Mapping the Heart

Meanwhile, it8217;s the crew of masters that8217;s drawing gasps: art direction by Thota Tharani, cinematography by Madhu Ambat who8217;s shot most of Mani Ratnam8217;s films and early Manoj Night Shyamalans in the US like Wide Awake, script and screenplay by Madurai-based veteran Indira Soundararajan, writer of hit TV serials like K Balachander8217;s Marumadesam, Krishnadasi and the ongoing Rudraveena on Sun TV; choreography by Bollywood master Saroj Khan, costumes by Rukmini Krishnan, who dressed He Ram and Agnivarsha. The most sensational coup: music by that famously reticent classical purist, Carnatic violin vidwan, Padma Bhushan Lalgudi Jayaraman.

8220;Lalgudi mama set the pace,8221; admits Ramanathan. 8220;He8217;s never wanted to compose for films before. Once he agreed, the rest of it had to be worthy of him.8221; 8220;I8217;ve known Sharada8217;s family for a long time,8221; says the maestro. 8220;The story was good. The theme was classical, unlike Sivaji Ganesan8217;s offers in the past. I wanted the music to match the personalities of 80 years ago. I have done five songs, using basic instruments. For instance, the raga Hamir Kalyani Hindustani Kedar is very melodious. And I8217;ve done a Mallari processional dance tune in three speeds. The whole thing took about six months.8221; The maestro is known to pick out his musical thoughts on a valuable Italian violin gifted to him in London by Western violin legend Yehudi Menuhin back in 1965. Nor is he isolated in a classical tower: 8220;I enjoy the music of Ilayaraja and Rahman. My favourite is Baiju Bawra.8221;

8220;My happiest moment,8221; reveals camera master Ambat, not known to gush, 8220;was when Lalgudi mama said I had a painterly approach to cinematography. I never imagined that he even knew my name. I rate this as one of my best films.8221; Agrees Tharani: 8220;I do enough commercial films. It was nice to do something so unusual. We shot in old houses, at Kumbakonam and a little village outside Tiruchirapalli. I had to make a mantapam on the banks of the Kaveri. I really like my work in this film, though it8217;s really a trio, you know, of Madhu, Sharada and I.8221;

Cast and crew volunteer that Bangalore dancer-producer Padmini Ravi, co-producer Sundaresan and director Ramanathan created a good atmosphere. Says script-writer Soundararajan, 8220;Sharada wrung me dry. She had a full-time researcher, Bhavani, who is doing a PhD on devadasis at Madras University, on hand throughout the project. Madhura and Kamavalli Hydari and Moily are the two devadasi protagonists, but my favourite is Kashi, the temple watchman, whose relationship with Madhura is spiritual and intense. Do you know, the village devadasi was once the cultural custodian, with a higher social position than the panchayat chief and the karnam administrator?8221;

Says Padmini Ravi, 8220;It8217;s wrong to see devadasis as 8216;flesh trade8217;. In fact, it8217;s today8217;s dancers who sleep with ministers to further their careers. Those women had a spiritual core, it8217;s a shame they were 8216;abolished8217;.8221;

Most intriguingly, Saroj Khan, the cultural 8216;outsider8217;, found a big soul connection: 8220;The music was just out of this world! I have never worked to 8216;classical8217; before, so it took me time to understand. I asked Padmini Ravi to demonstrate mudras for me and developed my movements from that. It was very thrilling.8221;

Laughs Ravi, 8220;Everyone was shocked that we picked Saroj. But she is a master and brilliant at her art. You8217;ll see!8221;

We will, in April, and hear the music in March.

THE POWER OF THE IDEA
Sharada Ramanathan challenges film formulae

CONSIDER the facts. A forty-ish singleton earns a fat salary in Delhi, queening quietly over the Indian art world as Program Officer, Culture 038; Media, at the Ford Foundation. She quits after six years to make a feature film, never having made one before. Almost everyone thinks she8217;s crazy. She sets up a solitary nest in Chennai, enrolls for a basic course in film-making and works on her story idea. It must be about a devadasi, who, alone in the Indian paradigm, was empowered by her art. The devadasi was a custodian of cultural spirit whose entire sub-culture was felled by India8217;s colonial masters. The issue is debated to death but amidst the howls of 8220;disenfranchisement8221; nobody seems to be looking at the lyrical beauty of the art itself.
All the while, Ramanathan is jobless and living off her savings. When she8217;s ready with a story, she begins calling people. The best people.
Miraculously, everyone agrees. Ask everyone why, the answer is unvarying: 8220;It was a good idea8221;. Ford Foundation pitches in with some money, a passionate pair of producers appear, a clever associate director Raveendran agrees to help the rookie director. Mission Impossible becomes a new story in the Indian Dream.