Thread by @HappySi79054951

RRR
(Rise, Roar, Revolt):

"Naatu Naatu" song of Telugu movie RRR wins Oscar for best original song bringing focus on amazing BACK STORY behind real life characters of movie, one of whom was iconic GOND Adivasi leader KOMARAM BHEEM.

Movie HUMILIATES him.

And there is more.

A very well choreographed song "Naatu Naatu" has two "native" Indian characters challenging colonial male British officers over a dance competition. They however have sympathetic female Britishers supporting them including a leading British lady, who encourages them constantly.

Kshatriya RAJU

This is character of RAM played by superstar RAM CHARAN. He hails from powerful Telugu caste of KAPUS, concentrated in coastal Andhra Pradesh.His character is based on ALLURI SITARAM RAJU, real life Telugu Kshatriya "Sanyasi" who fought British for Adivasi rights.

Adivasi Bheem

This is character of BHEEM, played by NTR JUNIOR, grandson of former CM of (united) Andhra Pradesh- NT Rama Rao. He hails from very powerful Kamma Telugu caste.His character is based on real life Gond Adivasi leader Komaram Bheem who fought NIZAM for Adivasi rights

In "Naatu Naatu" song, characters of Kshatriya RAM & Gond Adivasi BHEEM (disguised as a Muslim), BOTH dance together and defeat British colonial officers.

BUT, there is more.

Character of Kshatriya RAM deliberately sacrifices winning dance competition to let Adivasi BHEEM win.

Narrative of BIG HEARTED (Upper Caste Hindu) Kshatriya RAM deliberately loosing dance competition to let his friend BHEEM (disguised Muslim/Gond Adivasi) win is a theme repeated in this movie, where character of ADIVASI BHEEM is shown subservient to Upper Caste HINDU KSHATRIYA.

Appropriation of Telugu folk dance "Dappan Kuthu"

Amazing dance that everyone is appreciating in "Naatu Naatu" song is not random choreography but is actually "Kuthu" Telugu folk dance, which has been given NO CREDIT in movie along with "parai" drumming that precedes this song.

Who are GONDS ?

With 1.2 crore population, GONDS are largest Adivasi community of India that lives in "buffer zone" between southern parts of NORTH INDIA & northern parts of SOUTH INDIA.They inhabit remote densely forested hilly regions between Northern plains & peninsular India

GOND in GONDWANA (geological land mass/tectonic plate that formed "super continent" millions of years ago that shaped present Indian subcontinent) comes from GOND Adivasi community. It means land of forests & hills. Today this regions falls in Central & Central Eastern India.

GONDS are essentially DRAVIDIAN people and their native GONDI language is a DRAVIDIAN language as well (closely related to Telugu). However, since most GONDS live today in Hindi & Marathi speaking areas, Indo-Aryan languages now dominate linguistic culture of Gond Adivasis.

Madhya Pradesh (50 Lakh), Chattisgarh (40 Lakh) & Maharashtra (15 Lakh) are states, where bulk of GOND Adivasis live today.

What about TELANGANA, state from where Gond Adivasi leader KOMARAM BHEEM hailed from?

TELANGANA has only 5 Lakh Gond Adivasis, a relatively small number.

GONDS OF TELANGANA

Gonds of Telangana mostly live in Adilabad district. They are 3rd largest Adivasi group of Telangana behind Lambadas & Koyas.

Scheduled Tribes constitute 9% (30 Lakh) of population of Telangana out of which Lambadas (aka Banjaras) are largest (20 Lakh).

Re-imagining (former) United Andhra Pradesh:

RRR movie brings together two of Telugu speaking region's well known real life colonial era icons:

1. Alluri Sitaram Raju &
2. Komaram Bheem.

While Raju is from coastal Andhra Pradesh, Komaram Bheem hails from Telangana.

Who was Alluri Sitaram Raju?

Character of Alluri Sitaram Raju in movie RRR played by Kapu caste actor Ram Charan is more established & well known cultural icon of Telugu speaking community. He hailed from Telugu Kshatriya caste. He is widely celebrated as Telugu freedom fighter.

During British colonial era,Telugu regions were divided between:

1. NIZAM territory (land locked northern parts & Hyderabad city) ruled by Nizam Hyderabad.

2. MADRAS PRESIDENCY (fertile coastal Andhra Pradesh) ruled by Britishers. This also included present day Tamil Nadu.

This is a statute of Alluri Sitaram Raju as conceived in modern popular Telugu cultural imagination.

He was from British ruled Telugu speaking region of coastal Andhra Pradesh. He had accepted vows of "Sanyasi" (Hindu ascetic) & would always carry bow & arrows.

Alluri Sitaram Raju is popular among Telugu community as "Manyam Veerudu" or "Hero of forest".

While not an Adivasi himself, he fought for rights of Adivasis of Madras Presidency & led famous "Rampa Rebellion" against Britishers in 1922 over draconian Madras Forest Act.

Telugu Adivasi communities favored shifting cultivation ("Podu Agriculture").

Madras Forest Act, restricted that & prohibited Adivasis from cultivating Podu land. British wanted forest wood only for use of British Raj.

Alluri Sitaram fought with Britishers against this law.

KOMARAM BHEEM on other hand was from land locked & Nizam ruled northern parts of Telugu speaking regions. Nizam of Hyderabad was extremely friendly with Britishers & forces of Nizam & British would often jointly operate against Adivasis of Telugu speaking regions common to them.

KOMARAM BHEEM, a GOND ADIVASI was only 15 year old, when his father was killed by "Janglat" (forest) officers of Nizam.

Years later Komaram Bheem killed Nizam's forest official - Siddiqui Sahab, who was harassing & abusing a poor Gond Adivasi to pay tax on harvest of crops.

This is Komaram Bheem in popular imagination of Telugu Adivasi community.

After killing Nizam's Janglat officer, Komaram Bheem escaped from princely state of Hyderabad. He reached Assam, where he worked in a tea plantation.He also learned to speak & write, English, Hindi & Urdu

It was in Assam that Komaram Bheem heard about Alluri Sitaram Raju & Birsa Munda (Santhal Adivasi) & their respective struggles against British appropriation of Adivasi lands with help of Upper Caste Hindu & Upper Caste Muslim intermediaries.He decided to return back to Hyderabad

After return to princely state of Hyderabad, Komaram Bheem led intense & very popular campaign against NIZAM to grant "pattas" (land rights) to Adivasis living in Nizamate.

When negotiations failed with Nizam of Hyderabad, heì declared independent GOND STATE as his goal.

"JAL, JANGAL, ZAMEEN"

It was during this time, Komaram gave his now hugely popular slogan - "Jal, Jangal, Zameen" (Water, Forests & Forest Lands), as something over which Adivasis have natural, inherent, integral & unalienable right.This is now slogan of entire Adivasi samaj.

So, Alluri Sitaram Raju &
Komaram Bheem NEVER EVER MET IN REAL LIFE.

So, what are they doing together in movie RRR ? They are even singing song & dancing on "Naatu Naatu" that just won Oscar.

What the hell is going on ?
Sounds so confusing !!!!!!!

Well that is where Telugu director S.S. Rajamouli, director of hugely popular Bahubali movie series & proud member of powerful Kamma Telugu caste, comes into play.

Using creative artistic license, he "imagines" coming together of Alluri Sitaram Raju & Komaram Bheem for RRR.

Yup, it's ALL FAKE.

S.S. Rajamouli creates an imaginary friendship between Alluri Sitaram Raju & Komaram Bheem centered around returning a young kidnapped Gond Adivasi girl "Malli" to her parents. Little girl has been kidnapped by British officer to be used for domestic work.

Once a fictional story involving real life Telugu icons is weaved into a movie, S.S. Rajamouli director of movie RRR belittles, short charges & dehumanizes character of GOND Adivasi Komaran Bheem infront of that Upper Caste Telugu Hindu character of Alluri Sitaram Raju.

UNEQUAL TREATMENT of characters of Adivasi Bheem & Kshatriya Ram is most troubling part of movie RRR that appears to re-enforce "4 Varna" caste roles of Savarnas & Avarnas with a twist that lead Kshatriya Hindu character is shown empathetic, kind, benevolent & morally upright.

By far the best analysis of this (not so innocent) discrepancy in portrayal of roles of BHEEM & RAM in movie RRR by director, S.S. Rajamouli, has been pointed out by Akash Poyam, a young GOND Adivasi writer himself in his article in Caravan magazine.

caravanmagazine.in/film/rajamouli…

Akash Poyam writes that it is galling that in movie RRR, Komaram Bheem is portrayed as an uneducated simpleton Adivasi who does not understand larger issues involved. It is left to Upper Caste Hindu Kshatriya Alluri Sitaram to educate him about the oppression his people face.

"Blood Thirsty Savages"

Akash Poyam writes that Komaram Bheem is introduced in movie RRR as hunting in forest, pouring blood on himself to attract a tiger. There is no tradition of such hunting practices among Gonds. It only shows poor understanding of Rajamouli of Adivasis.

Saffronization & subservience of Bheem:

Akash Poyam writes several times RRR movie shows Komaram Bheem carrying Alluri Sitaram Raju on his shoulders alluring to Bheem accepting his role similar to (servant of Rama)HANUMAN of Hindu epic Ramayana.

Why subservience from Adivasis?

Portrayal of Alluri Sitaram Raju, on other hand is more sanitized, Brahminically "pure" & morally upright. He is constantly shown patronizing Komaram Bheem & guiding him to choose "greater goals in life"(fighting Britishers) than merely return a kidnapped Gondi girl to her family

Falsifying origin of slogan of "Jal, Jangal, Zameen":

WORST OF ALL, movie in its climax shows Upper Caste Hindu Kshatriya Alluri Sitaram Raju "bestowing" slogan of "Jal, Jangal, Zameen" written in Devnagri to Komaram Bheem to "guide" him for future (in his fight against Nizams).

Savarna Patronization Galores:

Movie RRR comes off as political project to portray Upper Caste Telugu Hindus as brave, patriotic & empathetic Telugu Indians (amongst all Telugu castes) with very big heart that additionally guides "savage" Adivasis to follow "rightful path".

Story of Komaram Bheem won't be complete without talking about NIZAM OF HYDERABAD: Mir Osman Ali Khan & his terrible terrible oppression of Gond Adivasis in his Nizamate

Mir Osman Ali Khan of Asaf Jah dynasty was an evil & cruel SUNNI MUSLIM SUPREMACIST ruler & brutal Islamist.

Asaf Jah dynasty was initiated by SYED CASTE Persian "nobel" from Persian speaking part of Uzbekistan - Qamruddin Khan, who was appointed by Mughal Emperor AURANGZEB as Naib (administrator) of Deccani Mughal provinces.He claimed descendancy from Abu Bakar, first Chaliph of Islam.

Later, when Mughal Empire began unraveling, Naibs of Asaf Jah family overnight turned from (Naibs) "administrators" to "rulers" (Nizams) of vast areas of Mughal Empire's Deccani region.

NIZAM OF HYDERABAD was largest princely state of India with population of 1.6 crore subjects.

Mir Osman Ali Khan was brutal Islamist tyrant who strongly believed in Islam & Muslim community's superiority. He declared ISLAM as state religion in a princely state where 86% of population was Hindu.He even imposed URDU spoken by just 9% people of Nizamate as official language.

Islamic Shariah punishment for Gond Adivasi children:

NIZAM's cruel & evil Janglaat (forest) officers would chop little fingers of Gond Adivasi children" for "cutting branches" & "stealing wood" from trees standing on Nizamate property as per Shariah Islamic punishment rules.

Mir Osman Ali Khan had imposed exhorbitant taxes on Adivasi community, which were ruthlessly collected by brutal Janglaat officials of Nizamate,who would would often take away entire year's crop production of Gond Adivasis by accusing them of illegally cultivating on Nizam's land

Disrespect shown to body of KOMARAM BHEEM

Nizam designated his most brutal official Abdul Sattar, Talukdar Asifabad to kill Bheem. Sattar is believed to have shot Bheem so many times that Bheem's body turned into a "sieve", an unrecognizable mess, which he burnt unceremoniously.

For more on NIZAM's brutal oppression of GOND Adivasis, please read following article.

adivasiresurgence.com/2016/10/16/kom…

Cut to 2023:

BJP aims to use (or misuse) both these Telugu icons (Alluri Sitaram Raju & Komaram Bheem) in Telugu speaking states (TELANGANA & ANDHRA PRADESH) as part of its "Southern push".

BJP is especially eyeing state of TELANGANA, where it is growing exponentially.