Walking the pioneer’s path
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FILM M.R. Vittal took up bold and significant issues that Kannada films had not addressed till then. It was the filmmaker’s 100th birth anniversary on August 19 MURALIDHARA KHAJANE
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Photo: Courtesy www.chitraloka.com
INTERTEXTUALITY Songs always complemented Vittal’s narrative. Margadarshi had the brilliant song Nade Munde Nade Munde
It’s probably by force of habit that whenever we refer to New Wave in Kannada film industry, during the Seventies, we recognise “Samskara” by Pattabhirama Reddy as the beginning. It was a period of “cultural renaissance”
;, and what is conveniently glossed over are films such as “Naandi”, “Uyyale”, “Miss Leelavathi”, “Punarmilana”, which dealt social issues boldly. Thankfully, however, film historians have not joined the league of those who herald the New Wave with “Samskara”. It is a situation not too different when we have to put out a list of directors who have contributed to Kannada cinema. Everybody thinks of Puttanna Kanagal, N. Lakshminarayana, B.V. Karanth, Girish Karnad, Kambar, Kasaravalli, T.S. Nagabharana and others as the pioneers of both parallel and bridge films. M.R. Vittal is conveniently forgotten, always. Vittal, a Mysorean, gave new dimension to Kannada films through “Punarmilana”, “Miss Leelavathi”, “Hannele Chiguridaga”, “Margadarshi”, “Mangala Muhurta”, and “Premamayee”. Sadly, these films found no space with commercial films hogging all the attention. Even with all the gross injustice meted out to him, it’s only fair, that at least now, at the time of Vittal’s 100th birth anniversary, we pay him a tribute. There is no doubt that he made every Kannadiga proud with films that boasted of both quality and content. Born on August 19, 1908, Mysore Raghavendra Vittal went to Madras to study automobile engineering, after completing his intermediate in Mysore. After completing his degree in automobile engineering, he taught in a college at Kolhapur. It is no less than Dada Saheb Nimbalkar who introduced him to films. However, he was fascinated with recording technology and wanted to achieve mastery over the medium. He assisted the doyen of Indian films, Dada Saheb Phalke for some time during the days of ‘talkie era’ and worked in Super Sound Studios at Lahore, as sound engineer. Meanwhile, Bollywood had identified the expertise of Vittal in filmmaking and instantly embraced him. There he directed “Aag”. He went to Madras in 1939 on the invitation of the Government and produced many documentaries for them. He stayed in France and England for a while and enriched his experience in film making. In France, he directed “Burning Train”. On returning to India, he directed many films in Marathi, Tamil and Malayalam films.
It is Vadiraj brothers, who brought Vittal to Kannada film industry through “Nandadeepa” (1963). After this, he made 16 more films in Kannada. It is significant to note that Vittal did not reject any of the regular formula followed and blended the story with humour sequences, which was very popular formula then. Audience felt “Nandadeepa” different because characters were real and profound at once. It was the first film to deal with extra-marital relationships in the history of Kannada films and was far ahead of its times. Dr. Rajkumar, Harini and Aswhath excelled in their performances. “Gaali gopura, ninaashateera…” a song composed by M. Venkataraju made an indelible impact on the memory of the people. This film also contributed Sorat Ashwath another extraordinary talent. P.S. Murthy, who later became an independent director, was the editor of the film.
In “Punarmilana”, he explored the strained relationship of a husband and wife. He unveils the story with a beautiful flashback technique, in which both husband and wife document their perceptions separately. According to film critics, there is a similarity in the technique adopted by Akira Kurosawa in his famous “Rashomon”. But the irony is the film failed to attract audience.
In “Hannele Chiguridaga”, he suitably tackled the issue of widow marriage and education of women. But the film walked a tight rope and never lost its balance. An orthodox patriarch (R. Nagendra Rao) is upset when one of his five sons wants to marry a theatre actress. The old man’s friend, a widower (Dr. Rajkumar) wants to marry patriarch’s widowed daughter, which would infringe upon the old man’s traditional values. However, he transforms himself and agrees to the marriage. R. Nagendra Rao bagged the best actor award for his performance in the film in his 78th year.
According to senior film writer N.S. Sridhara Murthy, while Puttanna Kanagal took up emotional issues in Triveni’s novel, Vittal tackled it intellectually. “Vittal tackled a serious disease like schizophrenia in a clinical manner in ‘Eradu Mukha’ and dealt with female sexuality in “Miss Leelavathi successfully. He explored the yearning of lower classes for liberation in his ‘Manasiddare Marga’. He made a profound statement on Gram Swaraj through ‘Margadarshi’ and ‘Kudi Baalona’. He broke the formula by giving a new dimension to humour in his films. Songs in his films are used as a complementary character and it would not stand apart like in other films.” Vittal used poems of Kuvempu like “Doni Saagali Munde Hogali” in ‘Miss Leelavathi’ and “Nade Munde Nade Munde” in ‘Margadarshi’ effectively. Songs like “Hoovu Chaluvella”and “Ee Jeevana Bevu Bella” in “Baalondu Bhaavageethe” continue to reverberate in minds of the audience. Vittal fully exploited the strengths of actors such as Kalyan Kumar, Kalpana, Narasimha Raju, R. Nagendra Rao, Jayanthi and introduced many talents to Kannada film industry including, actress late Manjula, M. Ranga Rao, S.P. Balasubramanyam, recalls N.S. Sridhara Murthy.
His narratives were totally different from directors of his time. He used to commence shooting only after thorough preparation and his scripting style was similar to that of Hollywood directors. He also wrote a book “The art of direction” for beginners. Several awards did come Vittal’s way, including the Puttanna Kanagal award.
Vittal believed every land and language had its own peculiar character, its own unique culture. It had its own issues and a very own past and present. A true local film embodies all of this he used to say.
M.R. Vittal died a very quite death in 1999. And with a great era in Kannada films came to an end too.
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