Drama behind 'Samskara'

Mohan S.Bhawa

Before I saw “Samskara” in Bangalore recently, I had heard a great deal about it. This art film, which was released in important centers of Mysore in early July, grossed about a lakh of rupees in its first week.

Another print of the film was quickly procured and released to a second cinema to meet the rush. The film is still showing to packed houses in two cinemas of Bangalore (morning shows only). This, in spite of he fact that the producer-director. P.Rama Reddy, is comparatively unknown as are the cast, the cameraman and others involved with the film. The low-budget film, made in Kannada, has no songs, no dances, nor any box office gimmicks.

The plot of “Samskara” (The Last Rites) revolves around the activities of a group of villagers who live, half a century ago, in an obscured hamlet of Southern Mysore. The strict Madhava Brahmain group lead a life of Spartan simplicity, bound by all the religious taboos prevalent at the time. The Brahmins are led by a weak and vacillating man known as the Pranesahcharya.

The story begins with the death of Narayanappa. A Brahmin who has flouted all the age-old customs of his sect; Narayanappa not only has a mistress of an outside caste(Snehalata Reddy) but he has broken all the other codes.

His death poses a peculiar dilemma. Since the man was not a true Brahmin ought his last rites be conducted in the true Brahmin fashion? Pranescharya is unable to decide and he seeks guidance from the shastras.

Meanwhile, disaster strikes the village. Plague which has caused the death of Narayanappa, strikes one villager after another. The village Brahmins, who are obliged to abstain from food until Narayanappa’s case has been settled, are thrown into confusion.

Praneshcharya retires to the forest to pray to his personal deity for guidance where, by chance he meets Chandri, Narayanappa’s mistress. In a moment of weakness he sleeps with her. Full of remorse and guilt, he returns to the village and tells his fellow-brahmins that he is unable to deal with the case. When he finds that his wife, ailing for many years, is dead due to the plague, he flees from his responsibilities and the village.

He takes to the road and comes across a wayfaring traveler who is as talkative as he is silent. They come to a town where a religious festival is being celebrated. The cheerful traveler persuades Praneshcharya to partake of free food being served to Brahmins. Upon being recognized the Pranescharya abandons his food and runs away. When he meets his fellow-traveller again he talks to him for the first time.

He tells him he has been a weakling and a fool and he must go back to his village and face whatever life has to offer. Realizing the weaknesses in his own make-up, he decides to condone those sins in Narayanappa. He returns to the village to cremate the body.

(Courtesy: Hat's Off Pattabhi)