Hyderabad: “Vagala ranivi neeve sogasu kaadanu nene…” “Chupulatho gucchi gucchi champake nannu hai...” “I love you ante kotti pottav pillaa chaavu chaavu...” These are some of the popular hit numbers from Telugu films that are played quite often on radio and TV. Towards a World of Equals says generations of such film songs have eulogised men chasing reluctant women as a legitimate form of courtship. The reluctant heroine agrees to the hero’s love after he sings, saves her from baddies or threatens to harm himself until she says ‘yes’. But in real life women do not think such behavior is romantic at all.
There is a lesson on sexual harassment in the book, which deals with how heroines are portrayed in poor light. With very few exceptions, most films in the last decade have shown heroines as glamour dolls with very little intelligence and with no other goal in life but to win the attention of the hero. Also, few unsavory dialogues from popular films like Gabbar Singh, Seetamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu, Loukyam etc. have found a mention in this chapter. Another chapter on masculinity mentions how recent successful films in Telugu revolve around themes of love, enmity, revenge, violence etc.
