Continued from part 8

Part 9 (last part)

When a writer/director sets forth telling a story, he is sure to be caught up in the trappings of the box-office success formulae, swayed away by the current trends blowing in the market and get fixated on making a hit movie that would earn him another chance of finally making a movie of his choice, that is personal and satisfying. When the maker pass the buck to the audience and attribute his inability of creating a body of work that suits his passions and his tastes, to the box-office rules, current trends and hit movie-making techniques, not only does he undermine the intelligence and sensibility of the audience in accepting good movies, but also silences his own instincts betraying whatever drive and whatever enthusiasm drove him to picking up a pen and start scribbling on a blank sheet of paper; and the result, movies that are become the flavors of the week, flavors of the month, until they yield their positions to the next flavor of the week and the upcoming flavor of the month. Because a movie (for that matter, a story) is not (and need not be) a reflection of the current trends and tastes of the movie-watching public, because a movie is not (and need not be) guided by the existing standards of the society, and because a movie is not (and need not be) bound by whimsical and inconsistent rules box-office, this amazing art form has the great convenience and advantage of transcending space and time, and would be appreciated for how it struck a chord with the watcher than what it is actually about. After the huge humdrum at the box-office dies down, time remains the sole yardstick sizing up the performance of a movie, deciding if it was able to create an impact on the audience remaining in their memories long after the old trends have blown away to give way for the new ones and the formulae that were once cast in stone have been rewritten and reworked up. Longevity - the sustaining capability of a story, a character, a performance and on the whole the movie, to withstand the brutal onslaught of time and tastes on generations of audience, decide the true mettle of the movie.

When Telugu film was just finding its way in the commercial corridors of the industry in the late seventies, (in his own words) Viswanath handed 2 coconuts one each to Veturi and Mahadevan at the launch of "SankaraabharaNam", trusting his true partners in art, believing his instincts and respecting the ability of the common man to understand and appreciate the complexities of "ucchwaasa niSwaasamulu vaayuleenaalu, spandinchu navanaaDulae veeNaa gaanaalu" and the simplicities of "aamani kOyila ilaa naa jeevana vaeNuvu loodagaa". Box-office beckoned, taste hearlded the welcome of this nouveau cinema that remained truthful to the culture, time presented an opportunity to get familiar and re-introduced with the forgotten arts. And here it is, close to three decades since the movie has come and gone - Sankara Sastry still remains an examplar of discipline and commitment, the music still remains quite fresh and evocative, the lyrics are still approachable and deep and the movie has successfully withstood the cruel breezes of the time and taste. Between the period of "SankaraabharaNam" and "saagara Sangamam", Viswanath struggled with social themes in "saptapadi" (caste discrimination), "SubhOdayam" (true awakening of the inner self) and "Subhalekha" (dowry system) built around the same construct of classical song and traditional dance. Whenever he returned to his roots of depicting an artist's personal struggle of finding an inner voice that would set him/her in peace with the world around, Viswanath met with commercial success - "saagara sangamam", "swaati mutyam", "sruti layalu", "swarNa kamalam". And in between the periods when he ventured into social themes with "swayam krushi", "sootradharulu", and the like the result remained an artistic satisfaction (in muLLapooDi's words - aardhika kaLaa khanDam). So what was it about the voice that was personal which claimed commercial success and the same tone which was voicing concerns about the society that met with lukewarm response?

Keeping the standards of the movie - the music, the dialogues, the lyrics and the performances, the same, Viswanath personal movies had a way of holding audience's attention sympathizing with the struggle that the artist undergoes, making them identify with his pain, loss, suffering and finally his triumph and success. The mould, howevermuch, beaten and oft repeated has the advantage of being utterly sensitive to his struggles providing a unique cathartic experience when he meets success at the end. Nobody would feel bad for the loss of life of Balu at the end of "saagara sangamam", for, the audience knows that because "naasti taeshaam yasah kaaye, jaraa maraNajam bhayam" (the common rules of age and death do not apply to body of art (adulation)), Balu lives through in the art that he has successfully passed down to Sailaja. Nobody would feel cheated for the end of the life of Sankara Sastry, for he died a man in peace seeing the successful transition of his wishes, hopes and aspirations in preserving the torch of art and culture in Sankaram and the experience of watching such intensely personal stories ending on such triumphant notes, on some level, provide an opportunity to the audience to reinforce their views on their great culture and rich heritage. The social themes, howevermuch reflective of the current society, remain observational, at best, and impersonal, at worst. "sootradharulu" tackles with the subjugation and reformation of the bestial instincts in the man by instilling a voice of reason, by appealing to the sensibilities that made him a part of the society in the first place. Grappling with such a theme, and set against the typical subdued atmosphere that Viswanath's themes commonly operate under, "sootradharulu" failed to make violence more personal and identifiable whereupon when the villian character finally reforms for good, the exercise becomes an act of mere observation than identification (compare this scene to a moment in "Gandhi", when Om Puri character renounces his weapons and his ways at the fasting bed of Gandhiji throwing a piece of Chapathi at him to break his fast, Gandhiji asks why he took to weapons in the first place. Puri (character) replies that he had his 2 year old killed by the muslims and as an act of revenge he started bashing any 2 year old muslim kid that come across his ways against the walls. The moment holds on the disturbed faces of both Gandhiji and Puri. Gandhiji clears his throat and advises Puri to find a 2 year Muslim kid, whose parents have been killed in the violence, and raise him as his own kid, but raise him Muslim. Puri watches him for a couple of seconds and falls at his feat. Now the audience clearly understands the agony of Puri and the greatness of Gandhiji for such an advice. This is one of many ways of making violence personal, identifiable and reformable).

Through a small body of work (that do not exceed 25 movies), Viswanath created a world of deeply impressionable characters occupying a world that is not set in fantasy and unrealistic ground, caring immensely about passions that resonate in them from deep within. Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao once said that there are only two makers in the industry that never shied away from their true paths, no matter the box-office pressures and producers' guidelines - one is K.Viswanath and the other R.Narayana Murthy. A successful movie is just not one that regales the audience momentarily showing them a good time and giving them their monies worth. A successful movie is one that remains with the audience for a long time, automatically extending its lifeline with the passing timelines, making them not only entertained but, more importantly, enlivened of having had the experience of walking with the maker, meeting with the characters that make the audience privileged and proud for having known them and undergoing the process of transitions and transformations that are cathartic and enriching to not just the characters themselves, but also to the audience. If success is measured on thus on a graph of time vs merit, K.Viswanath remains the one of most successful film-makers that telugu industry has ever known, who has shown the extent of a sensible mind to not just the telugu audience but also to the national and international film enthusiasts.

End.

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