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Category Archives: Writing Films

Writing Films

Sad Day

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

A sad, tragic day for the Land of Lime.
Dr. Rajkumar is no more.
It isn’t easy to wake up to news like this. When I began writing this blog about six months ago, Dr. Raj was a big part of it. I felt this acute need to write about his films to regain my own moral [...]

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Dr. Rajkumar: Satya Hariscandra

Saturday, March 25, 2006

The plot of the film, Satya Hariscandra follows Raghavanka’s Hariscandra Kavya closely in its broad outline, but the primary objective here is to depict Hariscandra as a flawless character, truthful, unfailingly polite and dharmic.
Hence the film sets out to establish Hariscandra’s character as a truthful and generous king, who never refuses anything to any seeker [...]

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Dr. Rajkumar - Sandhyaraga

Monday, January 30, 2006

‘In God’s eye, every being has a purpose and use.’
‘Is it possible for all human beings to receive the same education and to work at the same job?’
‘If you have money and power, why do you need the assistance of anyone? It is enough if you just get those!’
Made in 1966, Sandhyaraga (literally, [...]

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Dr. Rajkumar: Mayura - 3

Thursday, January 26, 2006

1. The film, Mayura, contains reflections on the conduct of human beings and kings, which hold some relevance for the present. From the dialogue at the Pallava court which I quoted extensively, let me reproduce two excerpts.
Question: who is a knowledgeable (wise) man?
Mayura: one who can consider all women as mothers, wealth that doesn’t belong [...]

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Dr. Rajkumar: Mayura - 2

Monday, January 23, 2006

Last night, I read Devudu Narasimhashastri’s novel ‘Mayura’, and was struck by how faithfully the film had followed its plot. However, there are some major differences; the film is more political. In the novel, Kannada subjectivity, especially as a political community, wasn’t a major preoccupation but here with Rajkumar enacting the role of Mayura, what [...]

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Dr. Rajkumar: Mayura - 1

Saturday, January 21, 2006

This week, as part of Sundays with Dr. Rajkumar series, our focus will be on a historical film, Mayura (1976).
Based on Devudu Narasimhashastri’s novel by the same name, Mayura recounts the story of the founder of the Kadamba dynasty (by and large a reliable entry in wikipedia), Mayurasharma, a Brahmin student in Kanci, the Pallava [...]

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