I don't believe in logic: Sathyu

He made a soul-rousing film like “Garam Hawa” that looked at the traumatic aftermath of partition. He gave distinctiveness to Kannada film industry through his outstanding films. ‘Garam Hawa’ in Hindi and ‘Bara’ in Kannada are his outstanding classics.

His other movies ‘Cheethegu Chinthe’ and ‘Kanneshwara Rama’ in Kannada have left their own footprints in the Kannada film legacy. Besides, being an art director, cameraman, screen writer, Sathyu is known for his humanistic approach to cinemas. Now he has directed ‘Ijjodu’ after a long gap of 12 years.

The director who was recently in Manipal Institute of Communication to promote his new venture spoke to City Herald on the Kannada film industry and his new venture. Excerpts from an interview.

What is the message you tried conveying through your film ‘Ijjodu’ to the society as well as to the Kannada film industry?

Ijjodu is a film on a social evil which is practiced in Saundathi of North Karnataka. The film is based on a real life character. Even though the devadasi system is banned by the government, it is practiced in some parts of North Karnataka even to this day. However, the government after banning the custom has failed to offer any alternative livelihood to those suppressed women.

Mere banning is not enough, the government should make sincere efforts to rehabilitate ‘devadasis.’ Only then, one can expect some improvement in their lives and the practice may have a natural death.

The film as I said earlier is based on real character. Ijjodu gives something new to the audiences who are fed up with the stereotyped stories.  Cinemas should have fresh ideas and stories. These days Kannada film industry is surged with remake films which in fact is not a good sign.

What is your opinion on the recent Kannada films?

Poor remake of poor films. The films are deteriorating and have lost originality. I appeal people to stop making such rubbish films. Write scripts of good quality and then venture into transforming the script into a real experience. We have many outstanding literary works in Kannada. Why shouldn’t these works be used to script a film?

What is harm in remaking good movies?

Remakes are made only of classics. ‘Shankutala’ and ‘Hamlet’ are some of the exceptions for remakes. Remaking virtually depends on the quality of the story.

Ijjodu reflects the sad part of the women. The film offers suicide as the way out to the distressed women. It is substantiated with the female lead in your film going for it. Don’t you feel you could have given some other alternatives in your film? You could have portrayed women as stronger and uncompromising to yield under any pressure. What is the solution your film offers to this existing problem?

I am not meant to do that. I am a film maker and film makers only make people aware
regarding the evil customs and burning issues. I enjoyed making the film that has been done in the way as planned in the script. Slight deviation has been deliberately done from the original story.

What are the strong aspects of Ijjodu that creates a true fantasy of real?

Longer shots that lingers with the performers. Short editing is not done. The film has no continuity in the story as I don’t believe in continuity and logic. I have avoided lots of gimmicks in the film.

You were away from film making for a long period. What made you to go for ‘Ijjodu’ after a gap of 12 years?

I never found any good story during these years that provoked me to go for film making. It happened with Ijjodu.

Have you started working on your next project?

Yes. It is the story based on a musician’s life. It is a cinema on biography and script is almost ready.

As film has many languages, my next venture will have many languages that the script and shots demand.