to follow, not an appropriate cure to the ailment. This lack of defiling statements from Pawan Kalyan towards the established system of justice irked Sri Reddy beyond measure, as she took to the streets to curse him. This is where our issue begins.
The Fight For Justice But For Whom?
“You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” – goes a quote from the movie ‘The Dark Knight’.
This analogy perhaps encapsulates the situation Sri Reddy today finds herself in. The retort that Sri Reddy had to the above statements by Pawan Kalyan, was to attack his personal life, calling him names, and cursing him. While all that might come across as an angst-driven retaliation, one statement that made absolutely no sense came about quietly under the range of dramatics. Sri Reddy called Pawan Kalyan to be a man who disrespected the women in his life, and ergo incompetent to give out a statement in support of Sri Reddy’s revolution. Her reasoning was based on the incidence that Pawan Kalyan had been divorced twice. This as per the logic behind the accusation enlists him as someone who has utterly no value of a woman’s respect. This is where, when you carefully observe, the topic digresses.
One question that pops up when one hears her accusation on Pawan Kalyan is –
What has one man’s marital status got to do with his objective standpoints? Does Sri Reddy imply that any man who opts for a divorce is automatically someone who scorns women? Is that her logic? By her logic, every divorce should happen because one partner abuses or insults or disrespects the other partner? She would imply that no divorce happens with an amicable understanding.
Thus, by bringing Pawan Kalyan’s marital being into the equation, she might’ve have raked up a controversy involuntarily. Or was it purposefully done? Only the upgraded Sri Shakti would know.
This is where one would say her unstructured yet wildly successful movement might’ve hit its first roadblock. One question that challenges her now is the support from different communities. She was a unifying force towards a movement, but now there seems to be a divisive polarization. Again effective, not because she said something on Pawan Kalyan, but because she has deviated from her prime agenda. Until this point, one could see that every topic she spoke about, every name she revealed, every agenda she took up, pertained to resolving a bigger concern – the Sexual Exploitation of Artists. But in these aspects where does, Pawan Kalyan fit in? The superstar is not even remotely associated with the issue? He has, as can literally be proven, never categorically brushed away the movement. For his suggestion to resort to judicial avenues, Sri Reddy has made him the biggest villain of the movement.
This is perhaps where an admirable revolution turns into an unreasonable act of Anarchy.
The Sri Reddy Issue Takes A Bigger Shape?
The issue of Sexual Exploitation, it seems to a normal observer, has long taken a back seat. And in this political scenario, an unreasonable and rather abusive accusation of a leader of a political outfit is automatically a political act. One would only be a fool if one assumes that these logic-less blame games initiated by Sri Reddy out of the blue, targeting Pawan Kalyan, are purely driven by angst. There is a definite ulterior motive, that might be apparent in time to come. Regardless, by deviating from the trial she set out on, Sri Reddy’s righteous movement has found its first cracks. And ironically enough, she might claim in time to come that Pawan Kalyan’s supporters have violated her privacy or her movement. She might as well turn the issue that she raked up at her convenience, to be one of political subjugation or gender differentiation.
The question now is simple – How long before Sri Reddy aka Sri Shakti takes up another name and involves another influencer? How long before she falters in her path? And what will happen to a movement that remains as convoluted and unstructured as this, and is driven perhaps solely by the eccentric dynamism of Sri Reddy? People who supported her, including us, hailing her outburst as the need of the hour, today are faced with a conundrum. We ask ourselves, does she have what it takes to drive the movement to its most effective result? And by committing this act of cursing Pawan Kalyan, presumably just for the lack of support he’s offered her, she makes us all ponder upon one thing.
Isn’t it too much of a coincidence that a woman would proclaim herself as Sri Shakti (which implies Sthree Shakti as well) right at the time when she would go on to turn a social uproar into a political act, by dragging Pawan Kalyan into this mess? Right from the word go, those of us closely following her movement, would say she is a ‘Necessary Evil’. But she did deliver. She made things happen. She squealed the industry bureaucrats into action. She made a mockery of preferential treatment given by the Movie Artists Association and won her game.
However, has she overstayed her welcome? Has she picked up a different road now? Afterall, a necessary evil is required only till it serves its purpose. It ceases to become relevant, the moment it ceases to be necessary. So perhaps the question is, How long will Sri Reddy be necessary?
