Most important part of Hindu marriage is taking seven steps in unison for nourishment, strength, prosperity, happiness, progeny, long life and friendship. The seven elements form most important expectations from the couple through rest of the life and any missing element cannot complete a marriage. K. Viswanath’s Saptapadi is an attempt to give rational behind marriage than performing it as boring routine. He also boldly challenges the varna mentioned in Manu Dharma Shastra.
It is routine to give reviews for new releases but it is little strange to pick up a movie that is released decades ago and did not too well in box office. But the attempt made by the great director was sensational and is a beauty. It is certainly bold because any challenge posed to marriage system that is so firmly understood by Indians. So I had picked it up.
Storyline:
Story revolves around a priest family who by hereditary as well as performance gains right to become priests of Goddess Durga temple. JV Somayajulu, an orthodox priest is the central point in the tale. He is orthodox to such an extent that he relinquishes his daughter for marrying against his wish, despite the fact daughter married Brahmin man. He nurtures his grandson (Son’s Son) with all the devotional relation and makes him priest in Goddess Durga temple. When he learns that his daughter-in-law (daughter’s daughter) has become classical dancer and learnt the art with dedication, he decides to have her married to his grandson and marriage is performed under his supervision.
Daughter-in-law, the heroin, falls in love with another man before marriage thinking that he is a Brahmin. When she finds out that he belongs to lower caste and when she does not have courage to fight the society nor the orthodox grand father, she agrees to marriage. Even her lover, the hero, supports the marriage as he thoroughly understands that his love cannot stand the will of the society.
After marriage when heroin’s husband comes to her room during night, she appears to him like the Godess Durga and so instead of touching her he starts performing puja to the wife every night. When JV Somayajulu understands whole story and taking advice from his buddy Allu ramalingayya, both he and his grandson decide to send the girl to her lover.
Direction:
It is a very delicate story line and directors skill is exposed while handling such topics. Narration was handled too well to ensure that message is passed correctly and no wrong message was cut across. K. Viswanath’s story based flick was made beautifully even though there is no star cast in the movie. His love for keerthanas continues in this movie as well.
Highlights:
1) Climax scene where JV somayajulu justifies why his decision of sending the girl with the lover. He explains basic philosophy behind the caste system and marriage system and advices not to follow it blindly with out knowing the philosophy.
2) First night scene where the girl appears to the husband like Goddess Durga and husband performs puja.
3) The dance scene where JV smayajulu asks the grand daughter to perform while students are reciting Durga Suktam. Heroin is a classical dancer and has done well in the scene.
4) Allu Ramalingayya advising Somayajulu by narrating story of Adi Shankaracharya.
5) All songs are extraordinary but Govullu tellana song marks brilliance of S. Janaki
A must watch movie I would say. I recently purchased CD of the movie for my own collection.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Karma Yogi – King Janaka
Karma Yoga:Karma Yoga is widely discussed in many of scriptures including Bhagavadgita. In Gita, Lord Krishna explains Karma Yoga by stating that it is yoga by which person incessantly performs one’s duty/karma and still remains unattached to the results of Karma. He goes further by saying one’s duty would be decided by Vedas and Dharma Shastras through Varna – Ashrama Dharmas. Also Lord Krishna maintains that person has only right on performance on karma and not on the result to be attained by it. The person who remains unattached to the results of the karma can attain highest level of Philosophical maturity and is termed as Karma Yogi. The first and best example of Karma Yogi that comes to our mind is King Janaka.
King Janaka’s Story:
King Janaka got his education from two renowned guru’s namely Sage Vashista and Sage Astavakra.
Sage Asta Vakra:
Not many people know story of Asta Vakra. When he is in mother’s womb he used to listen to Veda being recited by his father daily. Once due to some ill health his father recited a swara of Veda incorrectly. The kid in the mother’s womb responded to his father by showing his fault in recitation. His father got angry with him and curses him to have 8 deformities in his body and he is called as AstaVakra.
Once King Janaka announces grand prize for person who can teach him brahma vidya( the highest education). Also he puts a condition that such education should be imparted to him in a timeframe equal to mounting a horse back and punishes ones who cannot do so. Astavakra comes forward and mentions that he can teach that to the king but before that King must show that he is eligible to learn it by accepting him as Guru. King agrees to this condition and maintains that he would do anything Astavakra asks him. Astavakra takes him to near by forest and asks Janaka to start mounting horseback. When Janaka put his first foot on horse to get ready for mounting, AstaVakra asks him to stop in same position until he comes back. Janaka with superior respect for guru, remains in same position for a year. When Astavakra comes back later to realize the guru bhakti of disciple imparts education to Janaka. That text has come to be known as Astavkra Gita. (I have a copy of it but don’t know if I have adequate intelligence to comprehend it)
Sage Vashista:
King Janaka was one of the favorite disciples of Vashista. Guru used to wait till Janaka comes to start his lessons, a rare privilege he granted to no other student. Fellow students used to think that Guru is partial to Janaka as he is a king. Brahmarshi Vashista understood this and wanted to show the students truth. Once when Vashista is giving lecture to students, fire broke out and all students started running to safe guard their belongings. But Janaka was so immersed in the lecture that he did not even realize that fire broke out. Thus Vashista through a fake fire created demonstrates why Janaka was superior to his other students.
Karma Yogi:
King Janaka was childless for long. He belonged to Videha Vamsa meaning he has no attachment to deha(body). At the same time, he continued performing the karma (yagnas) suggested by Vedas to get child. While performing a Yagna he is blessed Mahalakshmi as kid. He took it as God’ blessing. He got Lord Rama as his son-in-law but he did not go overboard with joy. When he discovered that his son-in-law and daughter were sent to forest, he did not get angry or depressed. When his son-in-law and daughter got universally renowned, he did not feel elation of pride. He remained perfectly calm be it happiness or sorrow but at the same time he did not leave his duty. That’s how Janaka remained perfect example for Karma Yogi.
King Janaka’s Story:
King Janaka got his education from two renowned guru’s namely Sage Vashista and Sage Astavakra.
Sage Asta Vakra:
Not many people know story of Asta Vakra. When he is in mother’s womb he used to listen to Veda being recited by his father daily. Once due to some ill health his father recited a swara of Veda incorrectly. The kid in the mother’s womb responded to his father by showing his fault in recitation. His father got angry with him and curses him to have 8 deformities in his body and he is called as AstaVakra.
Once King Janaka announces grand prize for person who can teach him brahma vidya( the highest education). Also he puts a condition that such education should be imparted to him in a timeframe equal to mounting a horse back and punishes ones who cannot do so. Astavakra comes forward and mentions that he can teach that to the king but before that King must show that he is eligible to learn it by accepting him as Guru. King agrees to this condition and maintains that he would do anything Astavakra asks him. Astavakra takes him to near by forest and asks Janaka to start mounting horseback. When Janaka put his first foot on horse to get ready for mounting, AstaVakra asks him to stop in same position until he comes back. Janaka with superior respect for guru, remains in same position for a year. When Astavakra comes back later to realize the guru bhakti of disciple imparts education to Janaka. That text has come to be known as Astavkra Gita. (I have a copy of it but don’t know if I have adequate intelligence to comprehend it)
Sage Vashista:
King Janaka was one of the favorite disciples of Vashista. Guru used to wait till Janaka comes to start his lessons, a rare privilege he granted to no other student. Fellow students used to think that Guru is partial to Janaka as he is a king. Brahmarshi Vashista understood this and wanted to show the students truth. Once when Vashista is giving lecture to students, fire broke out and all students started running to safe guard their belongings. But Janaka was so immersed in the lecture that he did not even realize that fire broke out. Thus Vashista through a fake fire created demonstrates why Janaka was superior to his other students.
Karma Yogi:
King Janaka was childless for long. He belonged to Videha Vamsa meaning he has no attachment to deha(body). At the same time, he continued performing the karma (yagnas) suggested by Vedas to get child. While performing a Yagna he is blessed Mahalakshmi as kid. He took it as God’ blessing. He got Lord Rama as his son-in-law but he did not go overboard with joy. When he discovered that his son-in-law and daughter were sent to forest, he did not get angry or depressed. When his son-in-law and daughter got universally renowned, he did not feel elation of pride. He remained perfectly calm be it happiness or sorrow but at the same time he did not leave his duty. That’s how Janaka remained perfect example for Karma Yogi.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Tangential Thought
My best friend and I talk most often about some off beat topics. One of them is regarding our intelligence coming in the way of realization. Realization here means the ultimate goal of human life from philosophical stand point. We can confidently say we are relatively intelligent guys. My friend may be a ten or dozen times smarter than me. I am not that bad either. We keep wondering if the rational thinking imparted by English style of education has killed our natural Indian instinct and coming in way of realization.
We have faith in Indian traditions and like many people we make our own convenience as priority when following them. Like any science and engineering graduate, we use reasoning and proofs to believe things. We studiously read Newton’s laws of action and reaction and Darwin’s theory of evolution. No matter how idiotic it appears to believe that my great great…. Grand dad was a monkey!! We have never seen any proofs Darwin provided to solidify such belief but still because my teacher said it, I believed it to be true. But when some one tells me that God exists, we ask for proof. We became so proof oriented that even if God himself comes to us, we would ask him to prove himself. If proof must again fall in line with the cinematic versions we have seen and should be magical. Even if He succeeds doing that, we doubt him like we doubt many babas in the world.
English model of education did us more bad than good. Worst is now being done by educational system. Ramayana cant be taught in school stating that it is a religious text. But they do not realize that Ramayana teaches how chastity and uprightness are more important. Ramayana teaches following Dharma is most important which is surely essence of every religion. Ramayana teaches making right friendship is going make your life (through tale of Sugriva). English model teaches us history. Most of it is adopted from what West has given us. West cannot agree that Ramayana is history, because they cannot agree we had God in name of Rama before Christ existed. They call Ramayana as myth and term it as mythology than history.
Anyways coming back to original question of how do we understand God exists at all, reminds me a small story.There is a small story accredited to Adi Shakaracharya. Adi Shankara walked on this earth at a time when Buddhism was at its peak and people started questioning the Vedic Dharma. Buddhism in reality is nothing but one aspect of Vedic Dharama namely Sanyasa and so is never complete in itself. Religion was really solidified due to great personality of Gautama Buddha. How ever, it got diluted because of lack leadership which failed to take the spirit of Buddhism forward and blindly maintaining that it is against Hindu customs. It lead to Charvaka tradition who challenge existence of God himself. Shankara encountered a person who challenged existence of God. His contention was God does not exist and if Shankara thinks “He” exists he will believe only if Shakrcharya can show God to him. Shankara uses Tharka (logic) to counter him. Here is the dialogue
Shankara: Have you ever seen King of the country?
Charvaka: No
Shankara: So can you say that King of the country does not exist at all because you have not seen him?
Charvaka: No. But we get orders from him on regular basis
Shankara: Similarly we do get orders from God. How o you know that Orders are coming from King only?
Charvaka: There are his subordinates who have actually seen him
Shankara: Similarly there are people called rishis who have seen Almighty and proposed same in scriptures
Charvaka: I can’t believe those scriptures they are just doctored to cheat people.
Shankara: Let’s apply same logic to King’s case, if I challenge you that King does not exist and it is act of few people to cheat rest of us?
Charvaka: No. It cant be same analogy because I can show you King.
Shankara: Similarly I can show you God.
Charvaka: Ok Show me now.
Shankara: Can you show me the King if I say I wont travel all the way to Capital city?
Charvaka: No. You will have to come to Capital city.
Shankara: Even if I come to capital city and do not come near the King’s fort, can you show him?
Charvaka: No You have to come to King’s fort.
Shankara: Even if I come to King’s fort, can I directly get access to King?
Charvaka: No. You will need some sort of recommendation or authority to meet the King.
Shankara: Say for example I some how chanced to meet the King, if I close my eyes when he is around, can you show me ?
Charvaka: No. You have to keep your eyes wide open to see the king.
Shankara: Even after seeing the King if I say that I don’t believe that he is the King, is there something you can do?
Charvaka: No
Shankara: For a ruler of single kingdom, if so much of procedure to see, what can you say of the ruler of whole universe?
Charvaka: hmm
Shankara: I can show you God. But you will have to put effort by performing rituals, meditation and japa. You need to perform Karma (Vedic duty) in order to purify your body and soul and make it ready to see the God. An then you will have to make attempt through Tapasya (meaning desirous) for seeing the God. After reaching the rightful rigor in your Tapasya you will be ready to see the God. Then only you can see God.
We have faith in Indian traditions and like many people we make our own convenience as priority when following them. Like any science and engineering graduate, we use reasoning and proofs to believe things. We studiously read Newton’s laws of action and reaction and Darwin’s theory of evolution. No matter how idiotic it appears to believe that my great great…. Grand dad was a monkey!! We have never seen any proofs Darwin provided to solidify such belief but still because my teacher said it, I believed it to be true. But when some one tells me that God exists, we ask for proof. We became so proof oriented that even if God himself comes to us, we would ask him to prove himself. If proof must again fall in line with the cinematic versions we have seen and should be magical. Even if He succeeds doing that, we doubt him like we doubt many babas in the world.
English model of education did us more bad than good. Worst is now being done by educational system. Ramayana cant be taught in school stating that it is a religious text. But they do not realize that Ramayana teaches how chastity and uprightness are more important. Ramayana teaches following Dharma is most important which is surely essence of every religion. Ramayana teaches making right friendship is going make your life (through tale of Sugriva). English model teaches us history. Most of it is adopted from what West has given us. West cannot agree that Ramayana is history, because they cannot agree we had God in name of Rama before Christ existed. They call Ramayana as myth and term it as mythology than history.
Anyways coming back to original question of how do we understand God exists at all, reminds me a small story.There is a small story accredited to Adi Shakaracharya. Adi Shankara walked on this earth at a time when Buddhism was at its peak and people started questioning the Vedic Dharma. Buddhism in reality is nothing but one aspect of Vedic Dharama namely Sanyasa and so is never complete in itself. Religion was really solidified due to great personality of Gautama Buddha. How ever, it got diluted because of lack leadership which failed to take the spirit of Buddhism forward and blindly maintaining that it is against Hindu customs. It lead to Charvaka tradition who challenge existence of God himself. Shankara encountered a person who challenged existence of God. His contention was God does not exist and if Shankara thinks “He” exists he will believe only if Shakrcharya can show God to him. Shankara uses Tharka (logic) to counter him. Here is the dialogue
Shankara: Have you ever seen King of the country?
Charvaka: No
Shankara: So can you say that King of the country does not exist at all because you have not seen him?
Charvaka: No. But we get orders from him on regular basis
Shankara: Similarly we do get orders from God. How o you know that Orders are coming from King only?
Charvaka: There are his subordinates who have actually seen him
Shankara: Similarly there are people called rishis who have seen Almighty and proposed same in scriptures
Charvaka: I can’t believe those scriptures they are just doctored to cheat people.
Shankara: Let’s apply same logic to King’s case, if I challenge you that King does not exist and it is act of few people to cheat rest of us?
Charvaka: No. It cant be same analogy because I can show you King.
Shankara: Similarly I can show you God.
Charvaka: Ok Show me now.
Shankara: Can you show me the King if I say I wont travel all the way to Capital city?
Charvaka: No. You will have to come to Capital city.
Shankara: Even if I come to capital city and do not come near the King’s fort, can you show him?
Charvaka: No You have to come to King’s fort.
Shankara: Even if I come to King’s fort, can I directly get access to King?
Charvaka: No. You will need some sort of recommendation or authority to meet the King.
Shankara: Say for example I some how chanced to meet the King, if I close my eyes when he is around, can you show me ?
Charvaka: No. You have to keep your eyes wide open to see the king.
Shankara: Even after seeing the King if I say that I don’t believe that he is the King, is there something you can do?
Charvaka: No
Shankara: For a ruler of single kingdom, if so much of procedure to see, what can you say of the ruler of whole universe?
Charvaka: hmm
Shankara: I can show you God. But you will have to put effort by performing rituals, meditation and japa. You need to perform Karma (Vedic duty) in order to purify your body and soul and make it ready to see the God. An then you will have to make attempt through Tapasya (meaning desirous) for seeing the God. After reaching the rightful rigor in your Tapasya you will be ready to see the God. Then only you can see God.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Marriage Market – A first hand experience
Context:
When my dad was planning for a visit to near by gathering of parents of prospective brides and grooms, I did not pay much attention. I thought it was a routine visit they wanted to pay. My first shock came when my dad wanted me to neatly dress up for the occasion so that I can impress some prospective bride. I never believed in quick marriages. I protested, threatened my dad with small threats and also tried recommendation from my mom. None of them worked. I made up my mind for a brand new experience.
The Place:
Place is crowded with hundreds of people, mostly parents of the girl/boy. We were given a book with the list of girls/boys registered were given and each one is assigned a number. There is a stage in the centre where the organizers were sitting and announcing details of person along with his/her preferences. We are also asked to fill some application where we can apply to 5 girls of our choice from the list. The application would be read out aloud so that they come to meet us.
Announcement:Most of the applications being read out are of boys and painfully for them none from the girls side turned. Announcements started taking shape of mini market where the strong point of the good for sale is being reiterated for takers benefit. I would have thought none from girls’ side turned up or something. As I chanced to sit beside a girls parent, I could not take such a premise. Every time they announce their number, they started pretending it is not theirs.
All of a sudden they started reading out details of girls and their requirements. Mostly requirements went as salary > 60K pm or US/UK/Canada/Australia working and/or preferences were for those men working for reputed IT companies and/or IIT/IIM grads.(I cursed them for not printing my college name against my details ). Some announcements looked gross to me when they started announcing the pay packet girl is taking home and trying to tempt the takers. There was an announcement where the girl wanted to find some one who is already in Australia or ready to travel to Australia or at least willing to travel with her as dependent. As I am living alone I can’t say I am too bad at household chores and raised my hand. I am not sure if they genuinely ignored or they did not even notice. A moment later I was a relived man, as I remembered the attacks on Indian in Australia. Thank God!!
I felt the girls today giving men the taste of the medicine earlier generation boys given to girls. For a man who takes too much pride in himself like me, it would be too embarrassing if no takers are found, so I did not wait till my name is announced. (It later turned out that there were few takers for me, though I guess most of them turned up because of the 7figure salary)
The End:Earlier marriages used to happen taking into consideration two items. One is Family history (up to 3 generations or 7 depending on convenience) and man’s accomplishment/prospective accomplishments. In practical scnerios following sloka in Sanskrit can be applied that says
Kanya varayathe rupam, matah vittam pitah srutam
Bandhavah kulamichanthi mrustanna mithare janah
Meaning girl selects a man by his looks and other physical attributes. Girl’s mother looks for money so that the daughter can be well off. Dad checks if the man has good conduct and is good at following Vedas in spirit. Other relatives see if the man belongs to same community or not. Rest only look only for marriage lunch/dinner.
When my dad was planning for a visit to near by gathering of parents of prospective brides and grooms, I did not pay much attention. I thought it was a routine visit they wanted to pay. My first shock came when my dad wanted me to neatly dress up for the occasion so that I can impress some prospective bride. I never believed in quick marriages. I protested, threatened my dad with small threats and also tried recommendation from my mom. None of them worked. I made up my mind for a brand new experience.
The Place:
Place is crowded with hundreds of people, mostly parents of the girl/boy. We were given a book with the list of girls/boys registered were given and each one is assigned a number. There is a stage in the centre where the organizers were sitting and announcing details of person along with his/her preferences. We are also asked to fill some application where we can apply to 5 girls of our choice from the list. The application would be read out aloud so that they come to meet us.
Announcement:Most of the applications being read out are of boys and painfully for them none from the girls side turned. Announcements started taking shape of mini market where the strong point of the good for sale is being reiterated for takers benefit. I would have thought none from girls’ side turned up or something. As I chanced to sit beside a girls parent, I could not take such a premise. Every time they announce their number, they started pretending it is not theirs.
All of a sudden they started reading out details of girls and their requirements. Mostly requirements went as salary > 60K pm or US/UK/Canada/Australia working and/or preferences were for those men working for reputed IT companies and/or IIT/IIM grads.(I cursed them for not printing my college name against my details ). Some announcements looked gross to me when they started announcing the pay packet girl is taking home and trying to tempt the takers. There was an announcement where the girl wanted to find some one who is already in Australia or ready to travel to Australia or at least willing to travel with her as dependent. As I am living alone I can’t say I am too bad at household chores and raised my hand. I am not sure if they genuinely ignored or they did not even notice. A moment later I was a relived man, as I remembered the attacks on Indian in Australia. Thank God!!
I felt the girls today giving men the taste of the medicine earlier generation boys given to girls. For a man who takes too much pride in himself like me, it would be too embarrassing if no takers are found, so I did not wait till my name is announced. (It later turned out that there were few takers for me, though I guess most of them turned up because of the 7figure salary)
The End:Earlier marriages used to happen taking into consideration two items. One is Family history (up to 3 generations or 7 depending on convenience) and man’s accomplishment/prospective accomplishments. In practical scnerios following sloka in Sanskrit can be applied that says
Kanya varayathe rupam, matah vittam pitah srutam
Bandhavah kulamichanthi mrustanna mithare janah
Meaning girl selects a man by his looks and other physical attributes. Girl’s mother looks for money so that the daughter can be well off. Dad checks if the man has good conduct and is good at following Vedas in spirit. Other relatives see if the man belongs to same community or not. Rest only look only for marriage lunch/dinner.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Varudu - A Review
No kidding. I went to watch the movie just for the “Aidurojula pelli” Song. If someone is wondering why one would watch a movie for a single song, I am committing no greater sin than those who watch movie for a hero(male/female audience)/heroin(male audience). Recently one of my relative got married in the same model of 5day marriage. I was the unfortunate one who missed the fun. So my intent was to get compensated by the movie media. I was not much disappointed.
Storyline:
Let me start with a well known story. A Dharmic king was blessed with a great son. He got him married to a princess who is both beautiful and chaste. When the husband is away, a demon kidnaps the princess and locks up in his country and tortures her to fulfil his desire. Being a Chaste wife, she rejects the offer and keeps chanting husband’s name. Husband arrives and kills everyone including the demon and gets back his wife. They live happily there after. No marks for guessing, it’s our own Ramayana. Director Bapu had one such experiments of telling purana tales in social versions. (Mutyala Muggu – Uttara kanda of Ramayana and Kaliguga Ravanasurudu – Ramayana retold) There is slight connect to Ramayana in the story.
Story is about an about to be NRI boy who for a change leaves decision of marriage to his parents and the marriage proceedings comprise of the first half of the story. The bride gets kidnapped on very day of marriage and second half is sequence on how she was gotten back by her husband.
If audience are to be categorized as class and mass, first half is for class audience and second for mass.
Performances:
Gunasekar: I was happy with director for taking through first half very well especially marriage part. As I mentioned earlier my intent was only 5 day marriage. He fared very well in picturising it, probably as well as Krishnavamsi would have done. Most of the items were shown for brief moment but no significant mistakes were made. (including using plain cloth with swasthik instead of fancy writings people are using these days for separating bride and groom shows that necessary ground work was done.)
Second half I was annoyed. Gunasekar was notorious for his overdosage/usage of settings and graphics. He did same thing in second half even when there is no obvious need. Also too much violence in second half made it look little clumsy. Also opening lines by Chiru did not score any additional marks.
Arjun: He was soul of the movie and probably sole reason if it runs to success. He carried weight of the movie on his shoulder. His dance performances were as usual awesome though a bit routine by now. In emotional scenes he has matured a lot. (I still recollect emotional scene he has done in climax of movie Happy and felt yuck)
Bhanusri: She did justice to her role, considering this is her first movie. How ever, hiding her detail till end increased lot of curiosity among audience. Some of them imagined a brand new girl Aiswarya Rai was being screened and many of them were disappointed. In one way it is marketing failure than actress.
Support Crew: Suhasini has done well in her role. Refreshing to see Anitha Chowdary after along gap. I did not find a miscast in the crew. (even though I felt Geetanjali would be ideal fit for Arjun’s grandma’ role.) Brahmanandam did not add lot of value though.
Veturi & Manisharma: Best part of movie is the approx 15 min song and lot of credit goes to Veturi & Manisharma for the lyrics and variation in the song so that it does not bore audience.
Storyline:
Let me start with a well known story. A Dharmic king was blessed with a great son. He got him married to a princess who is both beautiful and chaste. When the husband is away, a demon kidnaps the princess and locks up in his country and tortures her to fulfil his desire. Being a Chaste wife, she rejects the offer and keeps chanting husband’s name. Husband arrives and kills everyone including the demon and gets back his wife. They live happily there after. No marks for guessing, it’s our own Ramayana. Director Bapu had one such experiments of telling purana tales in social versions. (Mutyala Muggu – Uttara kanda of Ramayana and Kaliguga Ravanasurudu – Ramayana retold) There is slight connect to Ramayana in the story.
Story is about an about to be NRI boy who for a change leaves decision of marriage to his parents and the marriage proceedings comprise of the first half of the story. The bride gets kidnapped on very day of marriage and second half is sequence on how she was gotten back by her husband.
If audience are to be categorized as class and mass, first half is for class audience and second for mass.
Performances:
Gunasekar: I was happy with director for taking through first half very well especially marriage part. As I mentioned earlier my intent was only 5 day marriage. He fared very well in picturising it, probably as well as Krishnavamsi would have done. Most of the items were shown for brief moment but no significant mistakes were made. (including using plain cloth with swasthik instead of fancy writings people are using these days for separating bride and groom shows that necessary ground work was done.)
Second half I was annoyed. Gunasekar was notorious for his overdosage/usage of settings and graphics. He did same thing in second half even when there is no obvious need. Also too much violence in second half made it look little clumsy. Also opening lines by Chiru did not score any additional marks.
Arjun: He was soul of the movie and probably sole reason if it runs to success. He carried weight of the movie on his shoulder. His dance performances were as usual awesome though a bit routine by now. In emotional scenes he has matured a lot. (I still recollect emotional scene he has done in climax of movie Happy and felt yuck)
Bhanusri: She did justice to her role, considering this is her first movie. How ever, hiding her detail till end increased lot of curiosity among audience. Some of them imagined a brand new girl Aiswarya Rai was being screened and many of them were disappointed. In one way it is marketing failure than actress.
Support Crew: Suhasini has done well in her role. Refreshing to see Anitha Chowdary after along gap. I did not find a miscast in the crew. (even though I felt Geetanjali would be ideal fit for Arjun’s grandma’ role.) Brahmanandam did not add lot of value though.
Veturi & Manisharma: Best part of movie is the approx 15 min song and lot of credit goes to Veturi & Manisharma for the lyrics and variation in the song so that it does not bore audience.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Literature – My perspective
I just finished a telugu book named “Neela Pendli” by Kavi Samrat. The story line is not difficult to guess and if I have to write the story I will probably finish it in no more than 250 words. But the author spent a whole book on the subject. A small introspection on this gave me a lesson on what literature should comprise of, especially in modern days where Prabhandhas and Kavyas may not be sold even for a ruppe (or a penny/dollar if you are an NRI).
I treat myself as Ekalvya Shishya of the eminent author, even though I don’t think I am as bad as Ekalavya. The lesson I learnt is regarding essential components of literature namely psychology and philosophy
Psychology:
It’s not really enough to tell a story for a writer. One should be in a position to read the psychology of people. Story must try to reflect the reality. It is only when the reader identifies himself/herself with character. Characters author creates are like his own children. He must understand them fully, how they react a specific situation and how they
think in a given scenario. If the author can capture the train of thoughts to finer details, it can help connecting the reader.
Say for example in the story Neela (lead character) gets introduced to Umapathi. Neela’s trains of thoughts revolve around if Umapathi has any other intentions than mere friendship and knowledge sharing to her. She also thinks if he wants to marry her etc., These thoughts are so natural for a young girl of marriageable age. I beg your pardon here, I was told today’s girls thinking is lot different and Viswanatha tried to reflect thinking of girls of his time. My personal feeling certain things still exist in today as well but we may refrain from confessing. Similarly Umpathi who likes Neela starts thinking about his chances of getting married to Neela and analyses his family situation etc., I can guarantee that that’s how I would think if I encounter an eligible girl in my life.
Philosophy:
Catching the pulse of audience is the preliminary step for making sure they listen to what author says. Author should now have discretion to say the ‘right’ thing and so prerequisite is author should know what is ‘right’. For knowing what is right, one needs to do lot of study. Even a knowledgeable person like Viswanatha studied history for few years before starting his novels on historical background. Intent is simple, One cannot afford to make mistake in works that may last forever.
So what is right? In Hindu Dharma, Vedas are the basis. There are Dharma Shastras that prophesize what is right and what is wrong. There are puranas which give examples of people who have followed Dharma. It is always recommended to follow these to arrive at what is right. Individual conscience must only supplement and not contradict the above texts. Even great Manu/Gautama in their dharma shastras mentioned that if at any point they contradict with Veda, it is taken that they are wrong. Reason is simple, Vedas are Rishis after contemplating each situation and making sure there are no perils. We through our thought may make mistake by presenting half baked truths.
Lets take a small example. These days many books/movies prophesize a statement “everything is fair in love and war”. I don’t know who coined this phrase but it has immediately become popular because it is a convenient excuse to all misdeeds we do. This is not supported by any of the texts I mentioned above. If one follows this literally, then it means “everything” including the recent acid attacks, rape, eloping, homicide, suicides are fair in love. But are they really?
So author must try to reflect the ultimate truth and not the half baked truth like the above.
I treat myself as Ekalvya Shishya of the eminent author, even though I don’t think I am as bad as Ekalavya. The lesson I learnt is regarding essential components of literature namely psychology and philosophy
Psychology:
It’s not really enough to tell a story for a writer. One should be in a position to read the psychology of people. Story must try to reflect the reality. It is only when the reader identifies himself/herself with character. Characters author creates are like his own children. He must understand them fully, how they react a specific situation and how they
think in a given scenario. If the author can capture the train of thoughts to finer details, it can help connecting the reader.
Say for example in the story Neela (lead character) gets introduced to Umapathi. Neela’s trains of thoughts revolve around if Umapathi has any other intentions than mere friendship and knowledge sharing to her. She also thinks if he wants to marry her etc., These thoughts are so natural for a young girl of marriageable age. I beg your pardon here, I was told today’s girls thinking is lot different and Viswanatha tried to reflect thinking of girls of his time. My personal feeling certain things still exist in today as well but we may refrain from confessing. Similarly Umpathi who likes Neela starts thinking about his chances of getting married to Neela and analyses his family situation etc., I can guarantee that that’s how I would think if I encounter an eligible girl in my life.
Philosophy:
Catching the pulse of audience is the preliminary step for making sure they listen to what author says. Author should now have discretion to say the ‘right’ thing and so prerequisite is author should know what is ‘right’. For knowing what is right, one needs to do lot of study. Even a knowledgeable person like Viswanatha studied history for few years before starting his novels on historical background. Intent is simple, One cannot afford to make mistake in works that may last forever.
So what is right? In Hindu Dharma, Vedas are the basis. There are Dharma Shastras that prophesize what is right and what is wrong. There are puranas which give examples of people who have followed Dharma. It is always recommended to follow these to arrive at what is right. Individual conscience must only supplement and not contradict the above texts. Even great Manu/Gautama in their dharma shastras mentioned that if at any point they contradict with Veda, it is taken that they are wrong. Reason is simple, Vedas are Rishis after contemplating each situation and making sure there are no perils. We through our thought may make mistake by presenting half baked truths.
Lets take a small example. These days many books/movies prophesize a statement “everything is fair in love and war”. I don’t know who coined this phrase but it has immediately become popular because it is a convenient excuse to all misdeeds we do. This is not supported by any of the texts I mentioned above. If one follows this literally, then it means “everything” including the recent acid attacks, rape, eloping, homicide, suicides are fair in love. But are they really?
So author must try to reflect the ultimate truth and not the half baked truth like the above.
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