Chitra Varga

It has been said that history and folklore link the people of any land. Sure enough! However, while history is mostly fact, folklore is all fun and fiction, some of which is perhaps rooted in fact. “ ನಾಗಮಂಡಲ ” (‘ Nagamandala ’, which is the name of a ‘ ritualistic festival for propitiating the Snake God ’ celebrated in the coastal regions of Karnataka) is a 1997 Kannada film that captivated critics; it won numerous awards too. The drama is an adaptation of a Girish Karnad play based on a popular folktale of North Karnataka― its plotline though is similar to that of Rajasthani writer, Vijaydan Detha’s short story, Duvidha . Appanna (Prakash Raj; credited as Prakash Rai) is a grumpy, callous and insensitive newly-wed. Filled to the brim with toxic, suffocative masculinity, he routinely neglects his demure, bashful young bride, Rani (Vijayalakshmi). Yet, the obdurate fellow unfaithfully continues an illicit, extra-marital relationship with Cheluvi (Vanita Vasu), his concubine. Depri...

Norman Vincent Peale, the American author wrote: “ Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that. ” Success though demands more. Flying high calls for drive ‘n determination; passion ‘n persistence; and, effort, energy ‘n enthusiasm. Privilege surely eases the endeavor. “ ಕೇರ್ ಓಫ್ ಫುಟ್ಪಾತ್ ” (‘ Care of Footpath’ ), is a 2006 Kannada film that explores the challenges of the under-privileged. It was dubbed into Hindi, Odia, Malayalam ,  Telugu , Tamil  and English. The social drama won scores of film awards, including the national award for ‘Best Children’s Film’; it was critically applauded too. An orphaned slum boy, affectionately called as Slummu (Master Kishan), is adopted by an old lady who finds him abandoned on the pavement. The boy becomes a rag-picker. One day, a bunch of school children ridicule him. Being called an uneducated brute in derision offends and perturbs Slummu, who now vows to get educated. An uphill battle, no doub...

“ The only real valuable thing is intuition, ” said Albert Einstein. However, any intuition about a past occurrence would be tantamount to speculation . “ ಮೂಕಜ್ಜಿಯ ಕನಸುಗಳು ” (‘ Mookajjiya Kanasugalu’ , meaning: ‘Mookajji’s Dreams’) is a 2019  Kannada  flick based on a novel of the same name penned, Jnanpith awardee, Dr.  Shivaram Karanth . The film deals with intuitive perception about the past. Numerous awards were conferred on this sublime drama about life and death; right and wrong, and more. The drama subsumes many stories on human foibles and frailties. Mookambika, also Mookajji ( B Jayashree ), was married off before she attained puberty, but was widowed within a couple of days of her child marriage. Now an octogenarian, she lives with her brother’s grandson, Subbaraya (Aravind Kuplikar), and his wife, Sita (Nandini Vittal). Mookajji is endowed with extrasensory perception; with her clairvoyance she narrates the story of any object she touches. The faculty of...