continued from part 1

Part - 3

Ganga, following the request of Bhageeratha to help his ancestors attain salvation, gushes out from the heavens in a ceaseless flow. Lord Siva, acting on the request of Bhageeratha again, promises to ebb her flow and release her in a controlled and a phased manner. The frame, a marvelous close-up, starts at the Siva's visage, with his trinetraalu looking up, anticipating the mighty mad dash of Ganga. A little above, his jaTajooTaalu spread out in all possible directions to accommodate her. Up above the frame, Ganga, wrapped up in white robes descends from the heavens, like bundles of joy unfettered by the wreaths of heaven (sura Srunkhalamulu tenchi), like chortles of laughter uncontrolled by the customs of heaven, like the flow of free will unshackled from the traditions of heaven.

The movie - Seeta Kalyanam (1976). This entire movie is a series of beautiful frames one after the other, that could be each singly be reminisced, recollected, and marveled at. It is easy (relatively) to establish, and thus trademark, one's style through the usage of words. The words have a certain sense of rhythm; they usually follow a flow and work around in an established pattern that is unique and recognizable, most of the times. But a visual style, on the other hand, is quite arduous to arrive upon, without following gimmickry and resorting to cheap tricks. Interpreting a scene at hand by either positioning the camera or the movement of it, which is done for most often times, relies on the words being spoken by the characters. A character yells something in shock and the camera zooms in to register the shock and convey the idea that the character is indeed shocked. Now, only when the words are taken away out of the equation and the onus of true story-telling (or screenplay-interpreting) technique falls entirely on the director, does the term visual style comes into play.

Case in point - mutyaala muggu - The point that needs to be conveyed here is that of intimacy between the lead characters - A few days into their marriage, Sridhar and Sangeeta walk into their garden, prance around in a playful manner, engage in joyful and playful banter and finally consummate. The entire sequence, with a running time of a few minutes, shot as a montage, does not rely on a single spoken word, but the combination of framing, the (excellent) background score of a sole mandolin, and the black & white-ish photography (the movie is in Eastman color) of Ishan Arya, evokes the idea of true bonding between the characters, without the usual routine duet or heavy dialogues.

Shot division - within a scene, the shots are spliced up for actions and reactions. And if one goes by the regular shot division procedures, the focus shifts from one character to the other as dictated by the dialogue. In a frame involving two characters, character A talks, camera stays on A till his pause, cuts to the reaction of B, cuts back to A continuing his dialogue. Pelli Pustakam - baasu kuTTi comes into the office and starts parading around in the same saree that KK (Rajendra Prasad) has promised Ms. Bhama (Divya Vani) on her birthday. The dialogue continues in the background and the focus shifts between the reaction shots of KK and Bhama. He looks at her apologetically. She looks at him hurt and hurtful. Bright flashes of light overwhelm KK, indicating the flashes are real whip lashes (koraDaa debbalu) for his misdemeanor. The (wonderful) dialogue is still relegated to the background. This is one of many instances that the director rises above the dialogue using his style to get across a plot point.

The shot division/framing comes naturally to Bapu, considering his artistic background. If one observes his framing, it is but a sequence of individual pictures that move. The camera isn't moved too often, not even by the low budget telugu movie standards, and the idea is conveyed by simple expression(s) that occupies that particular frame. In that, Bapu style is more artistic (read static) than it is dynamic. His characters do not occupy a frenzied world, caught up in a flurry of activities, doing things in a whirlwind fashion. Instead, they operate at less than the normal pace, taking things as they come by in their own languid mode, relying more on the reaction than on the action. His characters are mature beyond their ages (thus explaining their slow motor skills) without showing any signs of impulsiveness, restlessness or unpredictability. The hero does not spring into action bashing up goons, beyond his physical means, when he faced with a confrontational situation. Instead he gulps the indignation and walks away from the situation. His characters rely more on the brains than on the brawns. His characters occupy a real world than a surreal one. His characters are more human than they are exaggerated.

Ramana's exuberance is reigned by Bapu's sensibility. Bapu's vision is enhanced by Ramana's brilliance. They remain the two sides of the same coin. When one shines, the other remains in the background, and when it is the turn of the second, the first gladly gives way. Their association has broken many accepted truths - artists good on paper can never be great on film; only opposites attract; two swords cannot occupy the same sheath; nobody would watch mythological characters in a social setting; telugu heroine should never look like one from telugu land; heroism in a movie is directly proportional to the body count in the fights; heroine should always be dependent on the hero for her (cinematic) existence. For all the myths that they have shattered, here is one that they could NOT get their arms around - a great wine ripens with age!

buDugu walks in front a mirror, looks into it, folds his hand (in namaskaaram fashion) and starts singing: okkaDae mahaanubhaavuDu, aa okkaDiki vandanamulu...

C. Gaana Pesoonamba rushes into the frame and starts yelling:
mashTaaru,
veeDu, paaTanu khooni caestunnaaDu

buDugu looks at C. Gaana Pesoonamba obligingly and corrects his song, this time turned toward her:
iddare mahaanubhalu,
aa iddarikee vandanamulu...

C. Gaana Pesoonamba is pleased!

iddaroo mahaanubhuvulae! aa iddaroo vandaneeyulae!!

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