Young Kannada directors give taboo subjects a shot

'Arishadvarga' and 'Nathicharami' are among notable recent attempts in Kannada to talk about female desire

The Kannada film ‘Arishadvarga’, which dropped on OTT recently, is smartly packaged. It is an engaging whodunit that also talks about infertility and female desire. But what makes it an unusual Kannada film is its portrayal of male prostitution.

Mahesh Bung plays a struggling actor who doubles up as a gigolo. Debutant director Arvind Kamath looks at the character through a sensitive lens. “Male prostitution is not a new phenomenon but it’s obscure,” Arvind tells Showtime.

“I started researching gigolos in 2008, when I was a small-time actor. I used to attend networking parties where young actors sought roles from industry people. That’s where I saw small underground clubs which secretly coordinated this service,” he says.

Arvind wasn’t apprehensive while writing it. He was more worried about misrepresenting Kruthi (played by Anju Alva), whose sex life is on the rocks thanks to her impotent husband. “I was conscious of the male gaze. I am a man writing about a woman’s vulnerabilities. But thankfully, more women than men liked the film,” he says.

Before ‘Arishadvarga’, Mansore’s ‘Nathicharami’ (2018) and Roopa Rao’s ‘Gantumoote’ (2019) sensitively explored female sexuality. Apart from these films, recent Kannada cinema hasn’t shown interest in topics considered risky.

In the 1980s and 90s, Kannada filmmakers dealt with subjects considered forbidden. In Suresh Heblikar’s ‘Kadina Benki’ (1988), the protagonist gets aroused only when he sees other having sex. It is later revealed that, due to Oedipus complex, he finds it difficult to have sex with his wife. As a mental defence, he indulges in abnormal sexual behaviour.

Having grown up watching French films of Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, Heblikar wanted to direct films that made people think. “Psychiatrist Ashok Pai, who produced the film, suggested to me the story, which is based on a Kannada novel by Na D’Souza,” says Heblikar, who also played the lead.

To shoot the story was challenging, admits Heblikar. “To discuss the scenes with the artistes wasn’t easy. Sometimes, when I was acting, I thought of my family and felt embarrassed. But I told myself that I was just essaying a character,” he explains.

The psychological, erotic drama did well at the box office. “I got around 1,000 letters with people seeking solutions for the problem shown in the film. They thought I was a psychiatrist,” he recollects with a chuckle.

Before turning director, Heblikar worked with actor-director Kashinath, who grew popular with his raunchy comedies with taboo topics. His ‘Anubhava’, released in 1984, showed a man in his 20s desperate for his first sexual experience. The film exposed people’s misconceptions of sex and their hesitancy to talk about it. ‘Anantana Avantara’ (1989) is a humorous film about a man who struggles to perform.

On paper, he had unconventional subjects but it is debatable if Kashinath presented them with maturity. “His ‘Anubhava’ and ‘Anantana Avantara’ were noteworthy experiments but other films focused more on titillation and double entendre. That said, there is no denying that Kashinath was a trend-setter,” opines film historian K Puttaswamy .

The manner of expressing physical intimacy and nudity changed over time. From metaphors and photo collages, filmmakers slowly mastered clever camera angles, says Sunil Kumar Desai, who is from the stable of Kashinath.

In his ‘Utkarsha’ (1990), a famous artiste specialised in nude paintings becomes a psycho killer at night. He had one common pattern: stripping women naked and slitting their throat. “Some felt the film disrespected women. The film’s screening was stopped briefly due to a court case,” he says.

“Bold psychological crime thrillers were new to Kannada audiences back then. But I made sure ‘Utkarsha’ stayed true to the genre, and it wasn’t sleazy,” he adds.

When Puttanna’s ‘bold’ film shocked people

Legendary filmmaker Puttanna Kanagal’s ‘Edakallu Guddada Mele’ (1973) portrayed sexuality and desire through a woman’s eyes. Jayanthi plays Madhavi, married to an older man. He is an ex-army man who becomes impotent because of a war injury.

Despite loving her husband unconditionally, Madhavi cannot control her sexual desire and ends up having an affair. She grapples with guilt and eventually meets a tragic end. While cinephiles appreciated the film, many skipped the movie in theatres as they found the story difficult to digest. Songs from the film, such as ‘Viraha, nooru nooru taraha’ are remembered to this day.