Siva (1989 Telugu film)

This article is about the 1989 Telugu film. For the 1990 Hindi film, see Shiva (1990 film). For other uses, see Shiva (disambiguation).
Siva

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Ram Gopal Varma
Produced by Akkineni Venkat
Yarlagadda Surendra
Written by Ram Gopal Varma
Tanikella Bharani
(dialogue)
Based on Way of the Dragon 
by Bruce Lee
Starring Akkineni Nagarjuna
Amala
Raghuvaran
Music by Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematography S. Gopala Reddy
Edited by Sattibabu
Production
company
Annapurna Studios
SS Creations
Release dates
 5 October 1989
Running time
 144 minutes
Country India
Language Telugu

Siva[lower-alpha 1] is a 1989 Indian Telugu-language crime drama film written and directed by Ram Gopal Varma in his directional debut. Produced jointly by Akkineni Venkat and Yarlagadda Surendra under their banners Annapurna Studios and SS Creations, Siva featured Akkineni Nagarjuna, Amala, and Raghuvaran in the lead roles. The film's story, adapted from Bruce Lee's Way of the Dragon (1972), revolves around the conflicts between Siva, a college student-turned-gangster and Bhavani, a reputed crime boss mentored by Machiraju, a politician. It also explores the concept of exploitation of students by anti-social elements, and the impact of crowd psychology on them.

Varma developed the film's script based on his experiences as a student in Siddhartha Engineering College, Vijayawada. After Nagarjuna agreed to act in the film, Varma approached Tanikella Bharani to assist him in the scripting process. Ilaiyaraaja composed the film's soundtrack and score. S. Gopala Reddy was the film's director of photography. Thota Tharani and Sattibabu were the film's art director and editor respectively. Varma introduced the usage of steadicam in Indian cinema with Siva, which was operated by Rasool Ellore. Siva's principal photography commenced on 16 February 1989 and was completed in 55 working days. Except for a three-day shooting in Madras (now Chennai), the rest of the film's portions were filmed in Andhra Pradesh.

Produced on a budget of ₹7.5 million, Siva was released on 5 October 1989 to critical acclaim, mainly for its usage of technology and sound design. While Venkat and Surendra expected that the film would be an average grosser, it was commercially successful; it completed a 100-day run in 22 centres, and a 175-day run in 5 centres. Siva is the only Telugu film to be screened at the International Film Festival of India held on 19 January 1990. Apart from the Filmfare Award for Best Film – Telugu, Siva won three Nandi Awards—Best Director (Varma), Best First Film of a Director, and Best Dialogue Writer (Bharani). A documentary titled Exploring Shiva after 25 Years was released on the film's silver jubilee anniversary, making it the first documentary based on a Telugu film.

Siva attained cult status and is considered to be a fate changer in Nagarjuna's career. It is credited with breaking the rules of conventional sound recording techniques in Telugu cinema and encouraged filmmakers to explore different themes and make experimental films. For the April 2013 centennial of Indian cinema, CNN-News18 included Siva in its list of "The 100 greatest Indian films of all time". Siva's Tamil dubbed version Udhayam was profitable as well. It was remade twice in Hindi by Varma with the same title. While the first remake starring Nagarjuna, Amala and Raghuvaran was successful, the second remake featuring Mohit Ahlawat and Priyanka Kothari underperformed at the box office.

Plot

A man named Siva comes to Vijayawada from a nearby town to pursue further education. He lives with his brother Sharath's family and joins the VAS college of Arts & Sciences. Though Sharath and his daughter Keerthi bond well with Siva, his wife considers him a financial burden. At the college, Siva befriends a group of students and falls in love with Asha, the sister of an honest police inspector Venkat.

The college's (unopposed) student union preident J. Durga Rao aka J. D. is the lowest rung in a gang ladder that reaches througha gangstrer Ganesh to Bhavani, a reputed crime boss. Bhavani uses this network to support his mentor Machiraju, a politician. Though the police arrest J. D. many times for the atrocities he commits, he is bailed out by Bhavani every time. When J. D. teases Asha in the college campus, Siva attacks him with a cycle chain and develops rivalry with him and Ganesh.

The incident encourages Siva's friends to request him to contest for the student union president elections. Siva suggests to nominate Naresh, one of the group, for the post. Ganesh's attempts to pacify Siva fail, and Bhavani comes to know about him. Bhavani considers Siva a potential replacement for J. D.; He is annoyed that J. D. seeks his help for every small issue, and is a weak henchman.

Naresh is fatally assaulted by J. D. and Bhavani's hanchmen and is admitted into a hospital for treatment. Siva retaliates, making Bhavani furious. Siva's friends attend a wedding, and are attacked by Ganesh and others. Malli, one of Siva's friends, is murdered and Siva swears revenge. Sensing risk for Sharath's family after an attempt to kill Keerthi, Siva leaves the house and joins his friend Chinna's hostel.

Siva agrees to contest as the college's student union president. On the other hand, Bhavani cheats the workers union leader Krishna Reddy, who shifts his loyalties to Siva. Around this time, Asha and Siva get married. Bhavani starts attacking and murdering Siva's close aids, which makes him manage to transfer Sharath to Vishakhapatnam. He also manages to attack Bhavani's henchmen and helps Venkat in arresting Ganesh.

Machiraju finds Siva a potential replacement to Bhavani, and decides to stop supporting the latter. Bhavani comes to know that Siva maintains a healthy relationship with Sharath and kidnaps Keerthi. Ganesh is produced into the court and an arrest warrant is issued on Bhavani. Insulted and humiliated, Bhavani kills both Keerthi and Machiraju. Siva and Bhavani duel on the terrace of a shopping complex. Bhavani commits suicide and Siva walks out, as Asha and Venkat watch in dismay.

Cast

Production

Development

After graduating in civil engineering from Siddhartha Engineering College in Vijayawada, Ram Gopal Varma started a video rental shop named "Movie House" near Banerjee Travels building in Ameerpet. Observing his interest in films, Varma's father Penmatsa Krishnamraju, who used to work as a sound recordist in Annapurna Studios, helped him join the team of Collector Gari Abbai (1987) and Rao Gari Illu (1988) as an assistant director.[1] Varma befriended Akkineni Nagarjuna, Akkineni Venkat, and Yarlagadda Surendra in the process. He developed and narrated the script of Raathri to them. Nagarjuna rejected it, and subsequently Varma narrated another script, based on his life as a student in Vijayawada.[1][2]

When Rao Gari Illu neared completion, Varma approached its co-director Siva Nageswara Rao to join him. During the scripting sessions held at Annapurna Studios' office in Madras (now Chennai), Varma approached Tanikella Bharani to assist him in the scripting process. Bharani, who was involved in the scripting of comedy films such as Ladies Tailor (1985) and Shri Kanakamalaxmi Recording Dance Troupe (1987), wrote the film's script in a comic way; he felt that the plot narrated by Varma was similar to the ones in the films directed by K. S. R. Das. Varma rejected the initial version and asked Bharani to rewrite it as a serious crime film. While Bharani was paid ₹25,000 for other films, he received a remuneration of ₹35,000 for Siva.[2]

Venkat and Surendra jointly produced Siva under their banners Annapurna Studios and SS Creations respectively. They planned to commence the film's production on 20 September 1989, coinciding with Akkineni Nageswara Rao's birthday. Due to delay in script work of one of Nagarjuna's other films, Siva's production commenced in February 1989 as the bound script was ready along with the shot division details.[3] Varma wanted M. M. Keeravani to compose the film's soundtrack and score; Keeravani assisted K. Chakravarthy for Rao Gari Illu. Since both were debutantes, Keeravani suggested Varma to opt for an experienced technician for better output, and Ilaiyaraaja was signed.[2] S. Gopala Reddy, Thota Tharani and Sattibabu were the film's director of photography, art director and editor respectively.[4] Gopala Reddy took inspiration from Gordon Willis' work in Francis Ford Coppola's crime drama film The Godfather (1972).[5]

Casting

Siva is Nagarjuna's 17th film as an actor.[6] He was Varma's only choice for the protagonist's role as he found him the only actor who could understand his perspective and sensibilities.[7] Nagarjuna and Varma had a conversation about stars, constellations, and galaxies and realised that they share similar sensibilities. It prompted Nagarjuna to work with him, apart from his passion and dedication for films.[7] Amala, who worked with Nagarjuna in Prema Yuddham (1990), was chosen as the female lead.[2] Siva is the first film in Amala's career whose script was explained shot by shot.[7] When Varma approached Rohini to dub for Amala's portions, she rejected the offer in an attempt to avoid being typecast as a voice actress. She insisted to watch the film before considering the offer, and agreed to dub for Amala after watching about three reels of the film's footage.[8][9]

Varma chose Raghuvaran to play the role of Bhavani, a local don. As Bhavani's characterisation was based on the life of a real crime boss, Varma felt that the actor cast should be able to underplay. Before accepting to appear in the film, Raghuvaran left for Mumbai to study the mannerisms and life styles of mob leaders and criminals for 20 days.[2][9] Varma wanted to name the characters played by Nagarjuna and Raghuvaran as Bhavani and Siva respectively. Upon Nagarjuna's request, he interchanged them.[2][10] Varma chose debutantes Chakravarthy, Jithendra, and Ramjagan to play the roles of J. D., Chinna, and Naresh respectively, after auditioning them at Annapurna Studios.[2]

Varma initially wanted Saikumar to play the role of J. D., but the latter walked out due to unknown reasons.[11] Chakravarthy came to the studios to meet a friend, and Varma asked him to enact a scene of his choice. When he asked to give something to enact, Varma summoned him for a screen test on the next day, which failed. Varma asked Chakravarthy to meet him again on the next day and said that he initially didn't want to cast him in Siva, but was convinced after observing the depth in his expression half an hour before the meeting.[12] At the same time, established actors such as Murali Mohan, Gollapudi Maruti Rao, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Subhalekha Sudhakar, and Saichand were cast in key supporting roles.[2] Upon Varma's insistence, Bharani agreed to play the role of Nanaji, Bhavani's assistant.[2] Venkat made a cameo appearance as one of Bhavani's clients; Siva Nageswara Rao dubbed for his portions.[13] Brahmaji was cast as Bhavani's henchman.[7]

Filming

RGV's ingenuity lies in his understanding of human nature and I got a first-hand experience while filming the scene where I betray Gollapudi Maruthi Rao. Before shooting that scene, RGV told me that I should feel guilty for betraying my boss because every person, however cruel might be, has a humane side. So, all I did was gulp and RGV was impressed with my expression.

—Brahmaji about his experience with Varma during the film's shoot.[7]

Varma read about steadicam in the American Cinematographer magazine and enquired about the possibility of a similar camera in India. After learning that a steadicam is available in Madras since four years and is obsolete, Varma decided to use it despite Gopala Reddy being apprehensive about it.[10] Rajiv Menon was recruited to operate the steadicam. He was later replaced by Deenpal who could not operate the equipment properly. Varma later chose Rasool Ellore to assist Gopala Reddy during the use of steadicam.[3] Principal photography commenced on 16 February 1989 and was wrapped in 55 working days. Except for a three-day shooting in Madras, the rest of the film's portions were filmed in Andhra Pradesh.[3]

The sequences featuring the protagonist's college life were filmed at Keyes High school near Secunderabad Junction railway station. One of the school's walls were demolished and a gate was fixed to shoot the opening sequence of the film.[3] Sudhakar's murder scene was filmed near Keesara in Ranga Reddy district.[3] Gopala Reddy and Rasool Ellore placed a camera in a bag and ran behind him to get a shaky effect.[7] For the "cycle chain" sequence where Siva uses a cycle chain as a weapon to fight with J. D., the promos shot by Gangaraju Gunnam, the owner of the Fountainhead Advertising Agency, featured Venkat's hand. The same was used in the poster designs as well. In the film, the hand pulling the chain was Rasool Ellore's, and in the next shot, Nagarjuna is shown holding the chain.[9] The sequence where Jagan's character is killed near his house was filmed in the streets of Vengala Rao Nagar. While the cycle chase sequences were filmed in Somajiguda and the slums behind Yashoda Hospitals, the bus chase sequence was shot in Yusufguda.[3] The climax sequences were filmed at Swapnalok complex, Secunderabad. The scene where Bhavani's character commits suicide was filmed in a set erected at Venus Studios in Madras.[3]

Few romantic sequences between Nagarjuna and Amala were initially filmed at the old Ushakiron Movies office in Secunderabad. Dissatisfied with the output, Varma reshot them at the Osman Ali House.[3] Mugur Sundar conducted the choreography for the song sequences.[4] The song "Anando Brahma" was filmed in Borra Caves, Vishakhapatnam. The film's crew had to crawl into the interiors of the caves, making Siva the first Telugu film to be shot in such place inside the caves.[9] The remaining songs were filmed in sets erected at Annapurna Studios.[3] Srinivasa Rao filmed for his portions in a single day, and no trails were conducted for his costumes and looks. During the filming of his death sequence, Raghuvaran ensured that the belt used to choke him to death did not hurt him.[14] The fights composed by Varma, featured only hand-to-hand combats and attacks with hooks, as he was trained in them during his kickboxing training sessions.[10]

Themes and influences

The basic plot of Siva was adapted from Way of the Dragon (1972) produced and directed by Bruce Lee (pictured), who also played the lead role.[10]

Siva explores the concept of exploitation of students by anti-social elements, and the impact of crowd psychology on them.[15] It also focuses on the themes of politics and betrayal in the sequences where Bhavani murders Machiraju and his enemy,[6] and explores student politics against a mafia backdrop.[16] Varma was 28 years old when he made Siva. As a student, he used to observe the gang wars and student politics in Siddhartha Engineering College and used to participate in them actively. Despite harming none, Varma earned the tag of a "dangerous" personality among his friends. At the same time, he used to analyse the reasons why students used to get attracted towards gangster's way of living and their body language. His experiences and the incidents in his college inspired him to begin the scripting of Siva.[15] While most of the characters, including Bhavani, were inspired from real life personalities, the character of Siva was partially fictional. Varma considered Siva an "ideal person" whose presence would make the present scenario in the society "too dramatic".[15]

Siva's character was partially based on Varma's friend Golla Ravi, a resident of Panjagutta, Hyderabad. He found Ravi "a combination of a super tough and a super nice guy image".[10] Bhavani's character was based on a real life crime boss named Radha, who had a violent reputation in Vijayawada. He named Raghuvaran's character in the film as Bhavani after coming across a similar person in Vijayawada.[10][15] Varma's assistant director Krishna Vamsi found the film's story similar to Rahul Rawail's Arjun (1985). Varma admitted that it was one of those films which inspired him to make Siva,[7] as Sunny Deol's character in the film was his kind of hero who "does not bend to forces larger than himself".[17]

Varma adapted the basic plot of Bruce Lee's Way of the Dragon (1972) for Siva. In Way of the Dragon, Lee comes from Hong Kong to work in a Chinese restaurant in Rome and fights the local gangsters who try to intimidate the owners, which leads to his rivalry with a crime boss, played by Chuck Norris. Similarly, in Siva, Nagarjuna comes from a nearby town to Vijayawada for further education and fights against a few gangsters and develops rivalry with Raghuvaran. While Lee and Norris fight at the colosseum in the climax of Way of the Dragon, Nagarjuna and Raghuvaran duel at the terrace of a building in Siva's climax.[10]

Apart from Way of the Dragon, Varma adapted a few random sequences from many other films. Mallik's mother slapping a police inspector for failing to save him was taken from Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975). The cycle chase sequencxe was inspired from a similar scene in Rawail's Arjun. The scene where a few goons ask for donations to build a temple for Ganesha was taken from Dilip Shanker's Kaal Chakra (1988).[10] He also wanted to design a fight sequence between Nagarjuna and Chakravarthy during a football match based on a similar scene from Damien: Omen II (1978), but backed off as Venkat was not supportive of the same.[10]

Music

Siva
Soundtrack album To Siva by Ilaiyaraaja
Released 1989
Recorded 1989
Genre Feature film soundtrack
Length 28:20
Language Telugu
Label Echo Music
Producer Ilaiyaraaja
Ilaiyaraaja chronology
Geethanjali
(1989)		 Siva
(1989)		 Indrudu Chandrudu
(1989)

The five-song soundtrack album and background score of Siva were composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The lyrics of "Anando Brahma", "Enniyallo", and "Kiss Me Hello" were penned by Veturi Sundararama Murthy. Sirivennela Sitaramasastri wrote the lyrics for the remaining two songs "Botany", and "Sarasalu".[18] S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki, K. S. Chithra, and Mano provided the vocals.[3] Due to an ongoing strike in Madras, Ilaiyaraaja and Varma left for Mumbai with the double positive to complete the re-recording.[3] For a particular action sequence, Ilaiyaraaja used a pathos inducing string section. When Varma asked the reason, Ilaiyaraaja said, "They have come here to study and they are fighting. So I just felt sad for them".[19]

Varma was impressed with Deepan Chatterjee's work in Sindhoora Puvvu (1988) and recruited him as Siva's sound designer.[3] Ismail Darbar, who went on to compose the music for Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), and Devdas (2002), worked with Ilaiyaraaja for Siva as a violinist.[10] Post release, the soundtrack was successful and Chatterjee's sound design was critically acclaimed.[6] Varma dedicated the background score of his directorial Rowdy (2014) composed by Sai Karthik to Ilaiyaraaja. Adapting the background score of the cycle chase sequence in Rowdy, Varma stated that his main interest is "to bring back this composition to express the great idea of the genius [Ilaiyaraaja's] 1989 soundtrack (of Siva) to 2014".[20]

Track list[18][21]
No. TitleLyricsArtist(s) Length
1. "Sarasalu"  Sirivennela SitaramasastriMano, S. Janaki 05:07
2. "Botany"  Sirivennela SitaramasastriS. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. P. Sailaja 04:26
3. "Anando Brahma"  Veturi Sundararama MurthyS. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. S. Chithra 04:29
4. "Enniyalo"  Veturi Sundararama MurthyS. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. S. Chithra 04:18
5. "Kiss Me Hello"  Veturi Sundararama MurthyS. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. S. Chithra 04:30
Total length:
 28:20

Release and reception

Siva was produced on a budget of ₹7.5 million.[3] Venkat and Surendra retained the distribution rights of Nizam,[lower-alpha 2] Vishakhapatnam, East and West Godavari regions.[9] Released on 5 October 1989,[1] it received critical acclaim, mainly for its usage of technology and sound design.[6] The distributors expressed concern for the excessive violence in the film. They opined that it would work against the women and families, whom the film industry believed to form the majority of the total audience.[10] While Venkat and Surendra expected that the film would be an average grosser,[10] Siva became a commercial success, collecting ₹10 million in Nizam region alone, a first time for Telugu cinema.[9] Apart from a remuneration of ₹50,000, Varma received a share of five percent in the total profits earned.[9] Siva completed a 100-day run in 22 centres and a 175-day run in 5 centres.[6] It was the only Telugu film of the year to be screened at the International Film Festival of India held on 19 January 1990 at the Empire Theatre, Kolkata.[6][23]

The Tamil remake rights of Siva were initially sold for ₹100,000. After the film's release, Venkat and Surendra dubbed it into Tamil as Udhayam and sold its distribution rights for ₹8.5 million.[6] Released on 12 January 1990 in 24 centres, Udhayam was a commercial success; it collected more than ₹20 million.[9] Akkineni Nageswara Rao advised Varma to issue an advertisement, thanking the audience for the film's success. Varma opposed it; he felt that a film's success should be credited to the collective effort of its team, and its failure should be attributed to the director.[14] When Varma's second directorial Kshana Kshanam (1991) underperformed at the box office, Siva's success was considered as an accidental one.[24] Apart from the Filmfare Award for Best Film – Telugu, Siva won three Nandi Awards—Best Director (Varma), Best First Film of a Director, and Best Dialogue Writer (Bharani).[6][25]

Remakes

Siva was remade by Varma into Hindi as Shiva in 1990; it marked Nagarjuna's debut as an actor in Hindi cinema.[26] It was also the last Hindi film which featured Amala in a lead role.[27] Minor changes were made in the cast and crew of the remake.[28] Except for the song "Botany", all the songs from the Telugu version were used with no changes. "Botany" was reshot separately in the Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, Rajendranagar.[9] Telugu filmmaker Puri Jagannadh was cast as one of Nagarjuna's friends in the remake.[6] Produced in association with Atluri Purnachandra Rao on a budget of ₹11.5 million, Shiva was released on 7 December 1990 and performed well in Mumbai and Kolkata.[9]

During the production of James (2005), Varma planned to remake Siva again.[29] The second remake, also titled Shiva, featured Mohit Ahlawat and Priyanka Kothari reprising the roles played by Nagarjuna and Amala from the original. Unlike the original, the second remake narrated the story of an honest man who joins the Mumbai Police just after completing his training.[30] The "cycle chain" sequence was omitted, and no character equivalent to the one played by Raghuvaran in the original was included in the remake.[31] It received negative reviews from the critics; Sukanya Verma of Rediff stated that it "dares to ridiculously rest on the incapable shoulders of a non-acting cast", and added that nasty is "defined as a scowling ogre".[32]

Documentary, digitisation, and sequel plans

In September 2014, Siva was digitally remastered for a theatrical release. Supriya Yarlagadda of Annapurna Studios stated that the decision to remaster and digitise was taken after observing the challenges in storing and preserving old film prints in the modern times where digital modes are used. The process was carried out in Mumbai for a year, and the colour and sound quality were altered and enhanced to comply with the current standards.[33] At the same time, Varma revealed that he would release a documentary on the film's making titled Exploring Shiva after 25 Years. It is the first documentary based on a Telugu film. Apart from giving a "holistic view of the film",[33] Exploring Shiva after 25 Years additionally featured interviews of the film's cast and crew, and special segments on sound and filming locations.[34] It was released on 5 October 2014, coinciding with the film's silver jubilee.[35]

An event commemorating the same was held on 7 October 2014 in Hyderabad. At the event, Nagarjuna announced that the digitised version would be released on 17 October 2014 in nearly 100 screens.[36] In April 2015, Varma told Indo-Asian News Service that the digitised version's release was postponed to 15 May 2015 due to delay in restoration process.[37] In September 2015, Nagarjuna opined that a sequel of Siva would be viable compared to the release of a digitised version.[38] His idea was to make a film narrating the story of Siva, Asha, and their two sons. Advising Varma to develop a proper script for the same,[39] he also asked Varma to cast Amala, Naga Chaitanya and Akhil Akkineni in the sequel, which was announced to be produced by Annapurna Studios.[38]

Legacy

Influence on filmmakers

I still recall Varma okaying my first shot, though I forgot to utter my line. He was of the opinion that I conveyed what I needed to, through a gesture. Post the shot, he came to me and said that it’s better I forget putting pen to paper, only for me to realise later that I would become a busy actor.

—Bharani at the film's silver jubilee celebrations.[14]

Siva attained cult status in Telugu cinema and is one of the earliest Telugu films produced after the migration of Telugu film industry from Madras to Hyderabad to feature characters speaking Telugu language in Telangana dialect.[40][41] The film's success catapulted Nagarjuna into the foray of leading Telugu superstars and is regarded as a fate changer in his career.[6] He also earned the reputation of encouraging debutante directors in Telugu cinema.[26] According to writer Pulagam Chinnarayana, Siva's impact on filmmaking in Telugu cinema managed to divide it into two eras—before Siva and after Siva.[15] With Siva, Varma became the first Indian director to use steadicam. Within an year of the film's release, more than ten steadicams were imported into India for filmmaking.[10] He is also credited with breaking the rules of conventional sound recording techniques in Telugu cinema with this film.[42] The film influenced the young audience during its theatrical run; its success encouraged filmmakers to explore different themes and make experimental films in Telugu cinema.[15][43]

Bharani received his breakthrough as an actor and a dialogue writer after the film's success.[44][45] Chakravarthy, Jithendra and Ramjagan too received breakthrough with Siva; the former two adapted J. D. and Chinna as their screen names.[9] Siva made Chakravarthy realise that his ambition is to pursue a career as an actor, and cited his remaining work as a bonus.[12] After the film's success, he rejected many acting assignments for two years to avoid being typecast. He however joined Varma as an assistant director.[12] Srinivasa Rao stated that working in Siva made him understand what being natural on screen meant,[7] and opined that Siva "will stand out as a classic for generations" like Mayabazar (1957).[14] Kannada actor and filmmaker Upendra reworked on the narrative of Om (1995) after finding the previous version similar to Siva.[46] Telugu filmmakers Sreenu Vaitla, Sudheer Varma, and Praveen Sri were inspired by Siva to pursue a career in film industry as a director. The latter assisted Ram Gopal Varma before making his directorial debut with Gaayam 2 (2010).[47][48][49] Similarly, music director Munna Kasi was inspired by Ilaiyaraaja's work in Siva and wanted to work with Varma after completing his graduation.[50] Commenting on the rise of anti-social element-based scripts in Tamil cinema, trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai stated in May 2002 that Siva's Tamil dubbed version Udhayam was the "forerunner" to the city-based crime films.[51]

In an open letter supporting Varma's style of filmmaking, actor and producer Manchu Vishnu stated that he would join people who criticise Varma for poor content, as he too would not expect "something less than an extraordinary movie" from him. He cited Siva, Satya (1998), Company (2002), and Sarkar (2004) as some of Varma's best works.[52] When the posters of Varma's Sridevi were criticised for their risqué content, Telugu filmmaker Pavan Sadineni stated that Varma "has his own touch for every film he makes", adding, "When he made Siva, people watched. People also went to watch Ice Cream. Now people will go to see Sridevi. He might be in to a controversy for his posters, but RGV has his audience".[53] Commenting on the impact of Baahubali: The Beginning (2015) on Indian cinema, Rana Daggubati stated that regional films can gain national acceptance based on their content; he cited the success of Siva and Roja (1992) as examples for the same.[54][55] In March 2016, actor Karthi admitted that he began admiring Nagarjuna after watching Siva and Idhayathai Thirudathe (1989) and found working in Oopiri (2016) a great chance to understand him in real life.[56]

In popular culture

The "cycle chain" sequence became popular, and many people met Varma and claimed that they broke a cycle chain after watching the film. Varma defined them as the "ultimate example of how imagination can take over and become a reality in time".[10] The chain used in the film is currently preserved by Chakravarthy.[7] Film poster designers Anil and Bhanu commented that posters should be designed in a way that they make a subconscious impact on the viewer, citing the title logo of Siva featuring Nagarjuna and the cycle chain as an example.[57] Tamil actor Ganesh Venkatraman was "mesmerised" as a kid after watching Siva and began admiring Nagarjuna. He also used to carry a cycle chain in his school bag.[58]

Chakravarthy agreed to play the antagonist in Naga Chaitanya's acting debut Josh (2009) and called it a way of showing gratitude to Nagarjuna. Commenting on his characterisation, he said that the makers are "trying to get JD of Shiva who actually ran away mid way from college", and added that the film would not resemble Siva.[59] Bangalore Mirror and others noted similarities between Josh and Siva in their reviews, which Chaitanya preferred to call a "coincidence".[60][61] Chaitanya's films Bezawada (2011) (produced by Varma) and Autonagar Surya (2014) were noted for their similarities with Siva. Reviewing the former, Manasa Mohan of The New Indian Express stated that it "convincingly fails at recapturing the essence" of Siva which "now seems like the prequel of this".[62] References of Siva were made in the latter when its protagonist is released from a five-year jail term.[63][64]

Siva was parodied in several films. In Lakshmi (2006), Tiger Satti (Venu Madhav) tries to attack Lakshmi Narayana (Daggubati Venkatesh) with a cycle chain. But he fails to do so as the latter manages to break it into pieces, leaving him aghast.[65] In Oosaravelli (2011), a crime boss named Jayaprada (Jaya Prakash Reddy) names his henchmen after Varma's films; the senior of all, played by Raghu Babu, is named Siva.[66] In Katha Screenplay Darsakatvam Appalaraju (2011) (also directed by Varma), its protagonist Appalaraju (Sunil) refuses to respect Varma's abilities as a director, and feels that Siva, though a good film, is just an accident.[67] Apart from the characters of Siva, Bhavani, and Nanaji, a sequence in Siva where the protagonist meets the antagonist for the first time on a rainy night was parodied in Sudigadu (2012).[68]

Amala listed Siva among Pushpaka Vimana (1987), Vedham Pudhithu (1987), Agni Natchathiram (1988), and Karpoora Mullai (1991) as her most memorable films.[69] For the April 2013 centennial of Indian cinema, CNN-News18 included Siva in its list of "The 100 greatest Indian films of all time", stating that it was a "completely new take on student politics and the ideologies driving it". It added that the notions propagated in the film "found a reflection in many university elections during a later stage".[70] In July 2015, Geethika Chandrahasan Sudip of The Hindu mentioned Siva for the letter S in the article "ABCD of Telugu cinema".[71] In August 2015, Pooja Darade of The Times of India listed Siva in her list "Telugu movies one must watch before dying".[25] Fahad Usmani of The Hindu compared Siva to other Indian films like Mother India (1957), Sholay (1975), Mr. India (1987), Agneepath (1990), and Ghayal (1990), noting that the antagonists of those films became more popular than their heroes.[72]

Notes

  1. ↑ The film's title is alternatively spelt as Shiva.
  2. ↑ For film trade purposes, the Nizam region includes the three districts of Gulbarga, Bidar, and Raichur in Karnataka and seven districts in the Marathwada region including Aurangabad, Latur, Nanded, Parbhani, Beed, Jalna and Osmanabad apart from the state of Telangana.[22]

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  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Chinnarayana 2007, p. 51.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Chinnarayana 2007, p. 52.
  4. 1 2 Shiva (Telugu). YouTube (Motion picture) (India: Shalimar Telugu Movies). 6 December 2013.
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  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Chinnarayana 2007, p. 54.
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Bibliography

External links

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