A sepia-tinted walk down 'Samskara' lane

BANGALORE: It happened on the sets of Kannada classic 'Samskara'. Writer Girish Karnad, who was essaying the lead role of Praneshacharya, was biting into a banana. When UR Ananthamurthy, the movie's writer, saw Karnad in the act, he immediately rushed to him and said: "Brahmins don't bite a banana. They divide it into pieces and throw them into their mouth." Following Ananthamurthy's advice, Karnad tried to take a shot at throwing a piece into his mouth but missed aim.
This was one of the memorable anecdotes that Ananthamurthy recalled at a chat with Australian cinematographer Tom Cowan on Saturday. Cowan, who shot Samskara, was here to interact with the film's team. Released in 1970, Samskara fetched Sandalwood its first national award. Directed by Pattabhirama Reddy, it is considered a landmark film in the Kannada film history for its content and making.
Setting the tone for the discussion, Nandana, daughter of Pattabhirama Reddy, recalled how her father made the movie despite multiple problems at home. "We had no money. My father owned a Fiat. But he was passionate about making a movie. So he spent around Rs 90,000 for the venture, hoping to get Rs 50,000 as subsidy. Though I wasn't part of the movie-making, when I visited Vaikunthapura, the location near Sringeri, I was thrilled. I rang up Tom and said, 'I was inside Samskara.' The movie is a milestone in the Kannada film industry," Nandana said.
Apart from the Karnad episode, Ananthamurthy had more interesting tales to narrate. "Vaikunthapura had a population of pure Brahmins. But the women of the agrahara where we shot the movie let Tom enter the kitchen. If the locals had known the theme, they would have never allowed the shooting to take place. They must have regretted it after the film's release. But the place became famous after the movie," he said.
One month, 900 shots
Cowan recalled how artist SG Vasudev narrated the story to him in front of a campfire in Cholamandala. "It was a wonderful story, rich in content and beautiful in structure. It had a beginning, middle and end. I was guided by Pattabhi, Girish Karnad and Singeetham. The director was a great teacher and I learnt some intricacies of my work during the shooting," Cowan said.
Cowan worked for 30 days, shooting 900 shots at an average of 30 shots per day. Though he got many offers to work in movies, he declined them as "they were not interesting".
Is he ready to do another Samskara now? "Why not. If we have people like Pattabhi," Cowan said. What about Ananthamurthy? "I wrote fully, what I wanted to write. It took me nine months to complete it. Even today, I get as much flak as I got when I wrote the novel. I won't write it again," the litterateur said.