PremiumDasara and Ranarangam: Two different takes on NTR’s alcohol prohibition in Andhra Pradesh
The ban on alcohol was one of the key issues that helped NTR win with a striking majority in his third stint as the CM of AP
Last Updated: 01.33 PM, Apr 01, 2023
Both as a leader and an actor, NTR was a people’s charmer. Despite scaling monumental heights in cinema and politics, he had an innate understanding of issues that affected the common man and defied norms with his immediacy in actions. While he was down and out in politics in the early 90s and was looking to return to power, he channelised his focus towards alcohol prohibition.
Living up to his promise, NTR implemented the alcohol ban as he won with a striking majority in 1994, returning as a CM. However, despite the former’s noble intentions, the ban was mired in controversy with the rise in sales of bootleg liquor in and beyond the state. The prohibition was finally repealed in 1997 by the star’s son-in-law and politician Chandrababu Naidu.
Two popular Telugu films - Sudheer Varma’s Ranarangam and the latest Nani starrer Dasara - have discussed the influence of alcohol prohibition on the masses in different dimensions. Ranarangam, streaming on SunNXT, revolves around a youngster who enters the illegal liquor business in 1995 after alcohol prohibition is announced in AP. The story takes a different turn as he locks horns with a liquor baron and politician Simhachalam, affecting his professional/personal lives.
Ranarangam, starring Sharwanand, Kalyani Priyadarshan and Kajal Aggarwal, just uses the alcohol prohibition as a takeoff point for the story without getting into the specifics and shifts its focus towards the personal life of the protagonist later. However, the recent release Dasara is a more focused attempt on understanding the influence of the prohibition on the masses.
When NTR introduces prohibition in AP and the bar in a village Veerlapally is shut, the men in Dasara are dejected beyond imagination; it’s as if they have lost the purpose in their lives. With a hint of dark comedy, the film shows how weddings, functions in the village lose their sheen after the ban. However, the women are relieved that men will have better things to do in life sans alcohol.
The drama in the film unfolds around a bar in the village, so much that a key decision of a sarpanch changes the lives of its residents drastically. Owing to the alcohol prohibition, the ownership of the local bar becomes a sensitive issue. While it may seem that the story is unfolding through the eyes of an alcoholic, his heroism comes to the fore when he abandons alcohol and finds strength within himself.
Regardless of the contrasting treatment, it’s appreciable that two young filmmakers - Sudheer Varma and Srikanth Odela - have documented the sociological impact of the alcohol prohibition in Andhra Pradesh for a different generation of audiences. Dasara, playing in theatres worldwide in five languages, can be watched on Netflix in a month’s time.