Greatly influenced by Kannada literary works, the Sandalwood has witnessed scores of touching fictions being translated into motion pictures
R Guruprasad
Adaptation of books into cinema is nothing new for the Sandalwood, as the Kannada film industry is known. Some of the works which received global acclaim include BV Karanth's ‘Chomana Dudi’ (1975), Girish Karnad's 'Kaadu' (1973), Pattabhirama Reddy's 'Samskara' (1970) (based on a novel by UR Ananthamurthy), which won Bronze Leopard at Locarno International Film Festival and Girish Kasaravalli's 'Ghatashraddha' (1977), which won the Ducats Award at Manneham Film Festival Germany.
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‘Chomana Dudi’ is based on a novel of the same name, written by Shivaram Karanth. The Film was released in 1975 and won the Swarna Kamal, India's National Award for the best film. ‘Kaadu’ (forest) is a 1973 Indian Kannada film written and directed by Girish Karnad. The screenplay was based on a novel of the same name by Srikrishna Alanahalli. The film won awards at the 21st National Film Awards, the 21st Filmfare Awards South, and the 6th Karnataka State Film Awards. ‘Kaadu’ is regarded as one of the earliest Parallel Cinemas in the Kannada film industry. Renu Saran in her book, ‘History of Indian Cinema’, cites Karanth's ‘Chomana Dudi’, ‘Kaadu’ and Girish Kasaravalli's ‘Ghatashraddha’ as the films that “spearheaded” the new wave Kannada cinema in the 1970s. The Kannada Cinema saw its first ray of hope of surrealism in N Lakshminarayan's directorial debut ‘Naandi’ (1964). Featuring mainstream actors like Rajkumar, Kalpana and Harini the movie was both a critical and commercial success. The film, produced by Vadiraj, set a landmark by being the first ever Kannada film to screen at an International film festival. The movement gained significant momentum in the 1970s and 1980s resulting in numerous national awards and international recognitions to the Cinema of Karnataka.
Noted directors Girish Kasaravalli, Girish Karnad and BV Karanth led the way for parallel cinema in the Kannada film industry. Many literary stalwarts entered or collaborated with cinema in this period. Some of the other notable filmmakers of this period were P Lankesh, GV Iyer, MS Sathyu who were later followed by TS Nagabharana, Baraguru Ramachandrappa, Shankar Nag, Chandrashekhara Kambara in the 1980s. Actors like Lokesh, Maanu, Anant Nag, LV Sharada, Vasudeva Rao, Suresh Heblikar, Vaishali Kasaravalli, Arundhati Nag and others rose to fame. Kannada cinema, along with Bengali and Malayalam films, contributed simultaneously to the age of Indian parallel cinema.
If we look at the movies that made a great importance and which were adapted from literary works, then the important name that strikes us is ‘Bangaarada Manushya’ (Man of Gold). This was a 1972 Kannada language film based on TK Rama Rao's novel. Ramarao was known for his crime and detective novels, but this film was a social drama. The movie was historic on many counts. Firstly, this was a movie which ran continuously for more than two years in theatres. Breaking away from conventional movie making, the producers preferred an open discussion with the crew and preliminary survey of outdoor shooting venues. Though the film was panned by critics upon its release, it turned out to be a blockbuster and today it is considered to be as a milestone in Rajkumar's career. On the centenary of Indian cinema in April 2013, Forbes included Rajkumar's performance in the film on its list, “25 Greatest Acting Performances of Indian Cinema”.
In fact, ‘Bangaarada Manushya’ had a tremendous impact on moviegoers. Some city youth, inspired by the movie's central theme—returning to one's ancestral village—left their jobs, came back to their respective villages and took to agriculture. The film had a deep social impact on the audience as well and there are many stories of people in the city going to villages and becoming farmers. The film also touched on very important topics like rural development, modern agricultural practices, co-operative movement, social unity, honesty, love and dedication. In the beginning of the movie, it shows the hardship of farmers and how much they have to toil in order to make both ends meet. The movie subtly says that middle-class and working-class are the backbones of the country by showing the son of a rich village head as being a spoiled brat wasting his money in the city. One of the most important messages given in the movie is that, one should not waste time and money in trying to modernise/westernise oneself through posh lifestyle.
Another movie which was based on a book and made a tremendous appeal was ‘Gejje Pooje’ released in 1969. Directed by legendary Puttanna Kanagal, the movie was an adaptation of a novel—‘Gejje Pooje’ (Gejje means anklet and pooje means worship, but in this context of the film, it means a mock marriage) by MK Indira. The film was remade in Tamil as ‘Thaaliya Salangaiya’, in Telugu as ‘Kalyana Mandapam’ and in Hindi as ‘Ahista Ahista’. This socially relevant movie explored the problem of Devadasis. The heroine Chandra (played by Kalpana) is the daughter of a Devadasi is in love with a young man who is her neighbour. The young girl understands the value of education and with the support of her mother intends to reject the life of prostitution. Circumstances and the young man's suspicion make him abandon the heroine. Ironically, the girl he marries is the daughter of the heroine's father who had abandoned both her and her mother. Chandra agrees to perform ‘gejje pooje’ as part of initiation into a life of prostitution but in the end she commits suicide by swallowing a diamond.
A notable adaptation of a literary work was ‘Tabarana Kathe’. This 1987 movie directed by Girish Kasaravalli was based on a short story of the same name by Poornachandra Tejaswi. The story revolves around Tabara Shetty, a government servant in the ranks of a watchman. Tabara Shetty serves the government till his retirement. He is a dedicated worker and respects the system that sustained him for so long. But problems emerge after his retirement. Film historian S Theodore Baskaran picked Tabarana Kathe in Rediff.com's ten best Indian films of all time.
Another movie worth mentioning is ‘Sharapanjara’ (1971), which was directed by Puttanna Kanagal fondly called 'Chitra Bramha' (God of Films) and based on a novel by Triveni of the same name. The movie has Kalpana and Gangadhar in lead roles. The film revolves around the issues of a woman's chastity, the acceptance of mentally ill by society and unfaithful spouses and was so popular that ran for one year in Karnataka in about three theatres. The character Kaveri portrayed by Kalpana is one of the strongest and widely acclaimed characters in Kannada cinema. The movie gave impetus to Kalpana's career. The film won the award for Best Feature Film in Kannada at the 20th National Film Awards in 1972. It also won three awards at the 1970-71 Karnataka State Film Awards including the award for First Best Film. The film was later remade in Telugu as ‘Krishnaveni’ (1974) starring Vanisri. ‘Ranganayaki’ (the Heroine of the Stage) is a 1981 Kannada film directed by Puttanna Kanagal starring Aarathi, Ambarish, Ramakrishna, Ashok, Rajanand. The film is based on the novel ‘Ranganayaki’ by Ashwattha.
Though in recent years, there has been a decline in movies baseed on literature, still there are good films based on book. Recently ‘Kiragoorina Gayyaligalu’ was adapted from a literary work by P. Tejaswi. n
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