JOIN USWhere are sociopolitical dramas in Kannada?
With the huge success of Rishab Shettys Kantara, many essential debates on the representation of culture, society, and politics in Kannada cinema have cropped up. Although there is an array of diverse opinions on the films subject, one shouldnt forget that it is the film that led to these wide-ranging discussions, which is rare to see in other circumstances.
Mainstream Kannada cinema rarely explores socio-political themes, issues and events extensively. In the last two decades, we can spot only a handful of such films backed by established actors and those that found reasonable box office success. Puneeth Rajkumar-starrer Prithvi (2009), B M Giriraj directorial Jatta (2013), B Sureshas Devara Naadalli (2016), Saad Khans Humble Politician Nograj (2018), Mansores Naaticharami (2018), Act 1978 (2020), and Roopa Raos Gantumoote (2019) are few movies that explored broad socio-political themes.
The main reason behind this scarcity is the commercial unviability of such films, point out filmmakers, academics and cinephiles. B M Giriraj, known for his thoughtful flicks such as Jatta, Amaravathi (2017), and Kannadiga (2022), says, “People are not interested in watching films that make them think. They watch films just for enjoyment while taking a break from their routine lives.”
A Kannada cinephiles desire to see sensitive portrayals of such themes on screens hugely draws from watching such films in Malayalam, Tamil, Marathi, Bengali, Hindi and other languages. Actor-director Raj B Shetty makes an important observation. “In Karnataka, cinema and politics have always maintained a distance unlike in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Their societies have witnessed mass socio-political struggles, so when they make political films, they resonate with the masses. But, in Karnataka, we dont have such an audience who wants to see socio-political issues in cinema.”
“We have seen largely pro-Kannada movements, and they do get reflected in Kannada films. Post-Gokak agitation, Kannada language has become a binding factor for all of us, and consciously or unconsciously, these elements do get reflected in our films. But other socio-political themes, such as caste, are hardly explored because it has not become part of our collective consciousness yet,” notes Raj.
Looking at todays politically-charged atmosphere across the country, Giriraj says that producers will not take risks to fund such subjects. “If political films have to succeed, they have to align with the politics of the day. For example, if The Kashmir Files was released 10 years ago, it would have been a flop film. If I make a film on labour rights today, it wont work,” he reasons.
Raj is also of the view that the political climate in the country is not conducive to make a political film. He says that a lot of subjects offend a lot of people, which in turn makes an artiste opt for “self-censorship”.
Author, and film critic K Phaniraj says,”If a filmmaker jumps the hurdles of commercial loss and censor approval, then comes the big risk of mob vandalism in whatever name and form, supported by the State. Also, the latest potential risk is to face prosecution by state in the name of harming public morality or even sedition.”
Acclaimed filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli looks back in time. “Kannada films from a long time are not exploring socio-political themes. Some of the earlier Kannada films in the 1960s, and 70s (Chandavalliya Thota, Sandhya Raga, and Puttanna Kanagals films) would touch upon the said issues but they would give it a romantic end,” he remarks. The main reason behind this, according to Kasaravalli, is that there is a perception among the people that films are only for entertainment, and we do not see cinema as a medium that could shake our beliefs.
Highlighting the social responsibility of filmmakers, he says, “Art is not for appeasement. It should question, and make us think from different perspectives. I am aware that such sensitive films across languages have not always been financially successful. But we should not forget the role of such films in bringing awareness among the people.”
Nikhila H, a film academic based in Hyderabad, says that Kannada cinema is not at all apolitical. “Its politics is its refusal to acknowledge or engage with or skirt around, say, Dalit critique of Brahminism, or feminist critique of patriarchy, or secular critique of religious polarisation,” she notes.
She takes the issue of caste in Kantara and says that the conflict in the film does not come to be viewed as caste-based exploitation, disempowerment, denial of rights or livelihood, but gets explained away in and through ritual performance.
She goes on, “Kannada films operate in this rarefied realm hence it has to rely on spectacle to make the film arresting and engaging rather than on the narrative which requires logic, causality, plausibility and attention to detail with respect to characterisation, mise-en-scene and place.”