For many adults in India today, Sanskrit is hardly associated with the fun of watching a feature film. Our education system has ensured the language has a dreary air to it at best, or a religious fencing that effectively separates it from other languages.
If it weren’t for those genuine scholars of Sanskrit who are able to see it like any other great language — as an art, a reflection of culture and a vehicle for communication — we might not have any creative work left in Sanskrit. G. Prabha, filmmaker and retired professor of Sanskrit, is one such interesting individual. Prabha has not only made a feature film in Sanskrit, he also managed to cut through entrenched notions by avoiding the genres associated with the language, such as mythologicals or biopics. His film, “Ishti”, is an unsettling story of a Namboodiri family set in the mid-20th Century.
“Ishti”, which was the opening film in the Indian Panorama section of the recently concluded International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, depicts the customs and rituals of the Namboodiris, the high-caste Brahmin community of Kerala. Up to some decades ago, only the eldest son of a Namboodiri family could marry a Namboodiri woman, while the other brothers were not allowed to marry. The eldest son inherited all the property and headed the family. The younger brothers could have liaisons with women of ‘lower’ castes, but these women and the children born of such relationships had no property or other rights as part of the family. Namboodiri girls, meanwhile, could only be given in marriage to the eldest son of a Namboodiri family.
The family in “Ishti” is led by Ramavikraman Namboodiri, a highly regarded priest about to marry for the third time. His marriage in his 70s to the 17-year-old Sridevi is justifiable in his eyes because he needs the money from her dowry to accomplish demanding and expensive yagnas (fire rituals).
Sridevi, apart from standing up to the barbs inflicted by Ramavikraman’s first two wives, befriends his children and plants in the mind of his eldest son the revolutionary idea that he must learn to read and write. (Though well versed orally in the scriptures, her stepson is illiterate.) Thus, Sridevi’s entry into the family sets off a chain of events they least expected.
The film, which was earlier screened in New Delhi at a special event organised by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, also went to the Kolkata film festival before being screened at IFFI. It was also in the international competition section there.
“I got a very good response,” says Prabha, adding that IFFI attracts a number of spectators from Kerala who are not only familiar with the social scenario depicted in “Ishti” but also keen observers of cinema. “One person asked me, ‘Why do you always use darkness?’ I said that lady is coming from inside of that darkness to her freedom and brightness.”
Also, filmmaker Goutam Ghose watched the film and specially came to meet him, a compliment Prabha holds particularly dear.
While the condition of Namboodiri women is not now what Sridevi and the other female characters in “Ishti” endure, the social conditioning at its base ensures the story rings true even today for many communities across the spectrum of Indian society.
The filmmaker says the majority of Namboodiri viewers and others with a progressive bent have greatly appreciated his film. “Especially the ladies; they experienced such a bitter life in those days and feel I have shed a light on it.”
One Brahmin organisation has, however, filed a defamation suit against him and the censor officer, but Prabha is not unduly perturbed by it.
Entrenched patriarchy and casteism in a process of democratisation are bound to engender clashes from time to time. Sanskrit too has undergone a certain democratisation. If earlier, only the upper caste, highly educated folk were allowed to learn the language, today it is available to others. “In Kerala, non-Brahmins are also speaking it,” he says. “For example, I am not a Brahmin.”
Whenever the orthodox are unwilling to share their knowledge with the downtrodden members of society, says Prabha, “indirectly they are giving some upper-class image to this language. It’s not good. To bring caste into language is not a good thing.”
As for hierarchy, in the classical Sanskrit plays, we find women and characters of lowly designation don’t speak Sanskrit at all, but Prakrit. However, when these plays are performed today, all characters do speak their lines in Sanskrit. Prabha agrees this shows an evolution in the perception of theatre people where such class and gender distinctions are no longer adhered to.
He mentions the late Kerala theatre practitioner Kavalam Narayana Panicker. Kavalam’s use of Sanskrit, points out Prabha, was framed in the “regional musical culture” of Kerala — “for example Sopana sangeetam. Even in the dialogues he uses this musical tone.” Thus, says Prabha, “Whenever we make something new, we have to change. We have to be open-minded to handle Sanskrit. Otherwise we will be taking the language backwards.”
02dfrGPrabha
Today there is a world view that aligns languages with religions, and Sanskrit has not escaped an association with Hinduism. “My strong opinion is language should not be divided by religious colour or fervour. My professor Abdul Khadar was a Muslim. In Kerala, there are so many Muslim scholars of Sanskrit. Only some orthodox people feel that (Sanskrit is a ‘Hindu language’). It is the language of mankind. Not only Sanskrit but Urdu, Arabic, etc. — they have a message for mankind. In human beings they have made a caste system. Why also bring it into language? It is very condemnable.”
To avoid siding with such forces, one can either avoid the language altogether or fight from within, he states. “We have to crush that thought. When people fight against the sacred thread we can either cut or throw it away, or we can (continue to) wear it and fight (injustice).” Therefore, he says, “Through the same language we have to give the slap.”
The Chennai-based former Head of Department of Loyola College does not however have another film coming soon. “To make a film, that too in Sanskrit, needs more time. I have a story in my mind, based on social issues. How it will come to fruition I don’t know, because it’s very difficult to find a producer and people willing to participate for less money.”
