Tulu Cinema at 35

Enna Thangadi was the first film to be released in Tulu in 1971. Tulu cinema is turning 35 this year. Rightly for the occassion, film Sudda made it into the international headlines few days back, with it winning the award for the best Indian film at the eighth Asian Film Festival "Ocean - Cinefan" held at New Delhi. The film is based on a Tulu play Bojja by Narayan Shetty Nandalike and was directed by P N Ramchandra. The film depicts the gradual fall of the feudal system in coastal region of Karnataka.

Speaking of Tulu films, first film that strikes in my mind is Koti Chennaya with its immortal songs Padumaleda Brihma and Ekka Saka. Though the new version of Koti Chennaya was made and released this year it made less impact than the original. Koti and Chennaya were twin brothers and heroes of Tulu Nadu and their story is beautifully depicted in the film. Other films which worth mention are : Pagetha Puge, Beesaththi Babu, Tudar, Badkada Bile, Mari Bale, Bollidota, Sathya Olundu, Dareda Budedi, Kaasdaaye Kandani, Yer Malthina Thappu. K N Taylor is the prominent name associated with Tulu films with the films he made. More recently, in the 90's, one film which was huge hit and run successfully in Bangalore too was Bangar Patler starring Kannada actress Sudharani. It also won national award for the best film. It ran for 107 days in Jyothi Talkies in Mangalore.

Another film which made in the 90's was September 8, directed by Richard Castelino, starring Kannada actor Sunil and Kannada writer, Dr. K Shivaram Karanth. The film was shot in 24 hours (One complete day from 6 AM to next morning 5 AM on September 8th - to be exact 23 and half hours) entirely in Mangalore, a record in the world cinema. 9 Cameras with 9 units were used for the completion of the film in the given time.

To mark the 35th year of Tulu cinema a programme was held in Mangalore on Friday, August 25. Kannada actress Jayamala inaugurated the programme and music director V Manohar inaugurated the 7 day long Tulu film festival. Jayamala expressed her desire to make a film on Abbakka, the queen of Tulu Nadu who faught bravely against the Portuguese.

Last year some 7 Tulu films were announced. Some of them had theatre artists like Naveen D Padil who has already made a name for himself with his Tulu dramas like Pudar Deethiji, Nervous Narayane, Oriyardori Asal. Hope to see more and more Tulu films hit the screens in the near future.

A scene from Kadala Mage

Updates : 20th January 2008 : Kadala Mage was released in 2006 and went on to become a hit and had Diganth (of Mungaaru Male and now Gaalipata fame) in a lead role. Diganth hails from Theerthahalli, Shivamogga/Shimoga.

Updates : 02nd May 2008 : Birse starring Tulu drama veteran, Naveen D Padil was released on 11th April 2008 in Prabhath Talkies, Mangalore. You can read the review of the movie here.

Regards,
Raveesh

References :
- mangalorecity.com
- mangalorean.com
- daijiworld.com

Literature : Local or Global?

Thought of writing something about literature. And this post talks about whether literature can be global or local. Read more to find out.

Which do you enjoy most - story of Bangalore guy(if you are in Bangalore) or of some unknown guy in the streets of London or New York? Whatever may be the arguments, I feel that when you read story which involves the characters and environment of your home town or village, you will appreciate it much better. That's why Goruru Ramaswamy Iyengar's Naani makes more sense to us than Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer.

As such every literature is local. Author tries to explain his experiences in the local context only. In this era of globalization, literature is one area on which it had less impact. Though this is changing with the global internet connectivity and this virtual world changing people's lives across the world. People sharing their experiences in the web nowadays can make more sense around the world now.

So it was hard to identify Charles Dickens's David Copperfield among us whereas characters in Dr.Kota Shivaram Karanth's novels were easy to identify. When I say literature is local, language can not be a barrier. So it is more joyful to read R K Narayan's English novel Swami and friends and even imagine the imaginary town Malgudi. When it comes to humor writings, this is more prominent. There would be hardly anyone who had not enjoyed Padukone Ramanand Rao's Kodeya Vichara(if you had read that lesson in the school days).

Even when a Indian author travels to a foreign country, there too he sees it through the eyes of an Indian. So when you read travelogue of a Indian author, it is more convincing. So you will sure enjoy Goruru Ramaswamy Iyengar's humorous travelogue Amerikadalli Goruru.

But there may be exceptions. Urbanites who would have grown in different environment may find convincing and make more sense out of the writings of a foreign author.

Your comments are welcome.

other news : Sad to see Cricket tri-series in Lanka, first becoming bi-series and then a monoseries (with Lanka at home, just kidding). But rain disrupting the series is nothing new to the series played in Lanka. But this is one of the few occassions when the entire series had to be called off.

Raveesh

Heroes in the End

You feel immensely happy when you see the hero winning in the end of the film fighting against all odds. Anybody remembering Revanth in the movie Beladingala Baale when at the end of the movie solves the puzzle to find the Beladingala Baale's address when he is in a chess tournament.

We are like that. We wait till the last minute to do our work. Let it be the paying of bills, finishing the assignment in colleges or planning for a trip. And its more joyful when finish your work in the end when the pressure is mounting rather than you do it in the beginning itself. Out of the chaos you find the solution and it is better. You are more happy to see Indian cricket team winning the final against Australia after losing all the matches against them in the league stage rather than winning all the matches including the final. Strange isn't.

Remembering a incident in the school days. Our teacher asked that how many of you would like finish the homework much early before the submission date. Hands raised were few. But when asked how many of you would like to finish the homework on the day before the submission date many hands were raised. Many of us still would remember the last minute assignment completion whether in school or in college. In college that was different, come early in the morning to college finish the assignment work just before the lecturer arrives. And how can I not mention the day or night before the exam when you yourself are tensed and get calls from all of your friends for those extra tips for the exam. Even remember some of my friends saying proudly 'I read all in the last 2 days and still able to finish and write the exam'.

Our movies reflect our attitude and sometimes it influences the latter. We want happy adventurous endings in our films. So for all, the title suits the best "Heroes in the End".When success comes to you on a daily basis you are obsessed with it. So when greater challenge comes before us, we would enjoy facing it.