The last scene of Kalyug is still unsolved for me…
While I was growing up with rotis and films as my staple diet, three brilliant films etched themselves in my mind. They are kalyug, Ardh satya, and Shankarabharanam . They were, are and will remain masterpieces.
During our college days,my friends and I would engage in a lot of discussions and intellectual talks about every film we saw and specially these three films. One of the puzzles was solved by Ramu, thanks to his blog. He managed to get it out, straight from the horse’s mouth… Govind Nihalani himself, who said that, Ardh Satya was a story of father and son relationship and not about cops.
The second one is about the conclusion in Kalyug. I would like to watch it again to know what i feel about it now. The last time I saw Kalyug was 13 years ago. I would really like to chat up with Mr. Shyam Benegal and ask him what the end was and what it meant.
I don’t think Ramu remembers this one. How many have seen kalyug and want to give your understanding of the ending, please feel free. The more the merrier. I had an opinion which conflicted with a lot of people’s take on the film back then. I still want to find out if my take was correct or not. A revisit might change my belief or crystallize it forever…I don’t know..I guess it remains to be seen (pun intended)
The third one belongs to my guru K. Vishwanath and the film was called Shankarabharanam.
This film was released in the Royal theatre in Hyderabad. If i remember right, there were about 25 to 30 people watching the movie along with me. I saw the film and said WOW… The movie compelled me to watch it the next day and once again during the next week…I guess I would have watched this movie in the theatres, 32 times in all. Thanks to the I-Pod and reducing storage costs, Shankarabharanam walks with me and talks to me all the time now. For me it was not the numbers, but the experience of what the movie did to me. I have learnt so much just watching this one film.
All great art evokes doubts and this one is no different. There is this once scene that i had a conflict with. Let me narrate the scene first.
When the boy enters somayajulu’s house for the first time and touches the door, the walls and his footsteps make music with his mother’s voice serving as the prose narrative. This one scene looked very unrealistic and over the top to me. Compared to all the other scenes this was over dramatic. The drama in this scene looked more exaggerated because of the subtlety and control evident in the remainder of the movie. I felt “This is not done.” When I shared this opinion about my master with my other friends, they told me “Satish …you are great”. I felt great about the fact that i had an opinion about my guru and was not reluctant to air it. This perfect film had a flaw and I saw it and others agreed … that was a great feeling.. I think I lived with that ego for almost 26 years…
K.Vishwanath gaaru is my guru and he will always be the one for me. The greatest joy I experienced after making my first film was, when K.Vishwanath gaaru came to my film’s preview and he had appreciated my work.
I have a small story to narrate here
The budget for the music (there are no songs in the film) allocated for my first film “hope” was 3 lakh rupees. But this didn’t stop me from telling my friends that i will shoot the film, dub it, complete the effects, put it on tape and then go and show it to Ilayaraja Sir, and request him to do the music. If he said no, I had my plan B and that was AR Rahman.
People laughed at me behind my back
Their reason was simple. A film with Ramanaidu who is not known for his acting, collaborating with a first time wannabe director was enough to have fun and enjoy a good laugh. Every one said that my chances of even getting a glimpse of these men was as remote as getting them to work on my project. I tried to get introduced to Iliyaraja garu through some friends of mine from the industry. None was willing to extend their hand because they did not believe in my film and therefore did not want to make an ass of themselves.
Finally, it was my production manager who exploited his contacts and helped me with Raja garu residence number. I immediately called and to my surprise the man himself answered
There was a certain blur I felt when he said “I am ilayaraja speaking”. I was speechless for a brief moment but somehow managed to muster enough courage to speak. I still dint know how my body involuntarily stood up and I introduced myself. The distance between Hyderabad and Chennai didn’t matter. Reverence for a great soul does not need distance. Respect makes its presence felt without any obstruction. Raja gaaru’s genius made me stand up and provided me the strength to speak. I told him that I am making this film and in this regard I requested for an audience with him and to my disbelief all he said was. “come and meet me this Sunday”.
The day was Sunday, exactly 4 days after that humbling phone call when i was on my way to meet the master himself. Throughout the entire journey, I was in trance. My soul was indifferent to my body and nothing around me mattered. I was on a pilgrimage to a holy shrine. I reached Chennai and asked for a prepaid taxi. When i was blurting out the address, the guy across the counter retorted in Chennai Tamil “enna saar….street number ellam thevai illai…. Iliyaraja sir veedu sonna podhum”…Literal translation in English is “What sir…you don’t need to tell me the street numbers. Just say Iliyaraja sir’s home. The rest is unnecessary.
In exactly an hour’s time, I was standing in front of Raaja Gaaru’s house. The watchman opened the gate. I introduced my name and purpose of visit. I was asked to wait and the watch man went in. The house was beautiful with lushness of green abound. The watchman returned and asked me to enter the house and wait for a few minutes. I entered the home barefoot (removed the footwear at the gate itself). There was an idol of Lord Ganesha adorning the entrance. I sauntered carefully into the main door with the reverence of a devotee who enters into the sanctum sanctorum in thirumala.
I felt a lump in my heart.. I was chocking with an untold emotion. It was an experience I had never felt before…Beautiful is the only word I can say now… I felt that I was entering a totally different universe replete with a wisdom beyond me. Maybe this is what heaven means.
I took the first step into the hall, then the second… the third.. And looked around….I heard music emanating from the room….It was definitely not the sitar or a piano or a violin. It was nothing that my knowledge could instantly identify with. It was surreal…beyond my wisdom…it was ethereal…celestial.
Just when i was drowning in this whirlpool of divinity, i saw raja gaaru walking towards me. This five feet something magician of music was walking towards me with a warm smile and a halo of the god of Saturn. He neared me and stopped….I stooped to touch his feet. The rest is history..
I finished my narrative of the story. He asked me to finish my film and show it to him once it is completed. He said that he will pend his decision to give music to the movie or not, till I finish the film and show it to him.
Even that was good enough for me. I was on cloud nine. In my state of elation, the three people who stood by my conviction of get Raja gaaru to do the music were, Ribu, swapnesh and my co-director Suresh. I called and told them what Raja gaaru had said.
I felt a greater motivation to do my best and show it to the master and seek his approval.
On the way back to Hyderabad, my heart was recounting the events that had unfolded during the say. Suddenly there was a sense of revelation, a jolt….What did that boy in Shankarabharanam feel in that house….was it what I felt today….It was not dramatic…not over the top…it was real…as real as the air that you breathe…. It had taken me 26 years to realize what my guru was trying to depict in that scene… It was not melodrama that he was after or something unreal he was wanting to showcase…It was the expression of his genius at work…his superior understanding of the subtlety of an emotion called bakthi that was at work…Hats off to you K.Vishwanath Sir….Hats off to you..
My 26 year old ego lay shattered before me. The feeling that I had spotted a faux pas in my master’s art stood corrected. I had tears in my eyes. Heavy compliments are in order….Please accept it
One day on a public platform I would like to relate this story in front of the guru himself and seek forgiveness…That’s a certainty….
Anyway….Kalyug remains unsolved.. Waiting for this week end so that I will watch the film again…
So long then…..bye for now…
Tags: Ardha Satya, Govind Nihalani, Ilayaraja, K.Vishwanath, Kalyug, Ramanaidu, Satish, Shankarabharanam, Shyam Benagal
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
When I started reading this I found myself nodding in agreement yeah what Satish is making sense,it is kind of dramatic but as I neared the end I realised Yes I am mistaken like Satish…
Satish,
Great narration,kindof felt myself with you right in front of Raja Sir …I know this is kind of over dramatic but you will agree if I say it feels good to dream and think of urself in moments you wait a life time for…so I am…writing this I am laughing at myself being a small foool to think yeah K V Sir did a mistake!
He is the bestt! and an gift to my movie world called Tollywood.
Satish sir,
Very very very well written. I could feel the emotion just by reading it. Thanks for sharing this beautiful incident.
I haven’t seen Kalyug in a long time. I should check it out.
Shankarabharanam is and shall always be one of my favourties and I always keep thinking why there are no telugu movies that good nowadays. I guess that thought shall remain as is. For no other movie can be Shankarabharanam.
Satish – sirjee… thank you for this post!
“jan jan ki mann ki madhur vahni – pratyek hriday ki ujiyali – nari ki main kalpanaa charam – nar ki mann mein bas ne vaali”
“i am the sweet pain in every heart, i, the most beautiful peak of one’s imagination, invoking in his/her heart the glorious light…” pardon my insipid translation of Dinakar’s fiery poem… but your words… your experience of oneness with that heart touching thought from KV’s perennial pool of creativity… moved me – and reminded me of these words… i can see your passion to grasp the eternal beauty that Dinakar spoke about, and share it with us.
once again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for this post.
This could be made into a short film..Serious!!!
Kalyug ending? Would love to discuss it Satish..it is one of my favourite movies too…If you can tell what scene are you talking about, we can take this discussion further..
Have you been to Hampi? The temple their caters music like no other..all the pillars and doors have music in it..unable to explain properly, but if you have been there, you would understand
Satish: Kalyug..hmm. I was too young when i saw this film…all i could remember is the stoic face of rekha, somewhat restless expressions on her brother in law’s face but the ending seemed ruthless. Thanks u reminded me i want 2 understand that all over again.
@ Satish, speaking of Kalyug, its one of the few serious movies i loved as a kid. And right now it still remains one of my favorites.
Regarding the ending of Kalyug. It was kinda open ended for me. But if you tie all the threads it comes down to this.
Dhanraj after having lost everything commits suicide, and his death ironically brings an end to the rivalry between the familes.
The key thread is Bharath( Anant Nag) who is distraught on hearing that Karan( Shashi Kapoor) is his own step brother, when his mother breaks the news.
Bharath had been the person who ordered Karan to be killed, as he believes that Karan was responsible for the death of his brother’s son Sunil. In reality, Karan wanted to save Bharath’s life, but Bharath not knowing the fact sends Sunil on that job.
The final scene, when Anant Nag is totally broken down, and is comforted by Rekha, indicates the fact that only she was the person capable of handling his volatile temparement. His wife, played by Supriya, was way too young and immature. I think Anant Nag’s guilt is two fold her, one is that he has killed his own step brother without knowing it, and also the fact that his step brother happened to love Rekha, now his bhaabi. Again Shyam Benegal just leaves it to viewer here, we are not given much background on Shashi-Rekha, apart from the fact that Rekha once mentions Shashi did love her.
Satish,
I haven’t seen your “Hope’ but your post.. your narration inspires me to watch your film..
It reminds me again that I need to see ‘Shankarabharnam’ , is DVD/VCD available in market???
Dreamer
You are not being over dramatic, I do understand how you felt… thank you for your comment..
I haven’t yet finished with my experience with Raja garu… I will tell you more in my next post
Sarang
Thank you..
Wb
Thank you
I did hear this Dinakar’s poem from my friends father, he is a Hindi pundit..
OM
Thank you. Please read Ratnakar comment about the end in kalyug…
I did go to hampi, I was there to all those places you are talking, I love that place.
Sunitha
Ratnakar wrote the end nicely.. read and try to recollect it…
Ratnakar
I was interpreting the open end in a very different way..
Rekha loves Sashi kapoor, more so because her relationship with Rajbabbaer is not working.
I thought in the end Rekha kills Ananth nag..
I vaguely remember the scene.. When supriya pathak is about to come in to the room, Rekha tells her to close the door. Then we see Ananth nag in her lap.. her hand slowly moving towards his neck.. Then the camera shows Rekha stern face..
Cut to Kulbhushan goes to pick up Rekha son from the hostel.. I think he says beta now you have to take care of everything…
Janantik
The DVD of Shankarabharanam is available every where
Satish, Hmm, guess u have a point there.
Comming to Guru gaaru, KV, he was an expert at understatement.
Do you remember that scene in Swati Mutyam. Radhika sees Kamal being beaten up by his uncle, when he asks him for a share in the property. She does not speak anything, but she stops the beating, and then handing over the stick to Kamal, she simply gestures him to do the same, following which Kamal proceeds to beat the daylights out of his uncle. No dialogues in that scene, but Radhika in one expression conveys anger and disgust wonderfully. Hats off to KV, coz Radhika can be OTT at time.
Seriously i am missing KV in Tollywood.
ratnakar, you are right.. that is an amazing scene..
i grew up with hindi cinema.. i started seeing telugu cinema regularly since 2003 .. indra on wards.
but K.Vishvanath garu films i never missed.
Shankarabharanam,sagara sangam and Swathi muthyam after seeing these three films .. i said to myself.. satish..one day you have to make movies.. so here i am
@Satish: I have seen Hope and i have a question for you. I’ve noticed that to be considered good you have to be traumatic and kind of painful and only such films get awards and recognition. At the cost of sounding rude, i must say it’s comparatively easy to write depressing or angry stuff. However to write something pleasing, without sounding like saccharine bilge, is extremely difficult. Do u agree with me?
sunitha
i don’t agree with you..nothing is easy to write, every writing has its own difficulties.
and if you are talking about my film “hope”.. why was it like the way it was, please wait to see my post.. i am writing about the making of “hope” you will understand.
coming to awards, by and large they are given to meaningful, purposeful films… i am sure you have no problem about my film getting an award.. i guess.
by the way can you name one film (so called your kind of film)which should have deserved a award.
Satish: How can u be so insensitive? We are all here bcoz of our passion for cinema. Why will i have a problem if ur film gets an award, i was merely asking u 2 clear my doubt and u did. In many of my interviews with film personalities, especially comedians they would say that acting out happy or comic scenes is far difficult, i thought the same holds good here too.
Movies are now a primary media for storytelling in our culture today. While the benefit of this reality maybe debated, it cannot be doubted that movies have a powerful influence upon our lives. Hope did make an impact, it was clean. But I always wondered why wholesome or commercial films never get a recognition at the national level.
Anyways,..As Hope started, my first impressions were here we go again, another shallow, poorly acted boring movie with predictable script and two-dimensional characters. But as the movie went on I found myself caught-up in the story. Do make a fun movie some day
sunitha
there you go again,”But I always wondered why wholesome or commercial films never get a recognition at the national level”. please tell me one name which deserved an award.
by the way Lage Raho Munna Bhai was a fun film.. it got four national awards..
show one film of that class in Telugu.. can any one come any where near it,.. let them come then i will also join you to ask ..why …
sunitha.. we are very very far away from the so called good cinema..
we can only question .. what you questioned, when we can make films like Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Wednesday, black friday, Khosla ka Ghosla, lagaan, Chak de,.. the list dosent stop…
Hmmm nice point satish…kalyug is mahabharata…no denying the fact here…
The way i saw the end was simple…Shashi used to “like”( love is a powerful word) Rekha, but, as he has been dealt throughout his life, doesnt get what he likes…i.e Karan from Mahabharatha…
Rekha is unaffected by his liking her, but, as is common, you tend to develop a soft corner for the person who likes you…so Rekha did have a soft corner for SK..as was draupadi…
The ending scene…Ananth Nag was deeply affected by the outcome of the events…and goes into a self-imposed excile/depression and doesnt have anymkre affinity towrds running the business..just as in Mahabharat..after Pandavas win, the path followed to achieve the win and the end result, did affect them a lot and within few years they take vanvaas, giving the reigns to parikshit…similarly in kalyug, Rekha does solace Anant Nag..here she is shown as draupadi albiet just one hubby…so, she takes over the reign from ananth nag for a bit, and asks supriya pathak to close the door, as she doesnt want the entire family to see this gullible, sensitive side of ananth nag…
As was the case in Mahabharatha..after the kurukshetra war, pandavas wernt as interested in ruling..and parikshit too young to take over..so, they let him go through his training and once they thought he was fit enough, they left..similarly in Kalyug, Kulbhushan calls on Rekha’s son, and probably, he would train him and eventually take over from Ananth Nag…
I see Kalyug in a totally diferent light, and i have seen many take diametrically opposite view of the same, but, nevertheless all povs make sense…that was the genius of Shyam Benagal and Dubey sir…
OM
you said it right.. and the last line sums it up…that was the genius of Shyam Benagal and Dubey sir…
all i can say to them is hats off..
Wonderful writing about Shankarabharanam.
I watched Kalyug a few months ago. Almost the same time, I also reread the novel called “parva” (in Kannada) by S L Bairappa. The first is Mahabharatha in modern setting, the second one is Mahabharatha in realistic way.
The end is expected. Rekha is of course Draupadi, Anantnag is Arjuna. Arjuna finds solace in Draupadi, not in Subhadra. Whether Draupadi liked Karna, we don’t know, but she always thought she belonged to Arjuna, not Dharmaraja. She also admired Krishna more than Arjuna. As any other women (or men), she is a complex character… and the end of the movie depicts all this.
Keshav
mr. satish kassety,
coming from hyderabad, what’s your take on the latest films coming out of Ram Gopal Varma’s film factory? how do you rate him as a director and which films of his have you liked?
beautiful story, i was really moved.
anish
thank you
If I recall correctly, in Kalyug, Rekha’s husband Raj Babbar is portrayed as a modern Udhishtir- a politically correct man whom she sees as indecisive and inert. In comparison, her obvious admiration (and perhaps longing!) for Anant Nag- her headstrong brother-in-law (a sort of a modern mix of Arjun and Bheem)is often portrayed through some subtle scenes, especially the way she reacts to his marriage plans. Shashi Kapoor (Karan) and Rekha angle is displayed through an old photograph of that pair kept in Karan’s room and the uncomfortable way in which they glimpse at each other in the party.
The last scene to me seemed like Rekha taking charge of Anant Nag as a guide-cum-mistress but now that you have mentioned the possible murder on her mind, her son being told by Kulbhushan that he would be looking after the empire makes more sense.
Interesting how same scene can be interpreted in so many different ways by so many different people. Yes, definitely a question to put to Shaym Benegal in his interview!
waiting for your reply mr.kasetty…
ricky
Ramu is a good friend of mine…what do you want me to say about him or his films,that others don’t know..
well, i do rate him quite high as a director.
about the films i liked of his, are many.. like Shiva to begin with, then, Kshana kshanam ( my all time favorite), rangeela, satya , company, sarkar.
I also thought that Rekha kills Anant Nag…it was the expression on her face with Anant’s head resting on her lap…And she said she was there to fix everything or something along those lines..
Anyway it could mean something else to..
but one thing I didnt quite understand or I would have preferred if it was explored a bit more was the Rekha-Raj Babbar marriage..