Continued from part 4

Part 5

Do words punctuate emotions or emotions emphasize words? Viswanath's economy of expressions is as renowned as his clarity with words. Having worked with the likes of Adurthi, Mullapoodi, Dukkipaati, Gollapoodi in the early stages of his career, Viswanath honed his ear in picking up the right word for the right situation and play it for that exact moment of time. Take any slice of the most emotional moments of his movies, the dialogue plays right into it and does not over-stay its welcome. Yaajulu walks into the shack briskly and notices his grand-daughter, Hema, not yet prepared for the dance performance later that evening. "aemiTi ammaayi inkaa tayaaru kaalaedu"? thunders his voice. "aa talanTu inkaa pOyalaedu" comes the reply from his docile daughter-in-law, from behind the door. "aemiTi evarannaa posaedundaaa, laekaa adee naenae pOyaalaa" remarks Yaajulu and walks away. The son sandwiched between his father's commandeering and his subservience irratatedly comments "aemiTo, vedhava Slaeshalu, ardham kaaka chastunnaam". The little trinkets of information that seep into such dialogues not only serve the purpose of advancing the plot but also lets the viewer under the dynamic between the characters. That which could be played over reams and reams of dialogues and emphasized over scenes and scenes of raw stock, is simply replaced by understanding the true nature of the characters and supplying them with the right word. "aDagaDam aemiTayyaa, kaDigaestaanu. veyyi marDarlu chaesina vaaDinainaa kaLLallOki kaLLu peTTi nijam cheppinchaeyagalanu. vaaDanTae naakaemannaa bhayamaa! unnaaDaa lOpala?" asks Madhava in a tone that smacks of bravado. "aa pakka gadilOne unnaru" pat comes the reply from gOpaalam. "nee moham manDa, cheppavaemayyaa aa maaTa. naa maaTalu vinnaaDanTaavaa?" cowers Madhava. Just a little line that explains completely about the relationship between Sankara Sastry and his childhood friend Madhava.

Of all the pens that have worked with Viswnath on the majority of his ventures, Jandhyala, Aakella, MVS Haranadha Rao and Sainath, Jandhyala's understanding of Viswnath's characters extends beyond the rest of his peers. Penning for sirisiri muvva, seetamaalakshmi, SankaraabharaNam, saptapadi, SubhOdayam, Subhalaekha, saagara sangamam and AapatbaandhavuDu, Jandhyala's craft, under Viswnath's tutelage, can see a marked transition from one movie to the next, peaking with saagara sangamam, which, arguably, has the best words that any writer has breathed into the characters' lives. "naenu ekkuva taagalaedu vadinaa", a slouched Balu looking at the Krishna paadaalu in front of the house refusing to come in. "naenu aDagalaedae", an even more understanding sister-in-law with a dinner plate in her hand, settling beside Balu. As much as the situation can bear the burden of the extra words and over-emotions, Viswanath reigns the both of them and renders one of most heart-rending scenes of the movie. "talent okkaTae saripOdu, raasi peTTi unDaalanDee. abbO birju maharaaj, great dancer, Shoba Naidu, abbO pedda pedda vaaLLantaa vastunnaaranDee" marvels Balu as he leafs through the invitation and stops at one leaf. "eena kooDa pedda dancer ae" observes Madhavi. The cue stops the flows of words to hammer the point further and it almost feels like Jandhayla knew the exact instant, when he should stand back and let Kamal, Jayaprada and Illayaraja have their moment.

"Music is divine whether it is Western or Indian. sangeetaaniki bhashaa bhaedaalu, swapara bhaedaalu unDaalu, adoka ananta jeevana vaahini. ae jaati vaaraina ae matam vaaraina andulO daaham teerchukOvacchu" starts Sankara Sastry when trying to teach some sense into the reckless youth, bent on ridiculing "swadharmam" while blindly embracing and aping the western culture. A look at Viswanath's creations, it is quite obvious that the dominant tone of his characters is one of sensibility, that is rooted in wisdom, experience and intelligence. Even after Sambayya slaps Chinna hard across his face for picking up a cigarette, more out of fear that he too would follow the tracks of his drunkard father Govindu, he repents immediately for his rush of blood unable to come to terms as how to the "spare the rod, spoil the child" tenet would work against a child, who does not understand his doings (wrong or right) in the first place. "inta chaesinaa, inta koTTina, aa pasi manasuki enduku ardham kaavaTam laedO teliyaDam laedu" laments Sambayya, teary-eyed, confessing his surge of unruly emotions to his beloved, Ganga. When the entire village is finally up in arms against the atrocities of neelakanThaiah, and wants to settle the score in terms of flesh and blood, a calming voice of Hanumanthadaasu appeals to the sensibilities of the mob, arguing how a violence only begets violence the greedy appetite for blood and flesh can never be quenched nor can it never be quelled. While it is quite easy to play up the situation and fan the emotions of the characters, feeding it with "powerful" dialogues, it is all the more difficult to see the speck of sensibility amid the unruliness, a spark of intelligence in the face of insanity and a tinge of wisdom buried under the heap of foolishness.

Any mention of Viswanath's movies flashes the images of dance, culture, music, words and emotions. As subtle as his penchant for emotional words, humor is very much an ingredient of his characters' worlds and a healthy dose of comedy is sprinkled all throughout, that which is un-obtrusive and un-obstructive to the regular proceedings. Wit, sarcasm, satire, innocence and all the different variations of comedy find place in his worlds. "ekkaDainaa, illu kaalipOyina vaaDini choosunTaavu, voLLu kaalipOyina vaaDini choosinTaavu, ilaa bhakti tO kaali pOyina vaaDini ekkaDanna choosaavaa naayanaa" - a blackened face with a mirthless laugh (Swarna Kamalam). "sundOpasundulaa? vaaLLevaru?", "inkevaru, sundulu meeru, upsundulu vaaru". "aemiTO nanDee, rOgam paerutO deeniki, deeni moguDu hOdaalO naaku baagaanae maryaadalu jarugutunnaayi" (Sagara Sangamam). "adi rishabhamaa, vrushabhamaa", "abbae rishabhamaenanDee, rishabhamae. akkaDa rishabham paDitae hindOLam endukavutunDanDee, charukaeSi avutundi gaani", "chaarukaeSaa???", "abbae, chaarukaeSaa, kaaphee, kaaphee avutundanDee", "nuvvu mundu lae ikkaDi ninchi" (SankaraabharaNam). "ammo ammO, noone elaa pilla kaalavallaaga pravihinchaestOndO, Oraey vedhava aapu aapu", "aravaddu anTae vinalaedu gaa, eddu chooDu koorchunDipOyindi. ippuDu aa ganuga nee meDalO vaesukuni nuvvu tirugu" (Swati mutyam). There were no separate comedy tracks, there were no specialist comic actors, there were no separate comedic words. An observation of the lifestyle of the characters, the situations there are thrown in, and the events that happen around them, proved plenty enough raw material to Viswanath to extract the comedic ore that is refreshing, heartening and more importanly, plain funny.

(Cont'd in the part 6)

(To be cont'd)

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