Travelling south Asian film festival @ NGMA

Travelling south Asian film festival had been going around in the National gallery of Modern art in Bangalore for few weekends. This festival features some of the documentary from different parts of south Asia involving travelling and culture. I managed to attend three screenings last weekend, three totally different subjects.

Come to My Country: Journeys with Kabir and Friends: This was the documentary of three people, one is Prahladji, a teacher from Malwa district in MP, whose passion lies in travelling around with this troupe and his tambourine, and singing the Kabir songs in various gatherings; the second is Linda Hess a scholar who is teaching Kabir’s poems and songs in Stanford University for humanities students and the third is the director herself, Shabnam Virmani. First half is basically about the life of Prahladji and Linda. At times the documentary seemed to go overboard with spirituality and all those hoo-ha about Indian culture, but it soon gets back into the mainstream of Kabir songs. Linda Hess was at times boring! Prahaladji and his wife were wonderful simple individuals, very innocent, frank and witty. I loved their part .They journey together from their individual worlds to various places in search of friends of Kabir. On their way to and inside Banaras and later US, they meet many ‘fans’ of Kabir, including crooked saints and spends the time singing and contemplating the verses of Kabir discussing social issues prevailing in various parts of the country and world. Their discussions and disagreements over various aspects were very interesting. And Kabir’s poems are like arrows.

Saamam: This was a Malayalam documentary by Ramachandran K about MDR (MD Ramanathan), a carnatic musician and vocalist who used to sing at high octaves which is considered a very difficult thing and something which nobody often attempt. With booming voice he sings most of the recitals very slowly giving ample time for each words adding his own expressions into it. He was the disciple of Tiger Varadachariar another high octave singer whose got ‘Tiger’ attached to his name because at his high octave sound that almost turns into slow growls of a tiger! That was their uniqueness and also something that didn’t let them become popular vocalists. Many people didn’t find such high octaves pleasing to hear due to the growling gruff sound of it. But his followings and disciples are popularizing this through various mediums. Documentary featured Sanjay Subramaniam, Sreevalsan J Menon etc

The Salt Stories: This is a documentary by Lalit Vachani who takes a trip from Sabarmathi to Dandi, following Gandhiji’s path traversing through the villages where Gandhiji had halted on his way to break the salt law of British imperialism which would then ignite the non-cooperation movement. On his journey he meet various people from different human created strata of the society divided and ghettoised by caste, class and religion. It goes beyond the glossy and shining image of ‘vibrant’ Gujarat and does a profit-loss calculation of the development - How the SEZ culture is uprooting people from their villages, how the no-slum policy is mere aiming to bring down the slums without providing adequate rehabilitation to the people. He talks with many people, he met on way,- village heads, his own production controller and cameraman and some self proclaimed Gandhians who where revered elsewhere, about the slum clearance, communal riot, caste issue etc and is shocked and saddened when he finds that most of them happens to support the system and prevailing acute castes and communal despise . Some relief comes in the form of those inspiring individuals who had been fighting against the odds of the society, like the folks from Napa village which didn’t get affected by the post-Godhra violence, Ketanbhai - a progressive corporator, the salt farmer of Dandi, the people working towards the justice for forcefully evicted people and many similar individuals. It was a very poignant documentary which tried to tell what the real face of development is, which is pretty much the case of most of the upcoming states. At the end when the credits roll down, the pricking question as to what should take the priority – Social development for all or economic development for the benefit of few, lingers in the mind.

Mayomi: Mayomi was a documentary feature from Sri Lanka, showing the life of one of the Indian Ocean Tsunami victim, Mayomi's, life in the post LTTE Sri Lanka. Her husband was in navy, and was killed in a fight against LTTE and her mother died in the tsunami disaster that left many dead and thousands homeless. This feature showed how she was trying to cope up with taking care of her brother's son and her own ailing father, and at the same time struggling to get the new house allocated, as per the Tsunami relief, by roaming through the corrupt corridors of bureaucracy. To add to her troubles, her brother is a habitual offender and is another burden for her. The documentary was tad boring as it failed to evoke the true emotions of being homeless for years.

This coming weekend there are few movies being shown as part of this festival

"Raavan" - Mani Ratnam's Maoist Ramayan

Mani Ratnam has been one of the film-makers who has keenly worked on portraying certain social realism in movies that are often very relevant to that period.. His movies are often woven on layers of different themes that are encountered by the plot as it thickens. For instance, Roja was made during the dark periods of Kashmiri insurgency where behind the love story lied the harsh realities of extremism and the emotions of the perpetrators as well as the victims, while in Bombay he explored the communal riot that broke loose following the Babari Masjid issue and the possibility of triumph of humanity over communal forces. Each of these movies had a firm layer on which he casted his story. In Raavan he uses the ongoing war between law and outlaws in the dense tribal zones of this country. He tackles the story from the point of view of three characters mainly. They each represent a party in the whole drama

Characters

Dev: The civilized, ambitious police officer assigned to maintain the law and order. Doesn't realises the crimes being committed by the officers from his group. Becomes the Law that apparently created lawlessness. He is the embodiment of the power that Law allows, his actions will be deemed as legal whatsoever be the means he take.

Raagini: Legally married to Dev, leads a happy married life. She believes Dev is police, legal and good while Beera to be outlaw, illegal and bad. She never realised the atrocities committed by the police. Her realisation of what is good and bad, what is legal and illegal, who is Raam and who is Raavan is a statement to us. She, very well, represents the 'People', who attaches itself to the legal side of the world. The one who is persistent in believing what outlaw does is wrong and what law does is right. She is ill-informed about the crimes committed by state. She is the one who has to take the fire test of loyalty at the end and decide who is right and who is wrong.

Beera/Veera/Raavan: The stylish, outlaw. His war is against the law. He is the saviour of the tribal, the master of guerilla warfare. He seeks revenge against the crimes committed against the innocents in the name of law and order. He represent all the forces resisting the law.

Ramaraavanan.

The main theme of the movie was the fights between the good and the bad. Dev and Beera are the two poles, their destiny is interlinked. They doesn't change, they are how they were and wouldn't escape their definite destiny. So what is the relevance of this theme? As the movie tag lines suggest, Is there a Ram in Raavan, is there a Raavan in Ram? Who will decide which of the two are what. Raagini forms the epicenter of the movie, the movie starts with a Raagini and ends with a different one. She transforms as she comes to know about the stories at the other end. The clouds depart, sky becomes clear. Finally she was able to decide. Going back the theory, People have many pre-concieved notions about the world. We read, discuss, apply logic but finally we do come up with some presumptions on various aspects. We trust the sources to be true, but are they always true? What if the things that you believed to be true was in fact a lie? Do we always get to see things from a bird's view? Was Ram really a good person?

Tribal world

The canvas on which the movies is drawn is a tribal world in the middle of a jungle. The hostile, humid, forest and its children who had been living closely for decades or centuries. The movie brings out the beauty to its fullest thanks to the directors of photography. It shows how isolated are these cultures from the rest of the country. There is an instance When Beera's brother bring food for Ragini which she declines with a sense of disgust, is  offended and he tells her that what she just refused is what they eat everyday. They are self-sufficient, they don't want big big things, they wouldn't even know what salary is let alone cribbing over it, they don't want pizza huts or shopping malls or multiplexes. World is not enough for whom, then? Tribal zones appears to have caught the attention for past couple of years. Tribal zones of Orissa, Chattishgargh, Jharkhand, Andhra, Karnataka are all targeted by big Industrialists. Attappady tribal zone has been in their radar following the geological survey reporting the possibility of gold reserves in the hills. Numerous tribal have already been evacuated for various projects. To them it is like expelling from their country. No one bothers doing some maths to assess the gain against the loss.

Ramayana

Ramayana is one of the popular epics of India, apart from that it is considered a holy epic. Ramayana is explained to the current world with a lot of disclaimers that is enforcing the reader to keep in mind that Rama is an avatar of Vishnu and Sita is the Avatar of Bhoomidevi,  to consider anything that is explained in the text to be gods will so as to prevent any logical questioning on the illogical things. Questioning the episodes like killing of Bali, Asking Sita for purity test, Humiliation of Shoorpanekha, Forcing Sita to exile, conducting Ashwamedham to expand the kingdom etc., though seemingly ungodly, could be considered blasphemy. Such epics have only one ending Gods win, Demons loose. It is very much the same in the reality.The fight between rights and wrongs will go on till the extinction of humanity, the question is how do you decide on which side you are. Beeras will die. Law always win the war. Everything comes back to normal, except Raagini. If at all there is any meaning to all the war that should be the one word - Change.

Hovering over the technicalities and faults

Raavan was one of the outstanding movies featuring subtle use of camera and technology. Camera and the background music blends with the ethos of the environment. The movie is a treat to the eyes of those who love the greenery, water bodies and the lingering dampness of evergreen forests. Talking about the shortcomings of the movie, the editing department had to look into the abrupt usage of scissors through the flow. Most of he scenes are short, due to which the director is not able to sustain the relevance of characters between scenes. If bad editing is indeed the case then they should realise it and bring out a director's cut version when they release the dvds. Lousy casting would be the next point, Mani Ratnam should realise that his signature on the movie is well understood amongst the movie lovers. He could have employed any new face in the movie and still people would come to watch the movie with the same enthusiasm

.All in all, there is something to ponder on the back of this movie. Not the lousy love story, but something more serious.