The Pawan Kalyan references: Too many, too silly

Two recent films have shown how to use and not to use the name of a super celebrity like Pawan Kalyan in drawing whistles from the front benchers.  If in 'Ekkadiki Pothavu Chinnavada', the reference is organic, in 'Nanna Nenu Naa Boyfriends', it's artificial.  A character saying 'Dayyalu kooda Pawan Kalyan fans ah?!' is both situational and story-related.  On the other hand, the thief Shakalaka Shankar overdoing with his bhakti is rather over-the-board.

Earlier in the year, Trivikram Srinivas showed the way as to how to mention Pawan Kalyan's name even in a serious-minded scene.  "Ravana's wife, too, thinks of her husband as Pawan Kalyan," Anupama says, Trivikram-style, in 'A Aa'.

But 80 per cent of the times, references to Pawan Kalyan are forced, inferior and apparently meant to gain the sympathy of his fan base.  In 'Abbayitho Ammayi', a whole track leverages Pawan Kalyan (and Samantha) in a rather sub-standard manner.

In 'Selfie Raja', the director goes as far back in time as 'Khushi' to bank upon Pawan Kalyan's craze.  Too much!

In 'Where is Vidya Balan?' banking on Pawan Kalyan's craze is a scene that juxtaposes itself with footage from 'Badri'!

In 'Pichekista', the director behaves as if there no film industry beyond Pawan Kalyan and Mahesh Babu.

If all of this is appalling, the reference to Pawan in an otherwise well-made film like 'Jagannatakam' is shocking.  What should have been a serious ending is trivialized by a thankless reference to ‘Khushi’.  It’s a film where brief but brilliant moments co-exist with pathetic ideas like a bloody fight between Pawan Kalyan’s fans and anti-fans!

A film titled 'Pawanism' had nothing much to do with the matinee idol, except that the two lead actors are named Pawan and Kalyan.  In this super dud, they are college-goers and huge PK fans.  They are rivals, but what unites them is the glue of what is called as Pawanism.  In the film, 11 out of 10 people are PK fans and one lecturer even worries that he may be divorced by his wife if he fails to secure two tickets for ‘Attarintiki Daredi’.

One is not sure whether the films of a bygone era had tried to bank on the popularity of the then reigning star (mainly Chiranjeevi) this tastelessly, but references to Power Star are becoming too many and too silly nowadays.