Raghuramaraju in his book Modernity in Indian Social Theory explains that though apparently there is no polygamy from the point of view of the hero, from the point of view of the viewers, their voyeurism ultimately gives them the same feeling of polygamy being committed. Here the hero has two women one after another without committing polygamy. These depictions subconsciously recall the earlier tradition of polygamy while, strictly speaking, following current customs,” the professor notes.Ī similar trend can be seen in Yes, Nenantenene (1994) and Criminal (1994) where the second heroine plays the role of a catalyst, facilitating the coming together of the other woman and the hero, yet not involved.
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“To trace the origins, from the 1980s, Telugu movies have had heroes who maintain a relationship with one woman in the first half of the movie and with another in the second half, following dramatic sequences. Soundarya in the film Super Police (1994) dies in a bomb blast planted by the villain and this is shown in flashback. Raghuramaraju, Assistant Professor at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences in IIT Tirupati, says that the legal restrictions on polygamy have led to ‘polygynyless patriarchy’, often depicted in popular films where men have relations with two women, but sequentially rather than simultaneously.
For example in movies like Mirchi (2013), the man’s behaviour is explained through a complicated backstory while a woman’s feelings of heartbreak are not explored because it is so casual for men to date or marry multiple women, especially when it is for the ‘right cause’,” Tejaswini says. “As in many of Shobhan Babu’s movies, men are often shown as unwitting victims who suffer to keep two or more wives happy, while the women are shrewd and lacking in kindness and understanding. The trend was also a ploy to ensure that no heroine gets sufficient screen time, and in turn, reducing her chances of getting anywhere close to the pay scale or stardom of the hero, says Tejaswini Madabhushi, a member of Hyderabad for Feminism. To avoid controversies, biopics appease audiences so that they only empathise with the characters in the movie,” Mahesh says. “For example, Tamizhselvan’s character, modeled on Karunanidhi, in Mani Ratnam’s Iruvar (1997) is sketched in such a way that his affair with another woman becomes insignificant in the larger political scenario. If one is to look at biopics, the genre has often tended to romanticise the multiple affairs of the hero in question. Whatever the law may say, social acceptance is driven through media, says Mahesh.
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So what has helped this trend survive in Telugu cinema?Ĭontinuous reinforcement of the trend in popular media, including TV serials, work towards normalising bigamy.
“This particular folk myth ingrained in patriarchal mindsets which treats female figures as a trophy to be won or owned, may have propelled this phenomenon to creep into the silver screen,” Vamshi opines. Myths of ‘macho’ or ‘masculine’ men who can handle two women (either through marriage or casual relationships) have been perpetuated in society since ages. A look at the posters of these films reveal the explicitly celebratory tone around bigamy.
Nari Nari Naduma Murari (1990), Allari Mogudu (1992), Intlo Illalu Vantintlo Priyuralu (1996), Aavida Maa Aavide (1998), among others, are quite well-known for spreading this trend in Telugu cinema. Vamshi Vemireddy, Assistant Professor of English at the Humanities and Social Sciences department, IIT Tirupati, says, “Telugu cinema has increasingly witnessed this trend with the emergence of the third generation stars such as Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Venkatesh and Balakrishna, though it has its roots way back in Shobhan Babu’s time.”įrom yesteryear’s Shobhan Babu to Nagarjuna, bigamy has been justified in spite of the law. Realising that their husband was born for humanity and the Lord’s service, his wives in the latter part of the movie give up their lives, freeing Annamayya of any earthly attachment. In the 1997 devotional flick Annamayya by K Raghavendra Rao, God is shown as personally conducting the wedding of Annamayya (Nagarjuna) with his cousins – Timakka and Akkalamma. Polygamy has been made acceptable in cinema by taking refuge in mythology, in which most of the Hindu gods are known to have multiple wives, Mahesh adds.
As the majority of the audience is also male, having multiple heroines fighting for a hero appeals to their libido too,” Mahesh says. “We are fundamentally a patriarchal society with a male dominated film industry, where a hero is aspirational and heroine is an object of desire.
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