R. Narayana Murthy religiously makes films on struggles of people and his latest presentation is ‘Dandakaranyam’, based on the ongoing agitation against proposed bauxite mining in Visakha Agency. The movie is being released on Friday.
Dandakaranyam area is home to a large population of Girijans who live on the natural resources available there in abundance.
Of late, the government is trying hard to exploit the natural resources, to start with bauxite, much to the anger and frustration of the local Girijans who would face displacement from their natural habitat and lose livelihood.
The environmentalists are worried that the environment would take a beating and the rivers, fed by the catchment area of hills and forests would go dry. The Maoists who have some strong pockets of influence in Visakha Agency area are supporting the Girijans’ agitation.
Narayana Murthy, who has produced many films with armed struggle as the background, has cast the main character of ‘Dandakaranyam’ after a senior Maoist leader Lakkoju Koteswara Rao who went by several aliases among which Kishanji was famous. Kishanji was in the Maoist movement for three-and-a-half decades and was killed in a police encounter two years ago.
Rights of Girijans
Narayana Murthy, who was here some time ago, said the film is about the rights of Girijans and their implementation and a development that is not destructive in nature. Girijans own Dandakaranya area but have not experienced development in spite of the government spending huge money through several schemes and when they oppose a mining activity that would uproot them from their natural habitat, the government is bringing in the military and police, he said about ‘Dandakaranyam’ and why he has taken the movie. “Implement the Girijans’ rights guaranteed by the Constitution. This movie is my reaction to the bauxite issue and a protest against bauxite mining. We have to decide whether we are with the people or not,” he said.
The name Kishanji given to the hero of the film was not accepted by the Censor Board and hence Kotanna, another alias of Kishanji, was finalised.
However, the Censor board has agreed to the last scene of the film when a character reads out a letter in which the hero is called by all the aliases of Malloju Koteswara Rao, like Kotanna, Prahlad, Ramjee and Kishanji. He thanked the Censor Board for allowing the same.
Narayana Murthy feels all his films (15 before Dandakaranyam) are commercial hits in the sense that they went well with the people. He is humble to say that he is not greater than people.
“Others have followed the trend setup by me, by making movies on naxalites,” he said.
‘Dandakaranyam’ has seven songs, penned or sung by Gaddar, Goreti Venkanna and Vandemataram Srinivas.
‘Dandakaranyam’, based on the ongoing agitation against proposed bauxite mining in Visakha Agency
