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A slew of new regional Indian films, set in diverse milieus, draw their inspiration from the enduring appeal of literature and mythology, writes
Saibal Chatterjee
The power of the written word is as enormous as it is timeless. While commercial Indian cinema has abandoned literature as a source of inspiration, non-mainstream filmmakers around the country continue to tap its limitless possibilities. Several films screened during the just-concluded 41st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) are celluloid adaptations of acclaimed literary texts ranging from Greek mythology to powerful stories dealing with contemporary Indian reality. Rituparno Ghosh’s Bengali drama about two newly married couples separated by fate, Noukadubi (Boat Wreck), is based on a Rabindranath Tagore novel, while veteran Kolkata filmmaker Goutam Ghose’s Moner Manush (The Quest) has adapted a narrative crafted by litterateur Sunil Gangopadhyay. Both films travel to the past in an attempt to understand elements of Bengali culture and morality in a contemporary context. Feted Kannada-language director Girish Kasaravalli’s evocative new film, Kanasemba Kudureyaneri, is inspired by a short story written by Amaresh Nuagadoni, one of Karnataka’s younger writers dealing with the Dalits and their myths. Kerala’s Shyamaprasad, who previously worked with stories/plays authored by Sunil Gangopadhyay (Ore Kadal) and Tennessee Williams (Akale), has drawn his material for his latest offering, Elektra, from a 2,500-year-old Greek myth. Noukadubi has been produced by Bollywood bigwig Subhash Ghai’s alternative cinema banner, Mukta Searchlight, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Tagore’s birth. “I have been a great admirer of Tagore since my childhood and of Bengali cinema since my film institute days,” the maker of such blockbusters as Karma, Ram Lakhan and Khalnayak says. He adds: “I had been planning a Bengali film for four years and was in touch with Rituparno. However, things took time to work out.” Noukadubi will be released in two versions — Bengali and Hindi — across the nation on January 23 next year. Noukadubi features Prosenjit Chatterjee, Jisshu Sengupta, Raima Sen and Riya Sen in principal roles. “I would prefer to have the same actors dub for the Hindi version as well. The idea is to retain the Bengali flavour of the theme,” says Ghai. The producer also reveals that lyricist Gulzar will translate the Tagore songs for the Hindi version. “We might begin recording the Hindi songs as early as next week,” he says. Asked why he chose to produce Noukadubi in Bengali and not Hindi in the first place, he says: “A literary classic is best adapted for the screen in its own language.” Also set in the past but in a completely rural setting is seasoned another Bengali film, Moner Manush, which celebrates the life and work of 19th century saint-singer Lalan Fakir. The film is an Indo-Bangladeshi co-production. “This is the first time since 1952 that a film will be released simultaneously in India and Bangladesh,” says Ghose, who nurtured the project ever since the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid set him thinking. “Lalan was a liberated soul, who fought religious obscurantism and hate-mongers through his powerful verse. He was a symbol of India’s composite culture,” he says. “We live in a century in which religious, political and cultural intolerance is at its peak. Lalan Fakir’s life and work have greater relevance today than ever before,” says the multi-faceted Ghose, who not only wrote and directed Moner Manush but also served as its cinematographer and music composer. The Moner Manush narrative is structured around a conversation between the western educated Jyotindranath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore’s elder brother, and the unlettered octogenarian Lalan Fakir, a man of native wisdom. “I feel the film, with its deep
humanism, will speak to contemporary audiences in the way that Lalan Fakir did to men and women of his time,” says Ghose. Kasaravalli’s Kunasemba Kudureyaneri revolves around a gravedigger, who can foretell deaths. But when he goes wrong once with his prediction, he fears he is losing his power. “For the disempowered, there is no difference between myth and reality. Myths give them inner strength,” explains the filmmaker. Thanks to the authentic village setting and the unusual narrative premise, the film touches an instant chord. Much the same could be said about Shyamaprasad’s Elektra, starring Prakash Raj, Manisha Koirala and Nayanthara, which transports Euripedes’s Greek tragedy to an aristocratic Kerala setting as it explores familial ties in all their complexity. “The myth of Elektra is several thousand years old but is still relevant,” says Shyamaprasad. Among the more interesting films doing the rounds at the moment is an Italian film based on a disturbing Mahasweta Devi story about the exploitation of women in semi-rural India. Directed by Rome-based director Italo Spinelli, the film in question, Gangor, is set in Purulia, West Bengal. Says Spinelli: “Gangor was shot in the very area where Mahasweta Devi’s story is set. I’ve remained faithful to the text in driving home the point of the film. Gangor, adapted from the short story Choli Ke Peeche is about a tribal girl, who is pushed into prostitution after a Kolkata photojournalist shoots her in a state of undress and publishes the image in a daily newspaper to support a report on the violence wreaked on hapless women. The dark, disturbing film, in its first-ever screening in India at the 41st IFFI, evoked strong reactions from the audience. “The response was largely positive,” says Spinelli, pointing out that the author of the original story liked the shape the film has taken.
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