Shankar dada turns Lingam mama

If you saw the video and say to yourself "so whats the big deal, two consenting adults getting married, happens all the time", then you obviously don't understand what Chiranjeevi means to the gult land. The matinee idol has a fan base which has grown bigger than him and more powerful than him. To his credit, our man did not really abuse the fan base to the full extent, atleast not yet , and has only used them to sell more tickets of his movies at higher prices. Indeed he has a very impressive brand strategy but lets not get there now.

Ok coming to the newly wed couple, I am impressed by the detail of their planning and the apparently flawless execution. Indeed if I had the power to, I'd send the guy a "pre-approved" job offer. He's analyzed the situation well, assessed his risks, mitigated them and executed with six sigma quality. Ofcourse they were lucky in having uncorrupted dedicated broad minded media which over zealously broadcasted the news all day. I wonder what the media would have done if it was somebody who has more power, like the CM, to directly affect the fortune of their company.

The kids (ok...constitutionally adults), understandably were forced into the extreme step because of the not so Gandhistic, "dont practice what you preach" attitude of her father. And then the single data point she had on her father's behaviour in similar circumstances historically was not very favourable either. Chiru successfully destroyed the career of a budding gult hero whom his father daughter had a special liking for. Chiru was so successful on that mission that my "ardent fan" cant even recall the name of that guy now. So obviously the risks were very high in letting chiru know about their love and the returns almost assuredly negative. Would they have gone all the way if not for that single historic data point?

I have grown up watching many a Chiranjeevi cinema where our man does exactly the same routine, poor confident guy eloping with a dumb hot girl of a rich dad. Not just chiru but the whole Gult film industry seemed to have survived on that theme since the neolithic age. Even Lord Krishna has a "Gandharva- vivaham" routine when he elopes with Rukmini and marries her. With such glorification in all forms of literature, it is natural that the young mind would love to get into the adventure. I soo want to be a part of similar adventure that I even offered my friends to train myself in relevant arts such as Tata sumo driving and "karra samu", if they are going for an adventurous wedding. Of course I'd like it to be little more adventurous with the whole Million Tata Sumo caravan chase sequence and the ultimate 1:57392024 fight between the good and the evil.(with the 1 good defeating the 5 million odd evils)

So I should say I am fairly jealous of all those friends who were part of this highly covert operation. They have had all the fun , perhaps even more than the bride and the groom. And the best part, they did not have to put anything at stake. Chiranjeevi will probably feel bad for a day or two and then continue with his focus on his son's career launch. Chiru's fans who seem to be the most hurt in the whole episode will also probably come out of it eventually with some scars. For the bride and the groom though, when the adrenaline stops and the cameras roll away, they'll realize what a fine mess they got themselves into and will bear the brunt of it for the rest of their lives.

If Chiru does go about setting up his much publicized political party, he should push for increasing the minimum marriageable for girls to 21. Girls at 19 have proven themselves to be stupid enough to ruin their lives and others in the process, with the right to marry.