Samskara (film)
Encyclopedia
Samskara is a 1970
film in the Kannada language
which is based on a novel of the same name, written by the renowned writer and Jnanpith award winner, U. R. Ananthamurthy
. The film is said to have been a path-breaking venture and is supposed to have pioneered the parallel cinema movement in Kannada. Pattabhi Rama Reddy was the director of this film and it was produced by the company, Ramamanohara Chitra. Singeetam Srinivasa Rao was the executive director for this film. The word Samskara means ritual in the Kannada language. The film was based on sensitive caste
issues and was hence controversial. It was initially banned by the censor board for portraying caste-based politics but after being released, it went on to win the President's Gold Medal for the Best Indian Feature Film of 1971.
in 1965, when he was studying at the University of Birmingham
for his Ph.D.
. After he saw the film the Seventh Seal
by Ingmar Bergman and was deeply moved by it. His tutor Malcolm Bradbury suggested him to write about his experiences in India concerning the multilayered Structure of Time in Indian society. After completing the story, he sent the manuscript to Girish Karnad
in India who got in touch with Pattabhi Rama Reddy and came up with a film script for the same. Samskara was the first Kannada film to be directed by Pattabhi Rama Reddy who had mainly dealt with Telugu films earlier. A visiting Australian cameraman, Tom Cowan was selected to shoot the film. The film was shot in a village in the Shimoga district
of Karnataka
.
of Karnataka
. Majority of the people who live in the street belong to the community of Madhwas
(a Brahmin
community). The people who stay here have a traditional mindset and strictly follow the rules defined by their religion. Two of the main characters in the story are Praneshacharya (Girish Karnad) and Naranappa. Praneshacharya is a devout Brahmin
who has completed his Vedic
education at Varanasi
and has returned to Duravasapura and is considered as the leader of the Brahmin
community of his village and also of the surrounding villages. His main goal is to attain liberation or moksha and he is willing to go to any length to achieve it. In order to remain focussed on his goal and as an act of self-sacrifice, he marries an invalid woman and hence remains celibate. The other main character is that of Naranappa, himself a Brahmin by birth but one who has rejected the set rules of Brahminism by eating meat and by keeping the company of a prostitute named Chandri. Once Naranappa along with his friends catches the sacred fish in the temple tank, cooks and eats them. This causes the Brahmins in the villages to rise up against him and they approach Praneshacharya to throw him out of the village. Praneshacharya decides against taking this extreme step and he believes that Naranappa can be convinced to get rid of his immoral acts. Once Naranappa visits Shimoga and he returns to Duravasapura with high fever and dies. The Brahmins are left in a piquant situation because according to Brahmin principles, a person who dies should be cremated as early as possible. None of the Brahmin's want to come forward to cremate the body since they feel that by cremating Naranappa's body, they will become polluted themselves as he was against the Brahmin principles during his lifetime. However, the Brahmin principles also stipulate that a non-Brahmin cannot cremate the body of a Brahmin. Praneshacharya, being the leader is responsible for finding the answer to this difficult problem. He reads the holy books but they do not provide any solution. He then goes to a temple to pray to God and spends a whole day there. Disappointed at not being able to solve the problem, he trudges back home and on his way, he encounters Chandri. He gets mesmerised by her beauty and when he wakes up in the midnight, he finds himself lying on Chandri's lap. Chandri rushes back home, finds that the body of Naranappa has started to rot, gets it cremated in secrecy and leaves Durvasapura. Praneshacharya is left in a piquant situation on whether he has to reveal his immoral act to the people of the village or keep quiet about it. Feeling guilty, he leaves the village but the guilt never leaves him. Finally deciding to own up his act, he returns to the village and the story ends here. Its left to the imagination of the viewer on whether Praneshacharya finally owns up the guilt or not.
as Praneshacharya and P. Lankesh
as Naranappa were the main characters. The role of Chandri was played by Snehalatha Reddy, the wife of the director Pattabhi Rama Reddy.
1970 in film
The year 1970 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 9 - Larry Fine, the second member of The Three Stooges, suffers a massive stroke, therefore ending his career....
film in the Kannada language
Kannada language
Kannada or , is a language spoken in India predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas and number roughly 50 million, is one of the 30 most spoken languages in the world...
which is based on a novel of the same name, written by the renowned writer and Jnanpith award winner, U. R. Ananthamurthy
U. R. Ananthamurthy
Udupi Rajagopalacharya Ananthamurthy is a contemporary writer and critic in the Kannada language and is considered as one of the pioneers of the Navya movement. He is well known among Indian authors. He is the sixth person among eight recipients of the Jnanpith Award for the Kannada language, the...
. The film is said to have been a path-breaking venture and is supposed to have pioneered the parallel cinema movement in Kannada. Pattabhi Rama Reddy was the director of this film and it was produced by the company, Ramamanohara Chitra. Singeetam Srinivasa Rao was the executive director for this film. The word Samskara means ritual in the Kannada language. The film was based on sensitive caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
issues and was hence controversial. It was initially banned by the censor board for portraying caste-based politics but after being released, it went on to win the President's Gold Medal for the Best Indian Feature Film of 1971.
Production
The story was written by U. R. AnanthamurthyU. R. Ananthamurthy
Udupi Rajagopalacharya Ananthamurthy is a contemporary writer and critic in the Kannada language and is considered as one of the pioneers of the Navya movement. He is well known among Indian authors. He is the sixth person among eight recipients of the Jnanpith Award for the Kannada language, the...
in 1965, when he was studying at the University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
for his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
. After he saw the film the Seventh Seal
The Seventh Seal
The Seventh Seal is a 1957 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set during the Black Death, it tells of the journey of a medieval knight and a game of chess he plays with the personification of Death , who has come to take his life. Bergman developed the film from his own play...
by Ingmar Bergman and was deeply moved by it. His tutor Malcolm Bradbury suggested him to write about his experiences in India concerning the multilayered Structure of Time in Indian society. After completing the story, he sent the manuscript to Girish Karnad
Girish Karnad
Girish Raghunath Karnad is a contemporary writer, playwright, screenwriter, actor and movie director in Kannada language...
in India who got in touch with Pattabhi Rama Reddy and came up with a film script for the same. Samskara was the first Kannada film to be directed by Pattabhi Rama Reddy who had mainly dealt with Telugu films earlier. A visiting Australian cameraman, Tom Cowan was selected to shoot the film. The film was shot in a village in the Shimoga district
Shimoga District
Shimoga District is a district in the Karnataka state of India. A major part of Shimoga District lies in the Malnad region of the Western Ghats, a hilly area known for its green forests, plentiful rainfall, and as the source of many of the area's rivers. Shimoga City is the administrative centre...
of Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
.
Storyline
The story is set in a street in a small village called Durvasapura in the Western GhatsWestern Ghats
The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...
of Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
. Majority of the people who live in the street belong to the community of Madhwas
Madhwas
The Madhwa are one community of Brahmins of India, whose members follow the doctrine of Dvaita or Dualism as codified by Madhwa Acharya ....
(a Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
community). The people who stay here have a traditional mindset and strictly follow the rules defined by their religion. Two of the main characters in the story are Praneshacharya (Girish Karnad) and Naranappa. Praneshacharya is a devout Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
who has completed his Vedic
Vedas
The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....
education at Varanasi
Varanasi
-Etymology:The name Varanasi has its origin possibly from the names of the two rivers Varuna and Assi, for the old city lies in the north shores of the Ganga bounded by its two tributaries, the Varuna and the Asi, with the Ganges being to its south...
and has returned to Duravasapura and is considered as the leader of the Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
community of his village and also of the surrounding villages. His main goal is to attain liberation or moksha and he is willing to go to any length to achieve it. In order to remain focussed on his goal and as an act of self-sacrifice, he marries an invalid woman and hence remains celibate. The other main character is that of Naranappa, himself a Brahmin by birth but one who has rejected the set rules of Brahminism by eating meat and by keeping the company of a prostitute named Chandri. Once Naranappa along with his friends catches the sacred fish in the temple tank, cooks and eats them. This causes the Brahmins in the villages to rise up against him and they approach Praneshacharya to throw him out of the village. Praneshacharya decides against taking this extreme step and he believes that Naranappa can be convinced to get rid of his immoral acts. Once Naranappa visits Shimoga and he returns to Duravasapura with high fever and dies. The Brahmins are left in a piquant situation because according to Brahmin principles, a person who dies should be cremated as early as possible. None of the Brahmin's want to come forward to cremate the body since they feel that by cremating Naranappa's body, they will become polluted themselves as he was against the Brahmin principles during his lifetime. However, the Brahmin principles also stipulate that a non-Brahmin cannot cremate the body of a Brahmin. Praneshacharya, being the leader is responsible for finding the answer to this difficult problem. He reads the holy books but they do not provide any solution. He then goes to a temple to pray to God and spends a whole day there. Disappointed at not being able to solve the problem, he trudges back home and on his way, he encounters Chandri. He gets mesmerised by her beauty and when he wakes up in the midnight, he finds himself lying on Chandri's lap. Chandri rushes back home, finds that the body of Naranappa has started to rot, gets it cremated in secrecy and leaves Durvasapura. Praneshacharya is left in a piquant situation on whether he has to reveal his immoral act to the people of the village or keep quiet about it. Feeling guilty, he leaves the village but the guilt never leaves him. Finally deciding to own up his act, he returns to the village and the story ends here. Its left to the imagination of the viewer on whether Praneshacharya finally owns up the guilt or not.
Cast
Girish KarnadGirish Karnad
Girish Raghunath Karnad is a contemporary writer, playwright, screenwriter, actor and movie director in Kannada language...
as Praneshacharya and P. Lankesh
P. Lankesh
Palegar Lankeshappa was a major Indian writer and journalist, writing in the Kannada language. He is probably the only writer who can be credited with bringing magical realism to Kannada literature apart from innovative use of the language...
as Naranappa were the main characters. The role of Chandri was played by Snehalatha Reddy, the wife of the director Pattabhi Rama Reddy.
Awards
- National Film Award for Best FilmNational Film Award for Best FilmThe National Award for Best Feature film is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, India, and was constituted in the year 1954. This is one of the Golden Lotus Awards given among National Film Awards...
- 1971 - Bronze Leopard at Locarno International Film FestivalLocarno International Film FestivalThe Film Festival Locarno is an international film festival held annually in the city of Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. After Cannes and Venice and together with Karlovy Vary, Locarno is the Film Festival with the longest history...
(1972)