Life is Death… Death is life…

Courtesy: Sunday Express

The perspective on life and death comes from celebrated film-maker and visionary Pattabhirama Reddy. At 81, Pattabhi has started work on Savitri, based on Shri Aurobindo’s work. The narrative depicts life’s triumph over death. In Pattabhi’s hands definitions are transported to another dimension. His films have not just challenged the senses, but also, uncannily, breathed life into art. Perhaps more than any other film-maker of our times, his creations have blurred the gap between illusion and reality.

Savitri is a family offering in every sense. The film will be jointly directed by Pattabhi and his son Konarak. Daughter-in-law Kirtana is involved in the production while daughter Nandana and son-in-law Hari, along with Pattabhi’s nephew Vijay, have invested in the project. Looking on, as if blessing the project, are two arresting visulas which greet the visitor to their house - a portrait and a framed photograph of activist, actress and Pattabhi’s wife, Snehalata Reddy. “I thought about Savitri when I was a schoolboy and it has been with me since then. Following Death can be a transforming experience,” says Pattabhi.

But it required more than the original tale of a wife bargaining with Yama, the God of Death for the release of her husband, to inspire Pattabhi to pick up the camera. “I felt, even as a schoolboy that Savitri gets back her husband. Satyavan, by a verbal trick,” Pattabhi says. “I used to go to Pondicherry with my mother. After she died, my brothers, sister and myself had an interview with the Ashram Mother and she told me, ‘You will go round the world, but finally you will come back to us.’ I returned to Pondicherry several times. On one of these visits I read Aurobindo’s Savitri, and my doubt was resolved. Aurobindo makes life succeed. In his work, life challenges death. The beauty of life is so strong that death appears as a mere lapse in the continuum of life. Knowing this, Savitri has no fear ...”

Konarak and Kirtana interject, “In Aurobindo’s text there is a romantic connection between life and death. All that life is, death cannot be. Death won’t make mistakes’. Life does, but life can also love.”

Konarak’s quotes from the text, “Let deathless eyes look into the eyes of death...”

Life. Death. Love. In the hand of the Master, they move beyond formula into spiritual realms. As Pattabhi explains, Savitri “affirms the golden age which is yet to come.” Unlike the Mahabharata which predicts a violent end to the world, Savitri's message is “optimistic” because (it) offers people a new vision of death ... not a terrifying vision, but a life process which is continuous with gaps in between.

Life. Death. Love. These have always been essential ingredients of a Pattabhirama Reddy film. Even the early ones in the fifties when Jayanthi Pictures, with K V Reddy at the helm, was big news in Tamil and Telugu cinema.

Pattabhi made three films with K V Reddy. The first, Pellinati Pramanalu (Marriage Vows) which was based on the seven-year itch, won the President’s Medal for the Best Telugu Picture. The second, Krishna Arjuna was a mythological film starring N T Rama Rao, Nageshwar Rao and Saroja Devi. It was a major hit. Bhagichakram starred N T Rama Rao and Saroja Devi. Unfortunately, it was a total flop and the company had to go into liquidation.

The sixties were charaterised by peoples’ movements and anti-establishment protests. For Pattabhi, it was a time “to make a film in which we all believed.” It was also a time when the Reddys, then in Chennai, were actively involved in theatre. Snehalata Reddy, a founder member of the Madras Players was also a keen activist. The Reddy’s world involved theatre, film and social justice.

During this period the seeds of Samskara were sown. Both Sneha and Pattabhi were sympathisers of the Socialist Party. A dinner invitation to luminaries like Ram Manohar Lohia, Madhu Limaye and Gopal Gowda yielded unexpected dividends. “I remember Gowda (who was then the head of the Socialist Party in Bangalore) narrating the story of Samskara to Lohia. U R Ananthamurthy had written the book. I said I would like to make the film. I wanted to make it in Kannada because commercial films were cheapest to make in Kannada. The Karnataka government had just started providing subsidies as an incentive to promote Kannada films,” said Pattabhi.

The first to be told about this was Pattabhi’s friend and celebrated artist Vasudev who then resided at Cholamandal. Vasudev informed eminent theatre person Girish Karnad. “Girish was very excited and asked whether he could do the script. Of course, I said, and not only the script, we are also considering you as the hero of the film,” said Pattabhi.

Vasudev introduced Pattabhi and Sneha to Tom Cowan, a documentary cameraman for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The meeting was to cement a life-long association (Cowan has just completed a six-week holiday with the Reddys in Banglore). Cowan joined the unit as cameraman. The lead roles were played by Snehalata Reddy and Girish Karnad. But despite the formidable production backup, Samskara encountered problems with the state apparatus. Its anti-Brahminical stance and attack on the caste system obviously threatened power structures in the country. Initially it was banned. “It took one year to be released. There was a parliamentary debate for half a day before I. K Gujral (then Information & Broadcasting Minsiter) gave the green signal, reminisces Pattabhi.

Samskara made waves at home and abroad. At the Locarno Festival it bagged the prestigious Bronze Leopard award. If Samskara disturbed the status quo, Pattabhi’s next venture Chanda Marutha (Wild Wind) proved to be disquietingly prophetic. Based on journalist Lankesh’s story, with Snehalata Reddy, well known Bangalore stage actor, Ashok Mandanna and film personality M K Bhaktavatsala in the key roles, it was a premonition of the Emergency.” It was also a time when fact and fiction became inextricably intertwined with the Reddy’s lives. Pattabhi recounts, “the last day of the shooting coincided with the first days of the Emergency”.

Konarak remembers, “Cops outside watched us during the shooting. What happened in the film happened in our house also.” In the film, the “person who was the revolutionary (Ashok Mandanna) was hiding in the house... Illusion was to precede reality. During the Emergency, George Fernandes took refuge in the Reddys’ household. Snehalata Reddy was arrested. Pattabhi adds: “She was vocal in her criticism of the Emergency. She was the only political prisoner in the Bangalore city Jail. In the women’s prison area, all the others were criminals.” “But even here,” Konarak points out, “she fought for their rights; on issues like water. She kept fighting till she died.” Work on Chanda Marutha came to a halt. The tapes were seized by the authorities. During these fraught times, Pattabhi began work on Srinagara Masa (Paper Boats), a film about love and reconciliation, with Deepa Dhanraj and Amol Palekar as the protagonists. Sneha remained a vital part of the project. Kirtana points out that “Sneha would send notes about the role to Deepa from jail.”

With the Janata Party assuming power, work on Chanda Marutha resumed. But the damage had been done. Snehalata Reddy, who returned home during the last weeks of the Emergency, passed away. Official apathy had taken its toll. “Snehalata was asthmatic, but they wouldn’t even send her to a hospital or nursing home...” recalls her son. Chanda Marutha was released, but it didn’t do very well.

Between Sringara Masa and Deverakadu (God’s Forest) in 1994, there was a hiatus. But Deverakadu made up for the gap, winning the President’s award for the best environmental film. It also saw Konarak co-ordinating with his father for the first time (Konarak also provided the music score) and Kirtana playing the title role opposite theatre person K T Abraham.

Now, seven years later, another Pattabhirama Reddy film begins its journey. U R Ananthamurthy is script consultant. Shooting should be completed by the year end. Pattabhi hopes for “a global release next summer.”

(Courtesy: Sunday Express, 4th March, 2001)