'Sita Ramam' is a love story in its purest form and here's why it has connected with the masses

One opinion that many movie lovers share is that there is a dearth of classics and captivating love stories that feel like a warm hug. Sita Ramam has managed to somewhat rectify this. 

Despite the fact that the story may not be well-known to you, the audience will still feel the film's main emotion and dynamic as it is experienced by the characters.

While Bollywood films still struggle to find a home in the hearts of theatre audiences, they perform well on OTT. South films, on the other hand, have proven to be a huge success in theatres and on OTT platforms both.

Hanu Raghavapudi's old-world romance story 'Sita Ramam' is one such film that has left everyone awestruck. 

Dulquer Salmaan and Mrunal Thakur give endearing performances that contribute to the movie's sincerity.

Sita Ramam’s Plot

Through two timelines—1964 and 1984—Sita Ramam solves the mystery surrounding its protagonists, Sita Mahalakshmi and Lt. Ram. In order to find Sita and deliver a letter that Ram has written for her, 20 years ago, Afreen, a student of Pakistani descent, travels from London to India. Balaji, a college senior who is presently in Hyderabad, assists her in delivering the letter to Sita.

The Reasons Why The Film Became So Popular Among the Masses

Storyline Is Heart-Felt

Sita Ramam has a universal language of love, and the plot has been nicely fleshed out. This is a film that has been suggested by many individuals, and word of mouth has played an important role in promoting the film due to the sincere nature of the plot.

On the premise that humanity matters more than conflict, boundaries, and religion, Hanu, Raj Kumar Kandamudi, and Jay Krishna wrote the screenplay and script.

The ensemble cast, the abundance of sentiments, the sense of whimsy, and the fact that "Sita Ramam" is so colorful for a period drama give the entire picture a lovely vibe. The sequences in the film between the main characters are meant to evoke sentiments of melancholy.

Sita And Ram’s Love Story Evokes All Sorts Of Emotions

Despite religious turmoil and war, the passion between the lovers endures; it's one of the most wonderful aspects of our country, its diversity. The story revolves around Ram, an orphan boy played by Dulqer Salmaan, who joins the army and receives the love of the nation through letters for his valor on the battlefield. While responding to the numerous letters, Ram comes across one from Sita Mahalakshmi played by Mrunal Thakur, in which she pretends to be his wife. In order to solve the mystery behind the letter and actually put a face to his imagination, Ram becomes immersed in her writings. The plot is about Ram meeting Sita and how their lives are altered.

A love story with unexpected surprises at every turn, Sita Ramam has viewers on the edge of their seats the entire time. Despite the fact that you may have seen a lot of Indian-Pakistan war movies, a love tale from that perspective is unusual.

The Acting And The Characters

Ram Played By Dulquer Salmaan

Once again, Dulquer Salmaan has captured our hearts. He has often impressed us with the way he acts and his performance's simplicity and honesty. Nobody else could have portrayed Ram in the movie, in our opinion. He uses all of his charms to depict it in an elegant and innocent way. The character of Ram is portrayed as a pure soul who is ready to put himself in danger by standing between a group of Muslims and a party of Hindus in order to prevent terror from falling on Kashmir. While maintaining his patriotism, Ram looks beyond religion and for him, humanity comes first.

From making the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of the country to playing the nice guy, he masterfully captured every feeling, and at the end of the movie, many will find themselves teary-eyed.

Sita Mahalakshmi Played By Mrunal Thakur

Although her character had some vulnerable moments, it was good to see Mrunal play a strong character in her debut Telugu movie. For the most part, she handled herself with grace and elegance. Mrunal was able to portray the audience's emotional upheavals by putting herself in the shoes of her character, Sita.

Afreen Played by Rashmika Mandanna

Rashmika Mandanna is not depicted as an audience eye candy and is instead portrayed as a strong-headed girl with her own beliefs. The film featured not one but two leading female actors who performed admirably in both roles. Afreen, a Pakistani character, had issues with resentment toward India and Indians, but it was great to watch her progress towards the end. 

Sachin Khedekar, Sunil, Priyadarshi, Bhumika, Jisshu Sengupta, Prakash Raj, Praneeta Pattnaik, and Rahul Ravindran are among those who briefly appears in the film.

The Additional Effects By The Team To Give The ‘Oomph’ Factor

The Cinematographer

The Sita Ramam crew did an excellent job, especially the cinematographers P S Vinod and Shreyaas Krishna, who were able to capture the spirit of the movie in two different time periods and the stunning Kashmir with its frozen topography in all its majesty and rawness. 

Production And The Art Direction

The production design by Sunil Babu, the art direction by Vaishnavi Reddy and Faisal Khan, the costumes by Sheetal Sharma, and the Peter-pan collar blouses for Sita all helped define the 1960s and the 1980s well.

Soulful Music Adds The Spark

The uplifting score from Sita Ramam has recently become very popular. Vishal Chandrasekhar wrote the music and soundtrack. Oh, Sita Hey Rama was the first song, then afterward came S. P. Charan's rendition of Ala Nemaliki's Inthandam Reprise. According to the composer himself, every song in the film is an extremely odd combination of different ragas.

Sita Ramam is not like today's love stories

Sita Ramam is a story of sincere and unadulterated love. The movie entirely does not contain any forced or unpleasant humor. The gorgeous Kashmiri locations and set in the 90s add to its uniqueness. Probably because it's set in simpler times, there are no unnecessary, pretentious, and over-the-top gestures of love. It's authentic and not a made-up tale of love in its purest form. 

In an interview with TNN, Dulquer, who portrays the role of army commander Ram, discusses how the movie differs from other love stories.

“He’s an orphan who’s very happy-go-lucky by nature. As an army man, he’s very patriotic and bound by duty. Sita is this girl next door who begins writing letters to Ram while he’s away on duty. She’s independent and progressive, but who she is and why she falls in love with Ram is what the film is all about.”

The Mythology Reference In The Film

The movie also defends the Ramayana, a Hindu epic that served as a loose inspiration. When Ram saves Sita, a fire traps the duo, precisely like in the scene from the movie Sita Ramam. Ram sets out to find Sita, whose whereabouts remain unclear in the film. The myth is mentioned frequently, yet it is done so delicately that the main plot remains on track.

Sita Ramam Ending Explained

(Spoiler alert: Retreat at this point if you are yet to watch the film)

Final Page Of The Love Story

Afreen is given the final chapter of Sita and Ram's tale by Vishnu. He admits that the burden of his deeds' remorse has been causing him pain for the past 20 years. Additionally, he says that Waheeda, the young woman Ram tried to save when he was taken prisoner by the Army, is actually none other than Afreen herself. Afreen was filled with shame and disbelief as she realized that an Indian, whom she had previously detested, had risked his life to save her.

The letter is delivered to Sita in Kashmir by Afreen's senior, Balaji. Ram got to know that she was Princess Noorjahan when he was imprisoned and got hold of a  newspaper clipping stating that "Princess Norrjahan fell in love with a simple guy". He refers to this letter as the last page of their relationship, declaring his love for her and mourning the time they wasted.

Ram was accused of betraying the Nation but Sita disclosed the truth with the letters as proof and was able to clear Ram of all charges. Due to guilt and an inability to endure the disgrace that would come with realizing the truth, Vishnu kills himself as Vishnu was the traitor and not Ram.

As a result of the change of heart, Afreen can now look past her earlier animosity toward the country and appreciate its compassion. Sita responded, "No," when Afreen enquired whether Ram is still alive.

(Source: India Times)

For every KGF 2, there's a Jai Bhim. A balance that South has, Bollywood doesn't

After Baahubali, a handful of films from the South have dominated the Hindi belt and the global market. But for every RRR or Pushpa or KGF, there's a Jai Bhim. Here's how South cinema manages this intricate balance.

Let's go back to 2010. Enthiran (Robot in Hindi), starring Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and directed by Shankar, managed to set the screens on fire. Enthiran is probably the first film to attain pan-India success. In 2015, SS Rajamouli's Baahubali: The Beginning made everyone sit up and take notice of regional cinema. Rajamouli followed it up with Baahubali: The Conclusion, which received greater critical acclaim and commercial success.

Today, films from the South have become super hit ventures in the Hindi belt, normally dominated by the Khans, Kumars and Kapoors. Allu Arjun's Pushpa: The Rise, Jr NTR and Ram Charan-starrer RRR and Yash's KGF: Chapter 2, despite being regional cinema, have performed exceptionally well in the North belt. In short, South films have breached northern territory.

The common talking point in all these films is its larger-than-life scale and hypermasculinity. So, is South cinema bringing the 80s back?

IS SOUTH CINEMA BRINGING THE 80s BACK?

To understand that, let us tell you what we mean when we say '80s cinema'. In the 80s, films were mostly about the hero overcoming all odds and emerging as the saviour of the masses. Are films in the 2010s and 2020s following the trend? The answer would be a big no.

Commercial films have always been about superheroic, larger-than-life heroes. Be it Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam or Kannada, our heroes are capable of anything and everything. Our heroes survive bomb blasts, bash up 100 people and yet remain unscathed. This trend will never go away as it is ingrained in our blood and minds.

Then, why do films like RRR, Pushpa and KGF work well in the Hindi belt? It is safe to say that Bollywood's recipe for a masala or mass film has been failing for over a decade. None of the commercial films has been able to make a mark beyond a certain point. This is where South films differ.

Directors down South nail the perfect recipe for a mass film. Of course, there are duds. But, commercial films, when done right, will transcend borders. And the recent examples are a testament to the theory. Take for example RRR's interval block, who would have thought that Jr NTR's Komaram Bheem would unleash a bunch of wild animals in his attack against the British. Here, we must give credit to SS Rajamouli's wild imagination. He also executed the scene with the utmost perfection. So much so that it made us jump from our seats.

Similarly, when Yash's Rocky in KGF fires bullets against the villains, you cheer, hoot and whistle for him. That is the magic of commercial cinema. And it takes a lot of imagination, conviction and perseverance to get it right.

SO, IS SOUTH CINEMA JUST THAT? MASSY?

Is South cinema all about mass and commercial films? Again, a resounding no. For every RRR, Baahubali and Pushpa, there are films like Jai Bhim, The Great Indian Kitchen, Kaala and Pariyerum Perumal. In the South, there's a market for every kind of cinema. Be it commercial or art house films, the audience embrace them with the same love.

VERSATILITY IS THE KEY

Malayalam cinema has been spearheading a change in the way films are being conceived and told. Films like Premam, Kumbalangi Nights and Jallikattu have proven the fact that content is king. One can take a simple story, but when it has solid substance, it does wonders at the box office.

Coming to Kollywood, Suriya's Jai Bhim, which skipped theatrical release, moved the audience and created a lasting impact. The film did ruffle a few feathers. But, at its core, Jai Bhim had a solid story. Similarly, filmmakers like Vetri Maaran, Pa Ranjith, Mari Selvaraj and Ram have stayed away from the 'conventional' tropes and developed their own film language.

This is probably one of the main reasons why South films get wider recognition, irrespective of the medium.

Let's go to the Telugu film industry, which was all about commercial cinema once. But, not anymore. There's a wonderful balance there. If films like Pushpa, Akhanda, and Aravinda Sametha are made, there are films like C/O Kancharapalem, Pelli Choopulu and Awe, which are also being given their rightful due.

Who would have thought that KGF: Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 would put Kannada cinema on the global map? But, director Prashanth Neel and actor Yash believed in it. Films like Kirik Party, Rangitharanga and Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana, among others, have highlighted the best of Kannada cinema.

In the South, there's a space for everyone. Be it ideological films or films that highlight left-wing politics, directors can make a film on diverse topics, and with conviction, unapologetically, unabashedly. And, there lies the success.

(Source: India Today)

From catcalling to male gaze, how 'Oo Antava' song's lyrics denounces sexism

Allu Arjun, Rashmika Mandanna starrer Pushpa: The Rise became a superhit with a box office collection of over 300 crore. Samantha Ruth Prabhu won the hearts of many with her dance performance in 'Oo Antava' that got worldwide attention. However, many failed to notice how the lyrics of the "item number" unapologetically denounced sexism.

Choregraphed by Ganesh Acharya, the song features Allu Arjun and Samantha Prabhu in a raunchy and extremely provocative avatar, which many found highly inappropriate as it reinforces the much talked about objectification of the women as opposed to the lyrics, which in a unique way, turn the focus on men suggesting that it is them who continue to sexualize women irrespective of her age, clothes and how she looks.  

People behind the Oo Antava song's lyrics

The song was released in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi with lyricists Chandrabose, Viveka, Siju Thuravoor and Raqueeb Alam writing for the respective languages. Let us take a look at the lyrics and how they call out men for their behaviour.

Decoding the Oo Antava song lyrics

The song begins with the para "Saree saree pehan ke saree, Aaye to usko ghoore, Chhote chhote skirt bhi jo, Pehan ke aaye to ghoore" focusing on how, irrespective of what a woman wears, men tend to stare at her and make her feel uncomfortable.

Addressing colourism

"Gore gore pe mukhde pe, Taiyar koyi marne ko, sawali ko chhede". This line highlights the obsession with white girls and constant bullying and teasing of girls that are dusky. It then goes on to state that colour makes no difference as everyone is a human being.

Women's physical appearance

From men rejecting women on the bases of their height to mocking them for not being beautiful, the lyrics highlight double standars in men and how they eventually tend to cheat and loot, irrespective of who it is. "Lambi lambi taang wali Chhokri ka deewana"... Phulle phulle gaal pe Koyi bole kya dikhti hai Dubli patli ho to phir Gulab ki daali lagti hai"

Toxic masculinity

The lyrics of the song also target toxic masculinity. For the unversed, toxic masculinity is often a type of cultural norms associated with men and their harmful behaviour towards the society or themselves. The lyrics "Jhoothi jhoothi shaan pe koyi, Apna rohb dikhata hai" highlight the pretentious act of being a man and dominating only because of their gender.

The Lyrics vs The Video

Objectification of women in Indian cinema is not something we have not seen before. From 'Tu cheez badi hai mast mast' to 'Munni Badnaam Hui’, Bollywood has seen a demeaning portrayal of women, that, in the recent years, have been called out my feminists and women activists. While the lyrics of the song 'Oo Antava' calls out men for their lewd behaviour, the video, on the other hand, plays along the typical format of an "item number" with scantily dressed women dancers in the background to men's lecherousness looks.

(Source: India Times)

Behind the rise of the Hindi dub of Telugu crime drama ‘Pushpa’, a long journey of hits and misses

 The Hindi version of film, starring Allu Arjun, has been an unexpected success.

What’s behind the success of the Hindi version of the Telugu movie Pushpa: The Rise? Sukumar’s crime drama was a slow starter in Telugu but an unexpected hit in Hindi. It has so far earned an estimated Rs 84.44 crore at the box office.

The Pushpa dub has connected with Hindi audiences in a way that even Kabir Khan’s cricket-themed 83 couldn’t. The December 17 release, the first in a two-part film, is now out on Amazon Prime Video.

The hero of the film, Allu Arjun, who at 39 is already a veteran of Telugu cinema, is being hailed as the latest crossover star. Prompted by this success, his 2020 movie Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo is being dubbed and hastily prepared for a January 26 release in Hindi markets. This despite the fact that an official remake, titled Shehzada and starring Kartik Aaryan, is underway.

There are several theories about Pushpa’s commercial triumph. The most persistent explanation is that the Telugu production has the elements that Hindi cinema has been missing of late – stylishly filmed big-screen entertainment, thrilling action scenes, and an ultramacho hero who, despite jigging with a bar dancer, is faithful to his beloved.

Pushpa’s titular hero is certainly an unreconstructed male riposte to Hindi cinema’s frequently metrosexual and plasticky leading men. My name might mean flower but I am fire, Pushpa growls during his battles with various gangsters and a police officer.

In the success of Pushpa and the Hindi dub of the Kannada crime drama KGF: Chapter 1 in 2018, there appears to be a nostalgia for Hindi films as they were perceived to be: a grand 70-mm package, simplistically plotted and morally uncomplicated, with heroes, heroines, villains and vamps who stick to their moulds rather than breaking out of them.

Is Pushpa’s success a passing fancy? A hunger for exotic fruit at a time when local produce isn’t as readily available? The fallout of at least three years of sustained propaganda against the Hindi film industry by Hindutva forces, which has led to what some observers describe as an “anti-Bollywood wave”? Or a significant shift in audience tastes that will further the cause of the pan-Indian movie?

The perils of film trade punditry were summarised by American humorist Will Rogers in an essay as early as 1928: “It’s the only business in the world that nobody knows anything about. Being in them don’t give any more of an inkling about them than being out of them.”

Whether or not Pushpa’s rise will have lasting effects, what is certain is that the film has benefitted from years of assiduous groundwork. For decades, filmmakers from India’s various movie industries have been mixing and matching ideas and talent in their eternal quest for the box-office hit.

Since the 1930s, movies in Telugu, Tamil and Bengali have been remade in Hindi. At the same time, Hindi hits were retooled in other languages. With a few changes in the setting and a fresh cast and music, a movie could appear as good as new.

The traffic between Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad has been the busiest and produced one of the earliest crossover stars. Vyjayanthimala’s Tamil films in the 1940s and 1950s were remade in Telugu and later in Hindi. She spoke her own lines in the Hindi versions, rather than relying on a dubbing artist. Several Tamil and Telugu actresses followed her to the Hindi film world, from Waheeda Rehman and Padmini to Sridevi and Jaya Prada.

The journey is typically easier for actresses. They play a relatively diminished role in the average Hindi film universe. Their energies are focused on looking beautiful and executing song-and-dance sequences, leading to an enduring showbiz legend that Southern actresses have Bharatanatyam in their blood.

The burden of shouldering a film’s narrative journey is nearly always borne by men who must look and sound the part. As a result, heroes from other language cinemas have found it more challenging to surmount the average Hindi filmgoer’s preference for clean-cut men with generic North Indian features and names.

The exceptions include Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth in the 1980s. Ek Duuje Ke Liye (1981), K Balachander’s moneyspinning remake of his Telugu film Maro Charitra, briefly made Haasan a star in Mumbai.

Despite a few hits in the Hindi film world, though, Haasan remained a “Madrasi” – the pejorative term for just about anybody from the southern states. In Rajinikanth’s Hindi films, he was often a comic element with an undefinable accent and wondrous mannerisms.

The preference for women over men has been challenged by recent films. SS Rajamouli’s two-part blockbuster Baahubali (2015 and 2017), which was led by the Telugu actor Prabhas, the success of the Hindi dubbed version of the Kannada crime drama KFG, starring Yash, and Pushpa: The Rise indicate that an untested hero is no obstacle when a film is seen as compelling entertainment. If anything, the foreignness of the leads is part of the overall experience.

The true test of the Hindi filmgoer’s acceptance of non-normative heroes will be seen in the coming months with such films as Rajamouli’s RRR, led by Telugu stars Jr NTR and Ram Charan, and Puri Jagannadh’s Liger, made in both Telugu and Hindi and starring Vijay Devarakonda.

RRR and Liger have hedged their bets by casting Hindi talent – Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgn in RRR and Ananya Panday in Liger. Not every film can be a Baahubali, which had only two actors familiar to Hindi audiences (Ramya Krishnan and Rana Daggubati). RRR and Liger also have universal themes – patriotism in the first, sports in the second.

The exercise can be pointless even when producers play it safe. Writer Ashokamitran, who worked in the publicity department of SS Vasan’s legendary Gemini Studios in Chennai, wrote about one such experiment in his memoir Fourteen Years with Boss.

“For the first time a Gemini film sported a real film star whom people in the north would readily recognise with a sigh or a gasp,” Ashokamitran writes with characteristic drollery about the Madhubala-starrer Bahut Din Huwe in 1954. (It didn’t work – the movie flopped.)

Two of the simplest ways to make South meet the Rest of India is dubbing or remaking a Southern hit in Hindi. When they work – Kabir Singh, the 2019 monster hit remake of Arjun Reddy, for example – they have been held up as further proof of Bollywood’s declining ability to come up with winnable material.

Dubbed movies have playing the role of introducing seasoned talent to new audiences. The success of Mani Ratnam’s Roja and Bombay in Hindi in the early 1990s are instances of how dubbing can break through barriers despite unknown faces and the visible mismatch between lip movements and dialogue.

Would Roja had worked if it didn’t have a nationalistic theme, didn’t explore Kashmiri militancy and didn’t have a score by AR Rahman? Similarly, if Bombay took Ratnam out of his comfort zone of Tamil Nadu,the movie’s setting was surely one of the reasons it clicked beyond the state.

Bombay’s exploration of the city’s worst communal riots following the destruction of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya by Hindutva mobs in 1992 – a national-level event – gave the movie a wider appeal. So did the casting of Hindi actress Manisha Koirala and yet another winning score by AR Rahman.

Dubbed films have also had a fruitful afterlife on television and YouTube. In the absence of quantifiable research, we have only anecdotal evidence and fan comments on YouTube videos to remind us that audiences can be more adventurous than filmmakers and trade pundits.

None of these efforts guarantee success for the remake or, that matter, the production simultaneously filmed in more than one language. Spurred on by Roja and Bombay, Mani Ratnam ambitiously filmed Aayuthu Ezuthu (2004) in Hindi as Yuva and Raavanan (2010) as Raavan. Despite casting Hindi actors, the remakes didn’t land with the same smoothness as Ratnam’s previous dubbed productions.

The joys of the culture-specific production, which defies the standardising compulsions of the all-India movie, can be preserved only through subtitling. But subtitling across the country’s many languages is even harder to pull off than dubbing.

The cult status accorded to such dubbed films as the Chiranjeevi-starrer Indra – The Tiger notwithstanding, there is no guarantee that a film made for a specific language culture will survive the journey to Hindi. There are several obstacles – the loss of specific cultural references, the quality of the Hindi dialogue and the dubbing, the lack of awareness about directors and actors who are stars in their own right. But when intent matches content, a blockbuster seems inevitable.

With so many remakes, dubbed films and subtitled films on streaming platforms and YouTube, it sometimes appears that the Hindi film industry is the one running low on ideas and imagination. The Bollywood obituary, which has been written over the years and is revised whenever there is a new controversy, ignores the fact that the traffic is two-way. If Hindi producers keep a close eye on Southern productions, Hindi films too are remade in southern languages.

Filmmakers yearn for a pan-Indian film to improve their earnings and increase their cultural footprint. Until that happens, they can best rely on the dubbed movie, which often provides a deceptively fresh look at dated material.

Apart from its filmmaking pizazz, little is actually new about Pushpa: The Rise and that’s possibly why it has worked. We’ve seen it before and we can’t remember where, but we go along because sometimes, familiarity breeds comfort.

(Source: Scroll)

Here's everything you need to know about red sandalwood featured in Allu Arjun's 'Pushpa'

Here's some trivia about Red Sandalwood or Blood Sandalwood and why it is in demand

Pushpa: The Rise starring Allu Arjun and Rashmika Mandanna in the lead roles and Fahad Faasil as the antagonist has become a gigantic success after its release. The movie was released in multiple languages on OTT platforms and created quite a stir. 

The story of the film revolves around Allu Arjun who is a smuggler of red sandalwood or rakta chandan and becomes a rich man. But what is about this red sandalwood that changed the guy's life in no time? Here's some trivia about Red Sandalwood or Blood Sandalwood and why it is in demand: 

What Is It? 

Red Sandalwood or red sanders, saunders wood and ruby red — is highly regulated wood that is red in colour and has medicinal properties. There’s a high demand for wood in the national and international markets. However, the rare plant species are listed as ‘near threatened by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), due to its overexploitation.

Where Are They Grown? 

The species is extremely rare for a reason which is that it isn't easily available everywhere. These trees grow only in the Seshachalam hills spread over four districts of Andhra Pradesh- Nellore, Kurnool, Chittoor, Cuddapah bordering Tamil Nadu. Basically, they are only grown in Eastern Ghatsthe soil in the area — its water content, acidity, aeration and the availability of nutrients. 

What Are The Medicinal Properties?

It has a lot of medicinal properties. It is recommended for treating digestive tract problems such as diarrhoea and loose motions, fluid retention, and breaks up mucus to make it easier to cough up. It is also known for its blood purification properties. Apart from these, wood is also used as a flavouring agent in alcohol especially wine. 

It Is Unlike Other Sandalwood

Sandalwood in general is used for several purposes. In India, it is used during prayer rituals or in temples due to the calming fragrance of the wood. The fragrance is also popularly sold in the form of beauty products and perfumes. However, the red sandalwood has no fragrance whatsoever so when it is burnt, it would seem like the regular sandalwood. 

Special Task Force Protects These Trees

According to The News Minute, this sandalwood is sold for millions in the international market. So, naturally, the smuggling of this rare species is in full swing just like it was shown in the movie. Thus, Special Task Force s deployed to protect these trees. There are strict laws in India to stop its smuggling. There is a demand for these woods in many countries including China, Japan, Singapore, UAE, and Australia. It is most smuggled in China. Here the demand for this sandalwood is high because China makes furniture, decorative items, traditional instruments from it.

(Source: India Times)

For the love of words, 82-year-old compiles dictionary of 4 south Indian languages

Njattyela Sreedharan is a class 4 dropout who went on to travel, train, read aplenty for 25 years to bring out the dictionary.

Njattyela Sreedharan sat looking at the page in front of him. He had written the words ‘seemantha rekha’ – the Malayalam term for hair parting where some married women apply vermillion. Next to it, he had added the translation in Telugu and Kannada. 

But the Tamil column lay blank. No one he asked seemed to know the Tamil equivalent for ‘seemantha rekha’, including men and women across ages, teachers, and Tamil scrap collectors who came home. Everyone either shrugged off or laughed at him. Finally, months later, a woman who also laughed in the beginning, gave him the term – ‘vakidu’. Thrilled, Sreedharan added it to the fourth column of his page. He just got one more entry for the multilingual Dravidian dictionary he had been preparing for years. The dictionary finally got published this November, 25 years after the 82-year-old began working on it. 

“For 25 years, I travelled and trained and talked to many for the dictionary. But it is in the last 10 years that I sat at one place, without going anywhere, without a social life, to fully focus on writing. Only then could I complete it,” Sreedharan says from his house in Thalassery.  

He also points out that Hermann Gundert, who created the first Malayalam-English dictionary in 1872, was also in Thalassery when he wrote that. “Maybe his spirit entered my body,” Sreedharan jokes.

But unlike Gundert, Sreedharan is no scholar. He dropped out of class four to work in a beedi making company. But he had read books like Sreekrishnacharitham Manipravalam by Kunjan Nambiar and Balaramayanam by Kumaranasan at school. His love for language must have begun around then, Sreedharan reckons.

He went on to read a lot, and as an adult, found a job with the Public Works Department. Nandan, who made a documentary on Sreedharan, says that it was during this time that he got acquainted with Dr TP Sukumaran, a professor at Nirmalagiri College, who gave him the idea of compiling a dictionary, containing colloquial usage of Malayalam words.

Sreedharan had by then become familiar with Tamil, learning it in Palakkad. He decided to train himself in the two other Dravidian languages of Telugu and Kannada before compiling the dictionary.

A Kannada-speaking colleague, Govinda Naik, taught him the language. Sreedharan also took Kannada lessons from writer Raghavan in Kasargod. In Taliparambu, a man from Andhra Pradesh helped him pick up Telugu. But Sreedharan didn't stop there. He made several trips to Mysuru, Mangaluru, Andhra and Tamil Nadu and spoke to the people. He collected words from 20 to 25 dictionaries. He learnt from vernacular newspapers and magazines.

"I read everything from horoscopes to cooking recipes. One must not mock them. You get the most common and useful words from the recipes," Sreedharan says.

The fact that there has still not been a comparative study of the words in the four languages kept Sreedharan, the language lover, going. “A lot of people travel between all these states for work or business. It will be very helpful if there is a resource for learning the everyday words they’d need – like drinking, bathing, eating. Another reason I wanted to work on the dictionary was the way dialects of some places were seen as inferior to those of other parts of the state. When people from one part of the state tease those from another for their pronunciation, it makes the latter think poorly of their dialect. Calling one dialect purer than another is like discriminating between castes, claiming one to be superior to the others,” Sreedharan says feelingly.

It also struck him as odd that people found it shameful to use words of their own language for private body parts but were not uncomfortable to use words from another language.

“I was also curious about why certain similar sounding words changed pronunciation when it came to Malayalam. 'Thodangu' – meaning start – is pronounced with ‘tho’ in Kannada, Telugu and Tamil but in Malayalam it becomes ‘thu’. 'Elaneer' – tender coconut water – is pronounced with ‘ila’ in Malayalam, but ‘ela’ in all the other languages. I put all of this together for the readers to interpret it in their own ways,” Sreedharan adds.

He kept finding Dravidian equivalents for Sanskrit words too. For instance, both ‘meen’ and ‘malsyam’, meaning fish, come from Sanskrit, Sreedharan says.

He found that it is easier to learn the scripts of other languages than that of Malayalam. That would also come out in the dictionary, he says.

The dictionary was not easy to publish. Having prepared the content, Sreedharan took it to a number of places to get it printed. Everyone was wary of getting the words wrong. Finally, a woman agreed to do the desktop publishing (DTP) for Rs 100 a page and she was paid Rs 1 lakh for the whole dictionary. It got printed by the Kerala Senior Citizens Forum.

“It is an expensive and exhaustive process. You travel, you read, you buy books and materials, and you sit for long hours to write. I have worked 10 to 14 hours on many days.”

Sometimes, he says, he cannot not believe that he achieved this at his age. All the reports of his dictionary even before it got published had him overwhelmed. And Nandan has made a documentary on him too – Dreaming of Words. The film has just got selected for the 18th Mindanao Film Festival. 

(Source: TNM)

Dravidian language family is 4,500 years old: Study

The Dravidian language family’s four largest languages — Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu — have literary traditions spanning centuries, of which Tamil reaches back the furthest, researchers said.

The Dravidian language family, consisting of 80 varieties spoken by nearly 220 million people across southern and central India, originated about 4,500 years ago, a study has found.

This estimate is based on new linguistic analyses by an international team, including researchers from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany, and the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun.

The researchers used data collected first-hand from native speakers representing all previously reported Dravidian subgroups. The findings, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, match with earlier linguistic and archaeological studies.

South Asia, reaching from Afghanistan in the west and Bangladesh in the east, is home to at least six hundred languages belonging to six large language families, including Dravidian, Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan.

Researchers said that it is likely that the Dravidian languages were much more widespread to the west in the past than they are today. Photo: Twitter/Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History 

 The Dravidian language family, consisting of about 80 language varieties (both languages and dialects) is today spoken by about 220 million people, mostly in southern and central India, and surrounding countries.

The Dravidian language family’s four largest languages — Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu — have literary traditions spanning centuries, of which Tamil reaches back the furthest, researchers said.

Along with Sanskrit, Tamil is one of the world’s classical languages, but unlike Sanskrit, there is continuity between its classical and modern forms documented in inscriptions, poems, and secular and religious texts and songs, they said.

“The study of the Dravidian languages is crucial for understanding prehistory in Eurasia, as they played a significant role in influencing other language groups,” said Annemarie Verkerk of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

Neither the geographical origin of the Dravidian language nor its exact dispersal through time is known with certainty.

The consensus of the research community is that the Dravidians are natives of the Indian subcontinent and were present prior to the arrival of the Indo-Aryans (Indo-European speakers) in India around 3,500 years ago.

Researchers said that it is likely that the Dravidian languages were much more widespread to the west in the past than they are today.

In order to examine questions about when and where the Dravidian languages developed, they made a detailed investigation of the historical relationships of 20 Dravidian varieties.

Study author Vishnupriya Kolipakam of the Wildlife Institute of India collected contemporary first-hand data from native speakers of a diverse sample of Dravidian languages, representing all the previously reported subgroups of Dravidian.

The researchers used advanced statistical methods to infer the age and sub-grouping of the Dravidian language family at about 4,000-4,500 years old.

This estimate, while in line with suggestions from previous linguistic studies, is a more robust result because it was found consistently in the majority of the different statistical models of evolution tested in this study.

This age also matches well with inferences from archaeology, which have previously placed the diversification of Dravidian into North, Central, and South branches at exactly this age, coinciding with the beginnings of cultural developments evident in the archaeological record.

(Source: The Hindu)

Beyond Bollywood: The best regional Indian films of 2018

Bollywood may have stolen the limelight with big ticket releases such as Zero and Thugs of Hindostan as well as hits like Andhadhun and Badhaai Ho, but the regional movie industries have some gems to share. Whether it’s Tamil, Punjabi or Marathi titles, here’s a list of regional films from India that you shouldn’t miss.

Vada Chennai (Tamil)

This gangster saga of epic proportions is set in North Chennai and has Dhanush as Anbu, a carrom champion whose fate leads him to become a thug. The movie follows his trials and tribulations as he is placed as a pawn in a deadly game. There's love, there's betrayal and above all, there's a story that is magnificently told by director Vetrimaran. The cast also boasts of Ameer, Kishore, Samuthirakani, Aishwarya Rajesh, Daniel Balaji and Andrea Jeremiah, who is the dark horse in this narrative.

Pyaar Prema Kaadhal (Tamil)

In an interesting take on modern-day relationships, here we encounter Sree, a man smitten by Sindhuja, his colleague. Their friendship turns into a live-in relationship, after which things go downhill. Director Elan succeeds where many have failed previously. He manages to create a strong female protagonist and explores the dynamics as well as vulnerabilities of love through a prism rarely used before.

Savarakathi (Tamil)

A superb movie where multiple genres melt subtly. We see director Ram playing barber Pichai who gets into a skirmish with a local don Manga (a brilliant Mysskin, who has also written and produced this alongside his brother GR Adithya who is the director). The don swears revenge and the barber's 15 minutes of bravado results in him having to run for his life. Laced with humour, the film also touches you as it shows a common man trying to protect his family while fending off a ferocious enemy.

Merku Thodarchi Malai (Tamil)

A farmer has only one dream — to buy a piece of land. It comes true but the path from there is not easy. Directed by Lenin Bharati and produced by Vijay Sethupathi, the movie tries to become the voice of the voiceless and expose the truth about the sufferings of farmers. Exquisitely shot and beautifully told, the film comes at a perfect time when farmer protests across the country have finally grabbed the attention they deserve.

Sudani from Nigeria (Malayalam)

In probably one of the finest feel-good movies in recent times, director Zakariya Mohammed shows the relationship between Majid, a football manager and his player, Samuel. Their bond grows when Samuel starts staying with Majid's family after getting injured. Soubin Shahir excels as Majeed while Nigerian actor Samuel Abiola Robinson is perfectly cast as Samuel. But it is the motherly figures of Savithri and Sarasa stay with you much after the movie ends.

Swathanthryam Ardharathriyil (Malayalam)

It starts a slow and suddenly Swathanthryam Ardharathriyil makes you sit back and pay attention. Probably the finest prison break drama in India, it features Angamaly Diaries’ Anthony Verghese as well as Vinayakan and Chemban Vinod Jose. There’s not a single dull moment once the movie picks up pace and you have a solid, nail-biting thriller in front of you. Tinu Pappachan, a long-time collaborator of Lijo Jose Pellissery, makes his directorial debut with this movie and delivers. We’re sure Bollywood’s going to take notice as well.

Eeda (Malayalam)

Set in the Kannur district of Malabar, this is a story filled with political intrigue that takes its inspiration from Romeo and Juliet. Here the couple in question belong to two rival parties. Things get heated and blood spills as the young couple try to defy odds and lead a life together. Director B Ajithkumar, who is also a National-award winning editor, leads a credible cast featuring the talented Shane Nigam and Nimisha Vijayan and delivers a narrative rich in metaphors.

Goodachari (Telugu)

Adivi Sesh has made a name for himself for coming up with stylish movies rich in content. If Kshanam was a watershed moment for the Telugu film industry, Goodachari takes it one step ahead with its story as well as the execution. This time Adivi Sesh plays a spy who finds himself at the receiving end of the very organisation he wishes to serve after he is falsely accused of a grievous crime. Now he has to clear his name but time is running out. In an era of rampant jingoism, director Sashi Kiran Tikka's Goodachari comes as a breath of fresh air.

Naal (Marathi)

Probably one of the finest Marathi movies in recent times, Naal is worth the watch because of its meticulous treatment of a subject that evokes emotions like nothing else. Chaitanya is a little child who is raised in his maternal house. He is a curious kid and director Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti gives us a glimpse of his world that changes when he comes across a certain truth. Naal has been produced by Nagraj Manjule who also stars in it.

Daana Paani (Punjabi)

This movie might not match up to the grandeur and scale of some of its regional counterparts, but it is a heart-warming tale that deserves credit mainly because of its story and some brilliant performances. Directed by Tarnvir Singh Jagpal, this has Jimmy Shergill playing a soldier during the Indo-Chinese conflict of 1962. He returns to his village carrying a piece of news that changes his life forever. Daana Paani's laurels are multiple but most importantly it makes you reconnect with your roots.

Katheyondu Shuruvagide (Kannada)

Kannada movies have had some kind of rejuvenation in the recent years and Katheyondu Shurivagide is another glorious addition to this. The romantic drama shows the relationship between a resort owner and his guest. Things happen unexpectedly and sparks fly and right when you are about to dismiss it as just another regular love story it becomes a matured take on a cliched theme. Director Senna Hegde, along with leads Diganth and Pooja Devariya, has come up with a breezy romantic entertainer that also teaches you something valuable about love and life.

C/O Kancharapalem (Telugu)

This charming little gem of a movie, made on shoe-string budget, is about the various facets of love and its ever changing nature. Incredibly done and masterfully narrated, C/O Kancharapalem has been directed by debutant Maha Venkatesh who makes sure the audience is also involved in the journey undertaken by the characters and that it is one worth remembering. A year where we saw several behemoths biting dust at the box-office, this movie assures that Indian cinema is in safe hands.

(Source: The Quint)

Review of ‘The Liberation of Sita’: A feminist engagement with Ramayana

“Classical Telugu literature has had a liberal tradition of questioning mythology”, says Volga, aka Popuri Lalitha Kumari. Her highly acclaimed work, The Liberation of Sita has also garnered criticism from certain fronts, mostly threats to not temper with mythology. But Volga has carried on with this inquisitive, thoughtful tradition of Telugu literature, showing Sita and other overlooked female characters from Ramayana in a different light – from their own perspectives, displaying their perceptions about the men in their lives.

Ramayana does not tell us the woes of these women – Ahallya, Surpnakha, Renuka Devi, Urmila, and many more, but Volga does it, picturesquely at that. Her work has been awarded with the Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity in Fiction for 2017.

As one progresses through the first few pages of the book, Sita’s confusion and her uneasiness on meeting a lot of these other women who were abandoned by their husbands/sons becomes oddly intriguing. Volga takes us through Sita’s innocent questions about the injustice done to these women to Rama’s confounded silence on all of them. At this moment, one can draw parallels with her questions today, with the feminist movement’s challenges to the continuance of a patriarchal society, trying to shake up the very notions that systemically subjugate women.

One of the major contributions of this book is it has promoted the idea of ‘sisterhood’, much less known than the oft-celebrated idea of brotherhood. Usually described as jealous and resenting other women, Volga’s depiction of women is a break from this absurd myth. Sita meets some of these women – Surpnakha for instance, and immediately empathises with them, equating her own hardships like trial by fire with tribulations of others. Volga’s description of Surpnakha portrays her in a way that one cannot help but feel overwhelmed.

USUALLY DESCRIBED AS JEALOUS AND RESENTING OTHER WOMEN, VOLGA’S DEPICTION OF WOMEN IS A BREAK FROM THIS ABSURD MYTH AND PROMOTES SISTERHOOD.

A woman from a demon clan working at the orders of her brother, learns to love herself the way she is. Surpnakha’s face, being disfigured by Lakshmana led her into discovering her that there is more than one way in which a woman could love beyond her physical beauty – through her creations of art, her belongingness with nature and just realising her worth as a complete individual. Surpnakha while being lonely in the tangible world, was content through the true realisation of the self.

This theme of meditation, a spiritual connect women find within themselves after being humiliated and ousted by men in their lives is a common streak throughout the book and words fail to describe how beautifully Volga has depicted all their journeys. Consider Ahalya. Being fraudulently led by Indra to sleep with her in the guise of her husband, she is labelled as unchaste and ousted by Gautama, despite being innocent, for being violated by a man without her consent.

Ram describes her as a ‘characterless’ woman which infuriates Sita when she comes to know of the truth. Her curiosity takes her to Ahalya’s hut in the forest, where she’s baffled by her incongruity to Sita’s perception of Rama, a noble, amazing man. Volga then takes us to Sita’s trial that was made to prove her chastity, where she decrypts every word said by Ahalya that day – men have made so many rules for women to own their sexuality that it’s never about these women, only about men who cannot tolerate this chastity being ‘robbed’ by other men.

Renuka Devi’s experience is particularly appalling on so many levels. She was ordered to be beheaded by her husband and her son does so at his father’s insistence . This was because Renuka Devi apparently looked at a man for which she was labelled as unchaste by her husband. Only when her husband’s fury subsided, he ordered his son Parsurama to stop with the beheading, but scarring Renuka Devi for life as she was betrayed by the two men she had dedicated her life for.

Renuka tells Sita that it is totally futile for women to make men the centre of their lives, because she had been deceived by both her husband and son, on a ridiculous pretext, and women remain the subjects of male apathy no matter what. She talks about her wifehood, motherhood being besmirched by these men who thought they were the flag bearers of dharma. Instead, women must strive to find their own identities, to do something worthwhile with their own lives. That’s fulfilment. Sita too realises this later in her life when her sons wish to leave her to live with their father, Ram.

One of the reasons why Volga wrote this book was to make Ramayana relevant in a modern context where women have explicitly started to no longer tolerate intellectual or physical oppression to conform to any mythological impressions of femininity. She understands that epics like Ramayana have been used by upper castes to subjugate women for several centuries. Moreover, women being the battle grounds for men to wage their wars is a common underpinning in our important mythological stories.

Men fighting to protect their wives, waging wars for ‘restoring their wives’ honour’, then putting them through trials to prove their loyalty is a reality even today, in different ways. Sita was well-educated, and the legend says she could easily lift a bow nobody else could. However, an epitome of perfection, daughter of mother earth, still reduced to her role as a wife, spent an eternity in the service of her husband, only to realise that she could never be happy in the mortal world. When her husband abandoned her, she dedicated her life in raising their sons, only to hear them praise their father’s valour and nobility and leave her to live with him.

SHE UNDERSTANDS THAT EPICS LIKE RAMAYANA HAVE BEEN USED BY UPPER CASTES TO SUBJUGATE WOMEN FOR SEVERAL CENTURIES.

As per Volga, all these experiences ultimately helped Sita to liberate herself from whatever she went through in the mortal world. However, it’s also important to understand that a woman’s liberation is not merely in her disentanglement from the material world. While spirituality is equally important, a feminist interpretation can also include a woman’s life being stable and filled with contentment no matter what her experiences were, in the very society that secludes her for being ‘unchaste’.

The author’s depiction of Ram is quite interesting as well. Towards the end, Ram is seen being miserable, for he couldn’t be himself. The shackles of Arya Dharma around him remained a barrier in his liberation from these worldly roles that never made him happy.

But while he remained and chose to live a life of a dutiful, noble king, Sita found her deliverance away from these identities. At last, she tells Rama – “I am the daughter of Earth, Rama. I have realised who I am. The whole universe belongs to me. I don’t lack anything. I am the daughter of Earth.”

(Source: FII)