Chitra Varga

The South Korean poet, Kim Hyesoon once said the rhythm of his body is the same as his mother tongue. “ Sark ari Hi. Pra. Shale, Kasaragodu, Koduge: Ramanna Rai” is a 2018  Kannada language socio-political comedy , which depicts the value of mother tongue to linguistic minorities. And, what a peach of a movie it is! It won the National Award for the Best Children's Film too! The film revolves around Pradeepa (Ranjan), the young protagonist, who has difficulty passing out of middle school, courtesy: several distractions including his infatuation for his classmate, Pallavi (Saptha Pavoor). But, the school is in Kerala's Kasargod district, just across the border from Karnataka. It is a real struggle for the headmaster to keep the school running with limited finances. The school is targeted for closure by a corrupt, parochial and antagonistic local administrator, who wants to shut it down and move the poor, middle-class students therein to a Malayalam-medium school. He even ob...

The American author, William Ellery Channing, wrote solemnly: “The great hope of society is in individual character.” He missed the mark a tad with that one, for, on the flip side, the great hope of every individual is societal character ! ' ಬಂಗಾರದ ಹೂವು ' (“ Bangarada Hoovu ”, meaning, ' Golden Flower' ) is a 1967 award-winning Kannada language  f ilm that deals with the theme of stigmatization of leprosy. The flick was critically acclaimed; it met with great commercial success too. Anand (Rajkumar), the male protagonist and a government servant, knows Latha (Shylashri) since childhood. Unbeknownst to the former, Latha loves Anand. But, Anand gets romantically involved with Seetha (Kalpana), his friend's sister. When wedding bells are about to ring for the two, Seetha goes down with leprosy. So, she declines to marry, given the shame and stigma associated with the disease. Anand's kith and kin, believing leprosy to be incurable, pressurize him to marry Lat...

" ನಕ್ಕರೆ ಅದೇ ಸ್ವರ್ಗ " ( ' Nakkare Ade Swarga ' , which literally means: “ (if you) laugh, th at's heaven ”), is a lovely 1967   Kannada  film, which won slews of awards. The social drama — flush with the have's and the have-not's ; the happy and the heartsore ; and, more— attempts to provide the recipe for a heavenly... not hellish life. As ingredients, the flick uses motley characters and a melange of events within the story to spread that profound message. The plot revolves around a rich, arrogant man, who looks at the poor condescendingly. The man's frisky son thinks money, revelry and materialism is the path to joy; the daughter believes in old-world values of love, kinship and moderation. The latter gets romantically involved with an indigent, but industrious young man. That brings a rift within the family, with some finding mirth and others misery. The drama belongs to an era when film-makers took upon themselves the responsibility of not ...

Albert Einstein articulated his view on the science-religion debate as: “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” Eloquent indeed! " ಸಂಕಲ್ಪ " ( 'Sankalpa', which translates to ' Resolution' ) is a 1973, award-winning Kannada film, which dramatizes the eternal conflict between science-based cures and faith-driven healing. The big picture though is that of the theism-atheism battle drawn on the canvas of rational knowledge systems and traditional beliefs. This movie has the protagonist, Dr. Raju (Anant Nag in his debut film), an atheistic psychotherapist, taking on a devout, saintly man, Bhagwan Balayogi Baba (CR Simha) with self-proclaimed supernatural powers. Raju's wife, an agnostic, too partakes in rituals that the monk suggests at the behest of Raju's orthodox father for unearthing a treasure. During the course of rituals, the monk, firm in his belief and pure in his action, is able to perform miracles. But soon, h...

Alzheimer's disease  is a chronic, neuro-degenerative disorder that causes the death of brain cells and  leads to   dementia — a progressive decline in social skills, mental faculties and behavioral abilities that disrupts a person's ability to function normally . ' ಗೋಧಿ ಬಣ್ಣ ಸಾಧಾರಣ ಮೈಕಟ್ಟು ' ( “ Godhi Banna Sadh arana Mykattu” , which means: ”Wheatish Complexion Moderate Build”) is a 2016 Kannada  film th at is based on the story of Venkob Rao (Anant Nag), an elderly, Alzheimer's-af flicted man staying in an old-age home. During a shopping trip with his son, Shiva (Rakshit Shetty), Rao goes missing. A distraught Shiva desperately begins to search for his father along with Sahana (Sruthi Hariharan), Rao's doctor. Moving around aimlessly in the hustle-bustle of the city, Rao crosses paths with a couple of killers, who are in the process of disposing off the dead body of a public servant. That sets the stage for a kaleidoscope of comic and romantic mome...

George Orwell, the English novelist, once remarked staidly that a lunatic is perhaps a minority of one. Guess he forgot that often the majority drives the “minority of one” to lunacy. ' ಶರಪಂಜರ ' – “ Sharapanjara ”, meaning “Cage of Arrows”– is a critically acclaimed, award-winning Kannada film released in 1971. It dives deep into the obscure, intricate functioning of the human mind on the inside and its discernible, mysterious connects with human relationships on the outside. Result: A nonpareil classic...of Puttanna Kanagal , the auteur par excellence ! It was later remade in Telugu as ' Krishnaveni '. The  The plot– based on a Kannada novel by the  prolific writer of modern fiction ,  Triveni – has Kaveri (Kalpana), the female protagonist, a smart, educated and sophisticated young lady. She meets the male protagonist, Satish (Gangadhar) at a wedding. The two fall in love and tie the nuptial knot. In due course, Kaveri gets on the family way and the picture pe...

The roots, not branches, are a tree's greatest strength. So too the ancestral roots of every family, some may argue. The American philosopher, Emerson even went on to claim, rightly so, 'thought' is the 'ancestor of every action' .  “ ವಂಶ ವೃಕ್ಷ”  (Vamsha V riksha, meaning “G enealogical  Tree”), is a 1972 National Film Award winning Kannada film, which explores how ancestry plays a role in familial life...and, thought too, as the precursor to action, shaping who we are and determining what we do. The flick explores actions that are often deemed taboo and the contours of societal relationships. Perpetual human desire to seek marital bliss and material pleasure is put under the scanner. Based on the literary giant, S. L. Bhyrappa 's novel of the same name, the movie is set in the 1920s. Kathyayani (LV Sharada), a widow living with her in-laws along with her four-year old son, decides to pursue her undergraduate studies. Kathyayani's father-in-law and eru...

Harri Holkeri, the Finnish state sman, declared with sapience: “Men and women have roles– their roles are different, but their rights are equal.” In patriarchal and chauvinistic families though, women are made to assume subservient roles and afforded subordinate rights...often not only by men, but also other women, given prevalent societal and interpersonal constructs. ಅಮ್ಮಚಿಯೆಂಬ ನೆನಪು ( Ammachi Yemba Nenapu ) is a 2018  Kannada  film, which looks into sexist mindsets, gender inequality, male chauvinism and much more. The unfolding of the storyline is akin to the peeling of an onion– while it weaves sub-plots within the narrative, there are several layered perspectives to prevalent norms about female roles and rights. It deals with cross-generational men-women and women-women relationships within joint families. Set in a small village of coastal Karnataka– pristine and picturesque, the locale is a visual treat, as one would imagine– the film provides a ring-side, sneak-...

The Australian activist and writer, G.D Anderson observed pithily that: "feminism isn't about making women stronger....it's about changing the way the world perceives that strength." " ಪಲ್ಲವಿ " (' Pallavi ', which means “refrain”), a 1976 Kannada political drama, deals with women emancipation in its theme. It addresses simultaneously many political issues prevalent in the 1970's, including political unrest and unemployment. The feature film won a slew of awards at both the state and national levels and was critically acclaimed for establishing the legacy of “new-wave or experimental films” in Kannada firmly. The plot, based on the novella “ Biruku ” penned by P. Lankesh, starts on a positive note with its depiction of the female protagonist, Shanta (Vimala Naidu) as a liberated, free-spirited lady with strong views on gender equality. In a steady, romantic relationship with Chandru (TN Seetharam), her fellow student, charming and confident Sh...

Religion, the opium of the masses, has played a pivotal role throughout the history of mankind. Rites and rituals, th e heart and soul of religion, has always polarized human opinion. While some say ritual is a spiritual psychodrama, others think it nurtures our sacred relationships. ಸಂಸ್ಕಾರ ( ' Samskara' , which means “Ritual”), a 1970 Kannada movie, is often considered to be a trailblazer in the history of parallel cinema. Film buffs and critics waxed lyrical on this offbeat flick that hogged the limelight and won awards like blue blazes, including the “Swarna Kamal” for Best Feature Film. Based on a novel of Jnanapith awardee, Dr. UR Ananthamurthy, the film revolves around events that unravel within the Brahmin community of a remote village. The protagonist, Praneshacharya (Girish Karnad), is devout, orthodox and celibate; he is held in high esteem. The antagonist, Narayanappa (P. Lankesh), also a Brahmin by birth, harbors iconoclastic views and indulges in immoral deeds,...