controversy over Adoor's "Vidheyan"
S. Rajeev - rajeev@travancore
novel was made into this film, that Adoor had communalized the story
to appeal to Hindutva forces.
I don't have any more information, but I shall conjecture wildly below.
I think there are two possibilities, neither of which makes me feel good
about Kerala:
1. Adoor *did* communalize it. This would be deplorable, but not
surprising, considering how sadly communalized Kerala is becoming.
Witness the recent India Abroad cover story sometime in December 93:
it was quite disheartening to read about the failures of civic and
economic life there. They talked about the increasing polarization along
caste and religious lines there. Also, the recent expulsion of the venerable
Smt. K. R. Gowri from the CPM is alleged to have communal implications.
2. Zachariah is grandstanding. He is, after all, not one of the Immortals
of Malayalam literature, like Basheer, Thakazhi, Vijayan. As a second-tier
writer, he is lucky that his book is being filmed by an illustrious director
(possibly India's best living filmmaker, and very much Ray's heir) such as
Aravindan. Directors often take some liberties with scripts, and Z. is using
the "communal" angle to gain some notoriety for himself (a la the Tonya
Harding charade here.)
Anybody with real information?
---
S. Rajeev
Arvind Nair
In article <2jrqeb$7...@engnews1.Eng.Sun.COM>, raj...@travancore.Eng.Sun.COM (S. Rajeev - rajeev@travancore) writes:
|> A report in India West talks about an accusation by Zachariah, whose
|> novel was made into this film, that Adoor had communalized the story
|> to appeal to Hindutva forces.
|>
was in Times of India), which was pretty dismissive of Zachariah's claim.
They also had some quotes from Adoor.
|> I don't have any more information, but I shall conjecture wildly below.
--------some wild speculation deleted--------------
|> caste and religious lines there. Also, the recent expulsion of the venerable
|> Smt. K. R. Gowri from the CPM is alleged to have communal implications.
An aside: I just read a report (Times of India, Feb.3) about Kanshi Ram
(of the Bahujan Samaj Party) visiting Kerala and trying to woo Smt. Gowri
into forming an alliance of "backwards" in the state with his BSP. She
basically seems to have said "nothing doing", saying that any such
demand should come from the masses, not from a few leaders. Kanshi Ram
also compared her to Jagjivan Ram, who he claims was "denied the PM's post
by the Brahmins", just as she has been denied the CM's post by the
collusion of upper caste politicians in the state.
|>
|> 2. Zachariah is grandstanding. He is, after all, not one of the Immortals
|> of Malayalam literature, like Basheer, Thakazhi, Vijayan. As a second-tier
Adoor pointed out in the interview that Basheer was _extremely_ pleased
by his film of Mathilukal, so much so that he has given him free reign to
use any of his works. Anyway, seems like an unfortunate controversy.
|> writer, he is lucky that his book is being filmed by an illustrious director
|> (possibly India's best living filmmaker, and very much Ray's heir) such as
possibly? undoubtedly!
|> Aravindan. Directors often take some liberties with scripts, and Z. is using
^^^^^^^^^
oops!
|> the "communal" angle to gain some notoriety for himself (a la the Tonya
|> Harding charade here.)
|>
|> Anybody with real information?
|> ---
|>
|> S. Rajeev
Arvind
S. Rajeev - rajeev@travancore
>
> In article <2jrqeb$7...@engnews1.Eng.Sun.COM>, raj...@travancore.Eng.Sun.COM (S. Rajeev - rajeev@travancore) writes:
> |> A report in India West talks about an accusation by Zachariah, whose
> |> novel was made into this film, that Adoor had communalized the story
> |> to appeal to Hindutva forces.
> |>
> There was a report of this in India Today also I remember (or else it
> was in Times of India), which was pretty dismissive of Zachariah's claim.
> They also had some quotes from Adoor.
Thanks, Arvind. I am not surprised at the above.
>
> |> I don't have any more information, but I shall conjecture wildly below.
> --------some wild speculation deleted--------------
> |> caste and religious lines there. Also, the recent expulsion of the venerable
> |> Smt. K. R. Gowri from the CPM is alleged to have communal implications.
>
> An aside: I just read a report (Times of India, Feb.3) about Kanshi Ram
> (of the Bahujan Samaj Party) visiting Kerala and trying to woo Smt. Gowri
> into forming an alliance of "backwards" in the state with his BSP. She
> basically seems to have said "nothing doing", saying that any such
> demand should come from the masses, not from a few leaders. Kanshi Ram
> also compared her to Jagjivan Ram, who he claims was "denied the PM's post
> by the Brahmins", just as she has been denied the CM's post by the
> collusion of upper caste politicians in the state.
I heard this allegation a few years ago when the CPM seemed all set to
make Gowri CM, but at the last minute Nayanar, who did not have as
illustrious a career as a committed Marxist, was selected instead. I have
no idea if there is any truth to this.
> Adoor pointed out in the interview that Basheer was _extremely_ pleased
> by his film of Mathilukal, so much so that he has given him free reign to
> use any of his works. Anyway, seems like an unfortunate controversy.
It was an *excellent* adaptation of the novel.
>
> |> writer, he is lucky that his book is being filmed by an illustrious director
> |> (possibly India's best living filmmaker, and very much Ray's heir) such as
>
> possibly? undoubtedly!
Mrinal Sen could disagree, with reason. See Padatik (Urban Guerilla),
Chorus, Ekdin Pratidin, Bhuvan Shome, Oka Oorie Katha (Tale of a small village),Calcutta71, Ekdin Achanak, Antareen, in no particular order.
>
> |> Aravindan. Directors often take some liberties with scripts, and Z. is using
> ^^^^^^^^^
> oops!
Ah, yes, a Freudian slip. I still grieve for Aravindan, whom I consider
the greatest Malayalam film genius, with three genuine masterpieces to
his credit:
Uttarayanam, Kanchana Sita, Chidambaram
(but also a piece of garbage: Oridathu :-(
Aravindan was willing to experiment, to take risks; he was also passionate,
much like Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen. Thus he made fabulous films, but
they were sometimes rough-hewn, flawed, but the brilliance shines through.
Someone called him a mystic of the cinema, comparing him to the legendary
Tarkovsky. There is something to that.
One of his trademarks was the recitation of very good poetry in a film:
remember Uttarayanam's "Hridayathin romancham....", or, from Chidambaram,
the haunting ".....venneer aniynthathenthe....", which Devkumar said was
an 11th century CE Tamil 'Nayanar Kavita' (no relation to the ex-CM :-), one
of those ecstatic songs in praise of Lord Siva, from the Bhakti movement.
Adoor, in my opinion, is perhaps an even greater filmmaker than Aravindan:
Adoor appears incapable of a single flawed shot. He is, like Satyajit Ray,
the consummate craftsman; but he is, also like Ray, cerebral and calm, an
observer. Adoor, Mrinal Sen, and possibly Shyam Benegal make the finest
films in India today. I understand Goutam Ghosh does too ("Padma Nadir
Majhe", "Patang") but I have not seen any of his.
Personally, the passionate style appeals to me, although I grant that
neither is better than the other, and I think Ray, for example, was one
of the greatest geniuses in the history of film.
S. Rajeev
----- End Included Message -----
Devakumar Sreevijayan
S. Rajeev - rajeev@travancore <Sri.R...@Eng.Sun.COM> wrote:
>
>Ah, yes, a Freudian slip. I still grieve for Aravindan, whom I consider
>the greatest Malayalam film genius, with three genuine masterpieces to
>his credit:
> Uttarayanam, Kanchana Sita, Chidambaram
>
>(but also a piece of garbage: Oridathu :-(
I am surprised that you omit 'Esthappan' and 'Thamb~' from his
top films. I think they were better than Chidambaram. Aravindan's
films--as you have already noted--had great lyrical beauty, but
were structurally flawed. Except perhaps for Thamb~, none of his
other films were tightly scripted. I know for a fact that his
conception of film was very much inspired by the idiom of music,
in particular Hindustani music, and this finds total, if imperfect,
expression in 'Pokkuveyil', whose scenes were composed around the
music which had already been recorded--an extended version of
Shubha Panduvarali by Rajiv Taranath (sarod) and Hariprasad
Chaurasia (bansuri). However, he could not capture the narrative
tension that matched the tension of the unfolding raga. In
the final analysis, however, it was a great experiment in film.
I think I have quarrelled with you before on the matter of 'Oridath~'. :-)
It was a very light film by his previous standards, but perhaps for the
first time in his career as a film maker, he reveals the wry sense of humour
and satire that were his hallmarks as the cartoonist of 'Cheriya Manushyanum
Valiya Lokavum'. However, his thinly disguised anti-technological stance
reveals considerable naivete. This is precisely where I saw a parallel
with Kurosawa's beautiful film 'Dreams' (I brought this up the last time
we had this discussion too, if I remember). Kurosawa's film, despite its
fluid and, well...dream-like quality, was heavy on the message side, with
an almost syrupy, mushy, ack-like nostalgia for the lost times and that
village by the stream, so unspoilt by technology and the modern man. It
was the same naivete that I saw in Oridath~, which I found quite enjoyable
and light-hearted otherwise. There were some memorable shots in that film,
especially the concluding shot of the dummy in the parachute from the
fireworks display, helpless, suspended in mid-air, a latter day Trisanku
caught between the worlds of tradition and technology.
I would like to see the film again, now that my critical faculties are
better honed. At that time, I had only an unqualified admiration for
Aravindan-uncle. :-)
>
>One of his trademarks was the recitation of very good poetry in a film:
>remember Uttarayanam's "Hridayathin romancham....", or, from Chidambaram,
>the haunting ".....venneer aniynthathenthe....", which Devkumar said was
>an 11th century CE Tamil 'Nayanar Kavita' (no relation to the ex-CM :-), one
>of those ecstatic songs in praise of Lord Siva, from the Bhakti movement.
I have some doubts about the date. The Tamil Shaivite saints were collectively
known as the Nayanmars, though individually they bore the honorific 'Nayanar'.
There were 63 of them, who lived mostly between the years 600-1000 AD. They
represented every conceivable caste, and it is my guess that the above hymn
that Aravindan used was due to Nandanar, who was by caste a butcher, and
wrote ecstatic verses about Nataraja, Shiva doing his ananda-tandava, (the
cosmic dance of Fritjof Capra), at Chidambaram. However, this is just my
guess and poor memory; I heard this straight from the horse's mouth, as it
were, from the man who played the part of the singer in the film, or maybe
it was from Aravindan himself. I forget. Anyway, it could really have been
any of the saints, though some are more associated with Chidambaram than
the rest. For instance, the 'Moovar', the triumvirate of the Shaivite
movement, Appar (Thirunavukkarasu), Sambandar, and Sundarar, all composed
ecstatic hymns in praise of Nataraja at Chidambaram.
It is curious to observe that on Nataraja's left in the Chid-sabha at
Chidambaram temple, is his consort, the Goddess Shivakami. Observe that
in the film, the Smita Patil character was named Shivakami, to Gopi's
Shankaran. Also, unlike most Shiva temples, the image of Nataraja, to
whom people offer worship, is not consecrated in Chidambaram. There is
a linga pratishta, but at Chidambaram, it is kept secret, the so-called
Chidambara Rahasyam, and the particular form of the lingam is called
Akasa Lingam, an empty space. This, according to the esoteric tradition,
is supposed to symbolize Shiva as absolute, undifferentiated, unmanifest
consciousness. Fascinating stuff. I am at a loss to see an allegory in
the Chidambaram film, though I am sure something was intended. The names
Shivakami and Shankaran cannot be mere coincidences.
Sometime ago--golly, this is becoming a huge post--there was a discussion
on Buddhism and Jainism in Kerala. These Bhakti movements were largely
responsible for the disappearance of these comparatively 'dry' and
ascetic faiths from South India. Other than the Nayanmars, the Vaishnavite
saints called Alwars (13 of them in the canon) were also responsible.
Some of the women poet saints wrote some beautiful lyrical and erotic
poetry. A.K. Ramanujan translates some of them, mostly from the Kannada,
in his 'Speaking of Shiva'. The Nayanmars were quite unreserved in their
hatred for Jains and Buddhists. In fact, Sambandar used to reserve the
tenth verse of every one of his hymns (there were about 400) to heap
scorn on Buddhists and Jains. :-)
Some of the Nayanars were from Kerala, the Chera Kingdom in those days.
Cheraman Perumal Nayanar was one of them. I don't know if this is the
same Cheraman Perumal who embraced Islam and went to Mecca never to
be seen again. According to the Tamil hagiography, he flew to Kailas on
his horse with his friend Sundarar, never to be seen again. Perhaps
a nice attempt at hiding the fact of his conversion to Islam, if
indeed it's the same historical person that is being referred to.
>Adoor, in my opinion, is perhaps an even greater filmmaker than Aravindan:
>Adoor appears incapable of a single flawed shot. He is, like Satyajit Ray,
>the consummate craftsman; but he is, also like Ray, cerebral and calm, an
>observer. Adoor, Mrinal Sen, and possibly Shyam Benegal make the finest
>films in India today. I understand Goutam Ghosh does too ("Padma Nadir
>Majhe", "Patang") but I have not seen any of his.
>
What about Shaji?
Dev