Life in reel world is easy. One need not break one’s head to figure out who is a hero or a villain. Heroes are extremely benevolent while Villains vile- always conspire, kill, rob, and booze as if they have nothing to do in life. They live like two different subspecies of Homo Sapiens-Homo Heroicus and Homo Villainus. Like the Neanderthals, villainus is overpowered and eliminated by Heroicus. The problem with real life is tad confusing. Here, heroes and villains are indistinguishable. They look alike in every aspect of life- in dressing, talking, loving, hating, abusing, cheating people, amassing wealth etc. You will never know who is a villain. One’s villain is another’s hero and vice versa. Today’s hero is tomorrow’s villain. This region’s villain is hero in the other region. Sometimes villains are resurrected as heroes and heroes are condemned to dustbin. Ordinary people are subjected to extreme anxiety in figuring out a hero or a villain. They fail and vote to somebody thinking he is a hero only to repent later.
Some time back, Chiranjeevi stepped into this real world as Homo Heroicus of tinsel world. He thought he would kill with a single stroke the Homo Villainus and become “Captain Andhra Pradesh”. He could not succeeded and quickly realized that he was only a movie Heroicus. So, peeled off his costume and returned to his elements only to find that fighting in real life is not remunerative. So he joined Congress and which rewarded him with a glittering gift of post of union minister which can’t be bought with any amount of money.
Chirajneevi’s brother Pawan Kalyan, another member of Homo Heroicus, unmindful of the fate of his brother, stepped into real life battle, straight from the sets, amid too much background war cries and mobilized fan-army. He was a bit wiser in not entering fray in 2014. Why? He can’t dream of becoming “Captain Andhra Pradesh.” Because the state was about to be divided. He tapped key ‘ wait and watch’. So, that he could enter as Homo Heroicus if 2014 election throws split verdict. Unfortunately for him, Andhra and Telangana gave a clear verdict to TDP and TRS respectively. Now he is not wanted in successor states. If he were to carve out some space, he has to figure out who is a villain in two states and declare war against the Homo Villainus. Like his brother he gave up war before it is fought and settled for a compromise for peace of mind. This was what he did in the press conference he addressed last Sunday. The press conference was lacking in many things- clarity, direction and politics. It clearly shows Pawan is beating a retreat for his early position Homo Heroicus in movie land . Why?
French Social Psychologist Sergi Moscovici talks of Social Representations. Social representation is the meaning you develop to negotiate with the society. Each person possesses multiple representations. Depending upon the context, one representation becomes pronounced collapsing all others. It is difficult to strike a balance, this was exactly Pawan Kalyan did in the press conference and failed. Pawan Kalyan is a bundle of contradictory social representations. He is caught in the web of these representations. To become a political leader, he has to disentangle himself from this web and come out with one clear social representation. Given his predicament it is impossible. For example he has Kapu, Andhra, Telugu movie star and Hyderabadi social representations. If he attacks Naidu’s TDP government, it would be immediately construed as an attack on Kammas by Kapus- which is not advisable now. If he attacks KCR’s TRS government, he would dubbed as Andhra settler and physical attacks not ruled out. If he questions phone tapping and supports section 8 being an Andhra his identity as a resident of Hyderabad would be in jeopardy. He can’t back Andhra farmers in capital zone nor can he bite TDP. Similarly, he can’t criticize Telangana government and survive in Hyderabad. He beat a hasty retreat by advising both parties restraint. He did not touch cash-for-vote stating sub judice as it has two sides of Andhra and Telangana. Remaining as Pawan Kalyan, the movie star, is the best bet for the time being as he needs the support of both AP and TS fans. He chose a middle path and bought peace with both sides. Probably this press conference might be end of the road for Pawan’s political dreams.
