Dictator is Nadamuri Balakrishna aka Balayya’s 99th film. The one minute teaser opens with drums, flowers, and a whole lot of colour. In steps Balayya, yellow petals raining across the screen. Cut to a beach scene and you have to wonder what that scene was like to shoot. Because everyone else is wearing a bikini or less (except for one tiny little kid), the sun is sparkling on the ocean while a speedboat cuts through the water. In the centre of the frame is our hero, wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a denim jacket. And what looks like a fashionable cricket umpire’s hat. From the 70s. Maybe the 2-second scene is meant to induce subconscious feelings of excessive heat.
Next is a cut through the entire supporting cast, and the three heroines, Anjali, Aksha Pardasany, Sonal Chauhan. The supporting cast includes Nasser, Suman, and Posani Murali Krishna. They’re all smiling coyly. Except the one of the heroines, who is waltzing in a kind of pink, figure-hugging cross between a cape and a dress. The music quickens, so do the cuts, until everything is whizzing past. Finally we have a slow-motion shot right after Balayya is has punched someone. The camera complements the annoying music as the villain is suspended mid-air. Cut to a yacht, with the hero perched in front, blue sunglasses perched on his nose. Halloween isn’t too far away after all. Then there’s some purposeful walking, a sad-looking heroine, some more purposeful walking. And then, there’s the punchy dialogues.
Nee history lo blood undemo, naa blood ke history vundhi! (You may have blood in your history, but I have a history for my blood!)
Balayya twirls a glass of alcohol purposefully. It’s supposed to be menacing. It sounds almost bored. Not in a cool way.
Madhyam Thaagatam arogyaniki haanikaram, Naalanti vaadini rachakottadam jeevithaniki pramadaharam (Drinking is injurious to health. Provoking someone like me is even more dangerous.)
Goons fly around a lot. Glass panes break. A car window shatters as a man is thrown out of the car. All in Slo-mo. After Simha, Legend, and Lion, we now have Dictator. As the teaser closes with Nadamuri Balakrishna blowing smoke at the ceiling in a dimly-lit room, with the necessary sunglasses perched on his nose, we’re already wondering what his 100th film will be called.