The trailer of the upcoming movie George Reddy begins with a black and white pre-recorded sequence of the protagonist talking of class discrimination. Enacting the scene originally taken from Crisis on the Campus, a documentary on the struggles inside Indian campuses, the speech that follows is, in a nutshell, what George Reddy fought for in his entire life: to take on the rich and to meet violence with violence.
Better known as the Che Guevara of Osmania University, George Reddy was a fiery student leader who redefined student politics during the tumultuous sixties. Founder of the Progressive and Democratic Students Union (PSDU), George Reddy left an indelible mark on student politics with his fight against discrimination and caste and class inequality in society.
“Jeena hain toh marna seekho, kadam kadam par ladna seekho”, these famous lines by George Reddy still linger on the lips of students sloganeering at Osmania.
After 47 long years, a movie on the life of the revolutionary student leader will finally hit the screens on November 22. Directed by Jeevan Reddy, the movie has actor Sandeep Madhav playing the role of George Reddy.
Though the movie describes George Reddy as the “forgotten leader” of Indian student politics, for George’s contemporaries, he still remains alive as the adventurer who did not fear death. In memory of George, 40 of his close friends published a book titled Jeena hain toh marna seekho in 2011, in which each of them recounts their personal memories of their dear leader.
Producer Tammareddy Bharadwaj, whose brother was a classmate of George Reddy, recounts how students were always in awe of George - an eloquent orator, a trained boxer, and a gold medallist in physics. In fact, the producer knew him quite well.
“The trailer of George Reddy shows him as a hero who fought tooth and nail against caste discrimination in colleges. And this isn’t much different from what George was as a person. George had the charisma to bring people from different backgrounds under one roof. He fought against religious fanaticism and was the arch enemy of the RSS and ABVP in the campus. He wasn’t a rowdy sheeter like many claimed but instead he was a visionary leader who still continues to inspire generations of students in Telangana,” Tammareddy says.
Pradeep Borgula, a leader of the Indian Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) and George Reddy’s junior at Osmania, remembers him as a multi-faceted personality and a local version of Che Guevara. In his article titled Keeping the Dream Alive: In Memory of George Reddy, Pradeep describes him as a person who conquered fear.
“He (George Reddy) raised the issue of violence, questioned the colonial mindset of accepting white man’s supremacy even after the end of colonial rule. Looking back, the very subject of debate he organised was pertinent in the context of the political situation then i.e. post-Naxalbari and the Srikakulam armed peasant upsurges,” Pradeep writes.
A couple of movies on student politics in Telugu have hit the screens in recent times. But there have been very few which have portrayed student politics in a positive light. Speaking to TNM, Vamshi Reddy, a film studies professor at the IIT-Tirupati notes why a movie on George Reddy is significant for many reasons.
“Firstly, it is a new genre that's being experimented on in Telugu cinema. It is quite courageous since student politics has never been a favourite subject of the masses in Tollywood. Secondly, Osmania University has hardly been part of Telugu cinema's imagination historically. And most interestingly, this film will bring forth left radical student politics in Telugu cinema, which in itself is a great feat,” Vamshi says.
Tammareddy Bharadwaj’s Alajadi in 1989 discussed student politics and had actor Bhanu Chander playing the role of George Reddy.
“Surya’s character in Mani Ratnam’s Yuva was also inspired from the life of George. Though most movies show only violence and gang wars as part of student politics, it is important that our colleges remain as democratic spaces and I hope George Reddy is a positive step towards it,” Tammareddy says.
George Reddy was killed in a brutal murder at his college campus on April 14, 1972, at the age of 25. In the words of Pradeep, George was a revolutionary who did not fear death and would take on a bunch of goons single-handedly.
“Two months before his death, that is sometime in February, 1972, he was attacked by goons near his house in the DD colony. He resisted and fought back but was injured. Some told him to take precautions and not move alone. But he would say that death would not get him so early. He was an adventurer alright, but as Che said of himself, he was “of a different kind of those who risk their skins to prove their truths,” Pradeep writes.
Tammareddy, who was one of the last persons to see George Reddy alive on the campus, recollects dropping him at the college library on April 14. “I dropped him at the library at 1 pm and at 3 pm, I heard that George was murdered. I still do not know why he left for the hostel or what happened in the span of two hours.”
The makers of the movie couldn’t have chosen a better time to release the movie- a time when students across the country are fighting the state against institutional discrimination, and their rights to subsidised education. George Reddy, in Crisis on the Campus, probably envisioned the happenings of today almost four decades ago.
“Our society has become rotten and this rottenness has spread into every facet of our lives including our universities…We have raised our voices in protest. Our protest has remained unheard. We marched in procession. Our procession has been broken up by police. We have erupted in spontaneous violence and our violence has been met with greater violence. Today what is left to us is to organise ourselves and to meet violence with violence," he says in the film.