Bangarada Manushya (1972)
Director: Siddalingaiah; Writer: Siddalingaiah; Producer: R. Lakshman Gopal; Cinematographer: D.V. Rajaram; Editor: P. Bhaktavatsalam; Cast: Rajkumar (Kannada Actor), Bharati, Balkrishna, Arathi, M.P. Shankar, B.V. Radha, Srinath, Dwarkeesh, Vajramuni, Loknath, Lakshmidevi
Duration: 02:54:37; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 67.116; Saturation: 0.052; Lightness: 0.371; Volume: 0.202; Cuts per Minute: 6.946; Words per Minute: 74.903
Summary: Ruralist frontier melodrama in which hero Rajiv (Rajkumar) abandons his urban career to help his widowed sister and her impoverished family reestablish themselves. Overcoming the ingratitude of his elder brother (Loknath) and the self-serving opposition of several villagers, he builds a garish home symbolising his family’s success. However, his wife (Bharati), wearing her red wedding sari, is chased by a bull, falls into a well and drowns. His two nephews, Sethuram and Chakrapani (introduced as a comedy duo), accuse him of bigamy with the woman (Arathi) who later is revealed to be the illegitimate daughter of his late brother-in-law whom Rajiv secretly protected. In the end, Rajiv leaves and renounces all his worldly possessions. The film recalls the upwardly-mobile and gaudy neo- traditionalism associated with Rajkumar as well as Rajesh Khanna (cf.
Bandhan, 1969, and
Dushman, 1971). From the opening, as Rajkumar steps out of the train dressed in red and black singing the homecoming song Nagunaguta nali nali to the bizarre sequence showing his decision to abandon his family (camera tilting down to his uneaten meal), the film constructs a fantasy village as the authentic underpinning of urban values, echoing the formally more sophisticated ruralist realism of the contemporary New Indian Cinema. Rajkumar’s biggest 70s hit and one of the top grossers of Kannada cinema.
The Star arrives. Rajeeva's (Rajkumar) arrival in his native village. He takes a deep breath. There was some controversy around the introduction of the star, as the camera begins by showing his feet and then gradually tilts up - as though we, the spectators, are ourselves first touching the feet of the idol and then looking up. The familiar BOAC bag and the red and white costume however reveal a more familiar resemblance to Hindi film modernity. Important, and distinct from the Hindi, is the sense of tragedy implicit in this sequence itself: this was the star's beloved land, and it would be for this land that he would banish himself.
The song itself - 'keep smiling, come what may' - the reference to the land, to the mother, to the energy of childhood and the wisdom of old age - these would be the motifs of Kannada-ness. There are many examples from the Kannada literary world which exalt the Kannadaness feeling. Rajkumar is till today seen as the only hero who gave importance to the usage of a particular type of written Kannada, avoiding any type of slang. The script writer Hunsur Krishnamurthy was very active in the Kannada literary scene and brought to the film a formal prose Kannada diction that was unlike the colloquial form used in other films of the same time. It also became a fashion that movies produced later inserted a song almost always when introducing the hero about the glory of the culture and the beauty of the land.
Rajeeva arrives home, only to see the dead body of his brother-in-law. This death was symbolic of the death of the farmer in India in general and Karnataka in particular; the visual of the death follows the end of the song and its note of old age and death.
After the cremation - considering the future. This sequence sets up the ethical, but also legal, basis for the crisis. The two brothers of Sharadamma are indebted to their brother-in-law for their education. This family is entirely dependent on their land holdings which (later it will transpire) they have handed over to tenants. The eldest brother now abandons his sister at the instigation of his shrewish wife, Chhaya. He is a bank clerk in a small town, with an entirely urban life. Being the wife's brothers they would technically have no claim to the property. They however would have a strong emotional and social responsibility as they are 'sodara mavas'. In Karnataka, it is an accepted principle that the sister's daughter will be married to the brother: the fact that this does not happen in this instance is a part of the film's sub-text.
Introduction of a key character, Rachutappa (Balakrishna), the kind-hearted moneylender. Several significant facts about the economy emerge here. When one of the farmers who owes him money begs for more time to repay, he says, 'You went to Bangalore, saw a cinema, ate in a hotel, had a good time there and spent the money. Stupid fellow, you farmers have now learnt to gamble, watch movies, this will lead to your destruction'. This is a direct reference to absentee landlordism and to the fact that the farmers are no longer interested in labour intensive farming and are more attracted towards the vices and comforts of metropolitan society. This movie sends a message of work being better than worship. Rachutappa's lament is at the way the quality of hard work has deteriorated and the way city life is invading the village. His outburst is his stance against the form of modernity that he finds corrupted. The farmer's response, that his 'land has come up for auction', could refer to the Land Reforms Act that would take away lands under tenancy or share-cropping and give them to their tillers and it could also mean that due to the negligence shown during the last crop year he has not been able to pay taxes and now he faces a risk of losing his land to the government.
Introduction of the two sons of Sharadamma, Keshava (Vajramuni) and Chakrapani (Srinath). The two are apparently doing well at studies. It must be remembered that Sharada's husband was pro education as he has supported his younger brothers-in-law and his two sons in getting education. He does not have the anti-city/ modernity stance that Rachutappa does. The fact that his two sons are going to college full time also explains the handing over of land to a tenant(labour shortage), even though they live in the same village. This presentation is essentially to contrast their later role, as inheritors of the wealth that Rajeeva would amass for the family, and is a part of the pedagogic mode.
Further conspiring - the eldest brother's wife is desperate to keep her and her family's distance from this situation. This is also because they have no stake in the land. The elder brother leaves for the city, effectively abandoning the family to its fate. Rajeeva's cutting jibe, that at Rs 900 per month he cannot afford his expenses, is again significant. Unlike usual public conversations that only discuss money issues in a round-about way, if at all, Rajeeva's open discussion of his brother's finances is unusually direct. This is to also highlight the unpredictable nature of income in the agricultural sector as against the assured sum in the government sector. 900 rupees, as is clear with the tone that Rajeeva employs, is a very big amount and the reluctance on the part of the brother's family to help is only because of the petty attitude and not any material constraints.
Rajeeva outlines his plans to Rachutappa: he will stay, and build the family's fortunes anew. Is this possible, Rachutappa asks. He promises to help the two sons financially, comparing them with his own no-good son in Bangalore. Rachutappa whom we have seen as an anti-city/anti-modernity ideologue is more balanced here. He understands the necessity of education and the move to the city in order to get that education.
Cut to the no-good son (Dwarkeesh), doing what people do in Bangalore, the land of pleasure and vice - at one level a straight 'comedy track' figure, at another level this is once more the insertion of the city-space.
Rajeeva sees his two nephews off. They go to Bangalore, where they receive the support of Rajeeva's city friend who sets them up. The growing integration of country and city further reiterated.
Sharadamma's own ill-fated trip to the city. The city motif keeps recurring. She goes to see if the eldest brother will help, but she is insulted by her malicious sister-in-law. Rajeeva had warned her that this is how it would be, and to wait for retribution for the day when they come for help.
The land question. It transpires that the only assets the family has are two acres. These have been leased to Honna, who is their tenant. He gives them neither any money nor a share of the crop. Rajeeva now will try and get the land back. They fight, and Honna agrees, under pressure, to return the land. But when he asks, 'what will happen to me?', the question is evaded. James Manor writes, about the 1973 Land Reforms Act, that 'On paper. the Act banned leases (with minor, insignificant exceptions) and gave tenants considerable security against takeovers by landowners of the plots which they worked. It fixed a ceiling on holdings - with the excess to be distributed among the poor - banned the acquisition of land by anyone except cultivators and agricultural labourers, unless a buyer planned to take up cultivation', and that 'before 1974, landlords had the right subject to certain restrictions to resume control of tenanted land. The new Act forbids this' ('Pragmatic Progressives in Regional Politics: The Case of Devaraj Urs', Economic & Political Weekly, Annual Number, Feb 1980, pg 202-203)
Rajeeva and the land. He learns how to wield the plough. The sequence is replete with symbolic motifs, crucial to the film.This was the sequence, along with the later one where Rajeeva cultivates the rocky land, that U.R. Ananthamurthy would later criticize for its unrealistic portrayals.
Rajeeva romances Laxmi - the sequence begins with her tending to his blistered hands, and leads to her solo song.
The first reference to the 'golden man'. Rajeeva sends support not only to the two nephews but also to Sridhar, a poor student, whom he happens to meet when he visits his sister's children.
The comedy track continues: the no-good urban son of Rachutappa returns. The father wants him to study, like Sharadamma's sons, but he comes back to the village because - this is interesting - that is what he is 'told he should do'. He regrets having come here, but he has no choice.
This is the key, 'Mother India', sequence of the entire film. It begins with Rajeeva telling Rachutappa his plan to acquire additional land, since the existing land they have will not bring in sufficient income to pay for the nephews' education and the niece's marriage. He says he has planned to acquire, with government support, the extra land that is considered uncultivable: what is known as gomala land, meant only for grazing. Rachutappa believes that this is an impossible ambition. In an entire sequence that constitutes direct propaganda for the State government, Rajeeva now unveils the government's support, which would be to extend interest-free loans for acquiring such land. The land is now cultivated, using stone-blasting techniques. The song now compares such hewing of stone with the great sculptures of Belur and Halebid. There is also a documentary sequence of Visvesvaraya receiving the Bharat Ratna from the President of India in 1955.
The cultivation is now a success. The loan has been repaid, prosperity has been assured. The saga is now ready to move into its next stage.
The first introduction of mystery - Rajeeva says he has to go to Belgaum to look after a 'friend' who is ill.
Everyday life in the new prosperity. The new culture established with the family - now reunited in the orchard, enjoying the fruits of plenty - will take place under the sign of the new patriarchy of Rajeeva. The earlier sequence, of his mysterious departure to Belgaum, will haunt this scene of prosperity. The film mocks English, and modernity generally as exemplified by the comic Shivalingu (son of Rachutappa).
'Happily-ever-after' scenarios amid the cloud. Rajeeva returns from his mysterious mission. The entire sequence with Lakmi - he has bought her a sari, and they are jointly blessed by the Doctor Dattu - followed by the young people taking permission from the patriarch to go for a picnic - signal the new everyday under prosperity.
Second reference to the secret. The Doctor fixes his daughter's marriage to one of the two nephews. Rajeeva has 'decided' that she will only marry into this household. There is an on and off resuming of the patriarchal role played by Rajeeva. here he decides almost unilaterally to marry one of his nephews with Dr. Dattu's daughter but later he gives both Keshava and Sridhar a choice to disagree. Mysterious mention of someone named Sharavati - he says that is his only worry. The Doctor tells him to be careful.
Laxmi's first encounter with the mad bull. The bull will attack anything in red. The overtly psychoanalytic allusions aside, there is also a tragic reference to what will happen.
The romance now fructifies into the forming of the couple. the promise of marriage is more or less made. Laxmi assumes her wifely duties, of bringing food to the man in the field. The family also now colludes to keep the couple together.This is the typical 'pre-interval' happily-ever-after moment, that shall be disrupted by the post-intermission story.
The sequence of the 'santhe', the village fair - and the second phantasy sequence of the film (after the propaganda sequence) - the couple watching a 'Bestara Nrutya' performance, dissolve into it. The very famous Mysooru mallige song hit. This song has a strange backdrop for the filming, the location of the song is the famous Karavali coastline but the song has only fleeting reference to the coast either in terms of language, culture or local history. It can be argued that this song has been placed in this backdrop to take care of the geographical representation of the Karavali belt. The farming practices of the malnad and bayaluseeme are represented through Rajeeva, the northern Karnataka has been represented by the 'Belegaum mystery' and that leaves the Karavali alone. This trend can be seen in almost all the Kannada films where each geographical region is represented to draw audience from those parts
Why did he go to Belgaum? Rachutappa gets involved in this mystery. The problem is that Rajeeva is postponing his marriage to Laxmi, for reasons that baffle both his sister Sharadamma and everyone else.
The Belgaum mystery - it appears that he has a wife and child in Belgaum already. The possibility of him having a past life - for we know nothing very much about Rajeeva before he lands up in his red shirt and white shoes at the film's beginning - now haunts the story. All of the dialogue deliberately takes us in the direction of this misreading.
The eldest brother and his moneygrabbing wife Chhaya: now that Rajeeva has turned around his family's fortunes, they want their daughter to marry her cousin. The eldest brother is slightly embarassed at having to ask, but steels himself.
Rajeeva leaves the woman in Belgaum. Neighbour gossip: this does not sound right, He comes once in every so many months. What could be going on?
Rajeeva arrives in his new car: further signs of prosperity. Rachutappa now asks him why he is not marrying Laxmi. He says he cannot do so unless the nephews are first married. There is more to his reticence than the plot alone can handle. Rajkumar is clearly stepping outside the boundaries of plot here. Madhava Prasad writes that 'in Rajkumar’s films, as in those of MGR and NTR, the hero himself is both the romantic youth as well as the embodiment of patriarchal, traditional values. Thus, he is often seen in roles that involve a paternal positioning'. There are therefore several sequences - such as this one - that provides occasions set up for the 'hero to exercise more concretely his patriarchal, paternalist function'. Prasad adds that the 'absence of a traditional father figure may be read in two ways'. 'One could say that it was precisely the emergence of the star into a position of moral and political dominance that rendered the father figure weak, as the star transcended the familial system even as he worked to protect it' (in this instance the patriarchal figure, the brother-in-law, is literally dead at the beginning of the film itself). 'On the other hand, the absence of the father figure as a stable, unchallenged representative of a durable social order may also suggest that the impossibility of community (defined linguistically in this case), under the given social conditions, rendered it difficult to make do with a traditional parental figure. The supplementary paternalism of the hero contributed crucially to the illusion of community' (Prasad: Cine-politics
Film Stars and Political Existence
in South India' New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 2014, pg 105-106).
Build up to the second propoaganda climax. Honnayya, former tenant of Rajeeva's family land, is reduced to thievery to survive. He steals fruit from Rajeeva's orchards. Rajeeva and the prople employed by Rajeeva along with a few admirers beat up the thieves, but he will not hand them to the police. Instead, he speaks again to the government and has land allotted to him. 'We are all children of this earth - we are brothers'. Until this point of time Rajeeva is but an individually successful farmer. He has remained Bangarada Manushya to his own family. This scene of Rajkumar bringing wealth and prosperity to non family members and proclaiming that all of them are brothers because of the bond they share with Mother Earth is important in making him the Bangarada Manushya of the land and not just for his family. It is at this point that Rajkumar truly becomes more than the fictional character and begins to become an icon that the Kannada audience will associate and remember for ever. Also important is the stereotype that is seen in the film with respect to naming of the thieves, they are named Kala and Nanja both of which means violence and poison respectively. Rajeeva is not only playing the successful farmer that many post BM discussions have immortalised but he is playing an important role of the liaison between the government and the common farmer. His approaching the government and bringing the welfare schemes to the villages builds up another important trajectory for the development of farmers. he essentially performs the role of a Panchayat Development Officer a post that was institutionalised by the Government of Karnataka in the early 2000.
Fixing the marriage. Rajeeva and Sharadamma are both against the marriage of her son to the elder brother's daughter. The sister-in-law has not changed her colours, and they are awestruck by the new prosperity they see: including classic evidence of 'Bangalore'-type mod-cons like a pump and an overhead tank for round-the-clock water. Rajeeva and his brother have an emotional conversation where Rajeeva confronts his brother, but then apologizes. His weakness here - of being the ideal brother, ideal uncle and ideal role model override his apprehensions - this will also be his undoing.
The vision for the prosperous family and the prosperous state: the shot of the fields being ploughed, now by hired peasants, cuts into plans to get the sons and daughter married off. Three marriages are decided. Rajeeva and Sharadamma are still undecided about the wisdom of Sharadamma's son Keshava marrying his cousin, given the previous bad behaviour of her brother and sister-in-law. But Keshava is keen, and so they agree. The dialogue is peppered with the film's 'message' about 'good people' being needed for the country, and 'neither poverty nor wealth is permanent' and the 'richest are those with good qualities'.
The marriage festivities: the 'traditional' food at the marriages, served to the community as a whole, cuts to a contrasting shot of elite five-star dining where Keshava is seen eating in Bangalore's expensive Hotel Ashoka.
The mysterious woman again: Sharavati, to whom Rajeeva gives blank cheques.
With the marriages of the two sons and daughter over, the decks are seemingly cleared for Rajeeva's own marriage, and in the ensuring of his own individual happiness. This causes something of a problem in the film's narrative: since Rajeeva's own happiness is so inextricably linked to that of others - since he is manifestly incapable of individuated pleasure except in fantasy - a resolution needs to be found for enabling his own happiness. The link is now made with Rachutappa's no-good son Shivalingu. The son can only marry if he 'improves', but his marriage is necessary first of all to keep Rachutappa's lineage alive, and also to bring a woman into the male-dominated house. In a quid-pro-quo Rajeeva and Shivalingu agree to marry in a joint ceremony. The whole marriage proposal of Shivalingu is a direct take on a very famous Kannada proverb, 'maduve aaagde hucchu bidolla, hucchu bidade maduve agalla' which means that 'he will remain mad until he gets married, he will get married when he gets over his madness'. Rachutappa in a clever move transfers his baggage on to Rajeeva.
Rajeeva's marriage: but the focus on the happiness of others never wavers. Shivalingu's own future in the village is decided: he will assist Sridhara in his public work contract. Here again Rachutappa reiterates the message of the film, he does not want his son to be given a comfortable job because of his name and requests Sridhara to employ him as a manual labour that he can work hard and understand the dignity of labour. He chooses this over Chakrapani's offer of making Shivalingu his compounder (medical assistant). The contrast is stark, Rachutappa wants his son to work outdoors instead of being employed in a clinic. By this time, Rajkumar has entirely stepped outside the fictional narrative: Rajeeva marries, but Rajkumar has an independent trajectory. Such scenes, as Prasad suggests in his Cine-Politics' book, ' must be taken as both integrated into and separated off from the plot of the film' (pg 55), ibid.
Modernity' problems: Nagaveni reveals her mother's urban traits. She looks down on the villagers, wants to get back into the city, mocks her mother-in-law for blessing her with the traditional blessing of 'ten children'. Sharadamma cautions her son Keshava about his wife's temper and her immaturity.
Continuing the build-up to the Rajkumar 'beyond the story' persona. The first conjugal moment between the couple has them only discussing male heirs: they could have had two children by now if they had married earlier, but then who would have fertilized the earth? Continuing the metaphor of him choosing between wife and soil, the villagers come to inform Rajeeva that government officials from the irrigation department are coming. His political persona is about to be finally launched.
The big propaganda number: the government official arrives, and compliments Rajeeva and Rachutappa for turning a bunch of lazy, no-good villagers into a prosperous society that is now an exemplary instance of the virtues of cooperative farming. The song now reveals the good things that have happened, and the core values the village should now stand for. Much of the performance, with aspects of traditional folk dance amid rousing slogans, is similar to performances praising the new republic. The song however has a brief moment in it which aims at consolidating the role of Rajkumar as the next leader of the village. The fight that flares up between Honnayya and the other performer is resolved by Rajkumar with his wisdom and an accurate assessment of the village rivalry.
This is important becaujse
Daughter-in-law Nagaveni reveals her own ambitions. She is not uneducated, she wants to make speeches about 'women's empowerment'; she wants to live the high social life, and she cannot do it as long as her husband is employed. She implores him to start his own business. As the film has a pro-agrarian narrative 'business' is always looked down as a way of life. Sharadamma's strong remarks against his son's decision of leaving a government job and opting for business is a testament to this. The hierarchy of occupations is clearly setup in the film narrative. Agriculture takes the highest position, then comes the government services and at the last level is the business class.
Rajeeva's other life finally revealed. Keshava goes to Belgaum to find out the truth.
The confrontation: Keshava informs Rajeeva that he has decided to start a business. Long ethical discussion about the importance of virtue and good intent, equating the value of money with an understanding of labour and suffering.
The beginning of the tragic climax: signalled primarily by Laxmi's return in the red sari. Keshava makes his allegation: the family's money is being redirected to support a wife and child in Belgaum. The other women refuse to believe it, or even if it is true, to say anything about it in front of Rajeeva. Laxmi's is the more complex position: if he is happy with another woman, so be it. Her end is now foreseen.
The final arrival of the iconic Star. The shot begins with a low-end frame, as a pensive Rajeeva stands, shadowed by a tall tree. He discusses with Chamappa what could happen to the land in the event of tragedy or catastrophe. This is followed by the final climactic playing out of the bull episode: the mad bull again chases Laxmi in the red sari. Rajeeva and bull have their fight to the finish: symbolically entirely shot as a fight between Rajeeva's internal contradictions. Laxmi slips and falls into the well: more symbolic referencing. She dies, is cremated. The sequence ends on the full-blown setting sun.
The tragic mourning: Rajeeva mourns the loss of Laxmi. What had he asked for? And what happened? Rachutappa however cloaks the tragedy in the language of fate.
The final scene launched. Nagaveni pushes her husband to consider a legal showdown, insisting on his share of the property. Rajeeva is now dressed in his renouncer's clothes. Sharadamma is forced to take her medicine and Rajeeva sits down to have a meal.
The final scene continued. Rajeeva is about to eat his meal. Keshava arrives with his lawyer, alleging that Rajeeva is after the family's wealth. Rajeeva holds the food in his hand, and leaves it uneaten. He washes his hands in the uneaten food, and gets up to leave.
The final scene: Rajeeva steps out, to leave the family forever. Camera tilts down to his footwear (ref. his introductory shot), shows him in the field, and his famous 'bless them for they know not what they say' speech. As he walks away, the focus on the soil, his feet, and the long shadow he casts.
The truth: Sharavathi is the illegitimate daughter of Sharadamma's husband. She was married and widowed, and Rajeeva looked after her 'like a son'. Keshava realizes the immense wrong he has done to his Uncle, they look for him everywhere, but only find a destitute man sleeping under a tree who says he got his shawl from someone.
The Golden Man walks away into the golden sunset. The family finally realizes the immense and incredible injustice they have done. In leaving, however, he has 'blessed' the family (i.e. by now, all the people of Karnataka), who shall live happily ever after even as they free him from his burdens of having to look after them.
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