After experimenting with films on the life of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the Kannada film industry has, for the first time, focussed its attention on the life of Ramabai, Ambedkar’s wife, who supported him immensely in his work.
Ramabai is said to be the second film on Ambedkar’s wife.
Noted filmmaker Prakash Jadhav had directed Ramabai Bheemarao Ambedkar in 2011. The Kannada film Ramabai will hit the screens on April 15 to mark the 125th birth anniversary of the Dalit icon.
The film, written and directed by M. Ranganath, is produced by Y. Srinivas. Yajna Shetty essays the role of Ramabai and Siddaram Karnik dons the role of Ambedkar. Gurudutt Musuri has wielded the camera, while K. Kalyan has composed music. Art director Rajgopal has recreated the pre-Independence period.
The biopic is based on an elaborate research by Siddaram Karnik, who holds a doctorate on the subject. “We have shot the film in Dharwad and Karwar, where Ambedkar spent some time,” Srinivas says. It was Ramabai’s grit and determination that motivated him to make a film on her, he adds.
Ramabai is a famous play in north-Karnataka, based on Siddaram Karnik’s work. It also helps that Karnik resembles Ambedkar, and people have always identified him with the legendary Dalit leader. “We asked Karnik to essay the role of Ambedkar in Ramabai, specifically because of that,” he adds.
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Thrills, chills
Yashogathe, a new period horror film, directed by Vinod J. Raj releases on April 15. Fiction meets reality in this story that traces the struggle of a woman for survival during the pre-Independence era.
A family without a man in the house starts experiencing paranormal occurrences once a boy enters the household. Vinod says the quest for answer takes the woman and the audience through an abstract narrative of isolation, trauma, and heavily guarded secrets.
The story was conceptualised when the director and producer Hari Sudan Tiwari encountered an interesting old lady in Kuppam, while shooting for a documentary on Extra Sensory Perception (ESP) in 2006. The lady talked of her past life, which was eerie and mysterious, and attracted the attention of both the director and producer. “It took two years to write the script, after thorough research,” says Vinod.
The film has new faces both in front and behind the camera. Rohini Dinakar, a State Award winning costume designer has taken cues from Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings to design costumes. The film is shot in Marane, a small town near Udupi at a century-old house, which was renovated specially for the film.
Manasa Joshi of Last Bus, Pavithra Belliappa of Marayalare, Lohit Surya, and five-and-half-year-old Tvisha Adappa Tandur play major characters in the film.
