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“Ayesha Takia says no to Mahesh Babu” this was a statement made by a news channel recently. This is what director Puri Jagannadh had to say about the comment and also his views on the kind of gossip and film reviews given by various film magazines, websites and TV channels.

“The other day on a TV channel there was a film news bit which said that Ayesha Takia refused to do a film with Mahesh Babu. I felt bad after watching it because that is not true. We asked her for a fifty day schedule but she could only allot us thirty five days, as she was busy with other projects. The news even went on to say that Ayesha Takia told that she will not work with me anymore. In fact in a recent interview she told that she would like to do another film with me. Now if any of the film’s crew or fans will hear of this won’t they feel bad? I don’t know who gave that news to the channel? Because neither did Ayesha Takia or Mahesh Babu or even I made that statement. In fact I was the one who told Mahesh Babu about the news.

Now days these channels are more interested in relaying gossip than the actual news. They are also speaking very cheaply about the film industry. There was also one news bit as “Namitha dealing directly with the director. For more details watch after the break.” And when we watched after the break it just said that Namitha broke up with her boy friend recently and so now she is managing her own shooting dates. The statement they made before the break is so loaded with double meaning. Won’t it give a wrong message to the audience? They made a similarly statement before the second break saying “this beauty is ready to do anything for 5 lakhs” but later on they mentioned that she takes 5 lakhs to do an item song in a film. Now was that kind of a double meaning statement necessary to make the viewers watch their program further. Won’t it affect the actress? Though I don’t know Namitha personally, I felt bad about what was being said about her.

Not only TV channels there are also certain film magazines and film based web sites which also look down on the film industry. Even though they earn their bread and butter using the news and interviews from the film industry, they don’t respect the people from this industry and write nonsense about them. And one more thing that I don’t understand about these magazines and websites is the way they rank the films, under the section of film reviews. Who are they to tell whether one film deserves one star or another film deserves five stars. Who asked them to rank films? You don’t see us ranking any of these websites, saying one is better than the other. Sometimes even a good movie doesn’t do well at the box office. Not all the movies which these people have given five stars for have been successful. In fact movies like Chandramukhi and Aparichitudu were given only two stars. But these films became huge hits. You never know how a particular film will perform at the box office. Such kind of ranking and reviews are like assaulting a person’s character.

It as if these people do not know how to write a review for a film. A film review should basically tell on what bases the movie was made and about the technicalities of the movie, not about what happens in the first half and what happens in the second half, Which actor performed better and which actor performed badly, What dialogue was good and what was bad. It’s like one person watches the movie and tells the story to everybody. It feels more like a post mortem than a film review. They are stripping a film the same way they would strip a politician involved in a scandal.

Basing on a story, some crores of money is invested. It’s not like in real estate where you have property to show for the money you invested in it. In the film industry all we have to show is a story. Many people’s lives depend on how well the film performs. When such kind of effort is involved in the making of every film, these people go and give bad reviews which can seriously affect the film’s performance at the box office. This kind of reviewing and gossip is not in good taste. And if we have to take action against every such article written we have to leave our work to be behind them. I don’t understand the concept of demeaning the very industry which provides you with your bread and butter.

Because of the comment “Ayesha Takia says no to Mahesh Babu” I had to give explanations to a lot of people. Now… before a movie shoot begins many people are considered for various roles. We do not know what may happen. The heroine might change midway. The director can change. Many things can happen before a movie starts. They should speak about the final product, not gossip about what happened before the movie began. That is not the right way to go about things. All these reviews are personal opinions. One person watches the movie and if he personally doesn’t like the movie he gives the movie a bad review. Why should he write his personal opinion about the movie?

Classical and hit movies like Shankarabaranam did not do well in the first week of their release. They picked up there after. With such kind of ranking and reviews, the hope of a film doing well will be squashed. Some movies tend to do well abroad than here. When people over there read these reviews and opt not to watch the movie, more losses are incurred. There have been such instances where the foreign market slumped due to bad reviews posted on the web. How will you feel if I tell every body that you are a very bad person? What do these people know about film making? What do they know about screenplay, direction? Are they film technicians? Are they qualified to write reviews? What right do they have to comment on how good or bad a film’s character is. Who asked them to do it? Before telling us on how to make films, these people should learn how to write a review. They should learn how to write a review from there Hollywood counterparts. A review does not mean to perform a post mortem on a film. People won’t be interested in watching a film if the entire story is told in the name of review. These people should learn, from other countries how to write a review