Sankaraabharanam - The Jewel of Lord Siva

Smasanavaasi ki abharannala ?? (Unlike Vishnu, Lord Siva is an ascetic and a cemetery dweller !!)
What could be His ornaments ?

Music (precisely, Omkaaram) is His only ornament.

Poornodaya Art Creations produced "Sankaraabharanam" in 1979 for Dr.K.Viswanath. Viswanath spelt classicism from that day. Telugu Cinema was less known for the art form of cinema till that day. This movie triggered a sequence of other art movies in Telugu.... Thyagayya (by Bapu), Meghasandesam (by Dasari N. Rao) and his own sequels(a sort of) to Sankaraabharanam....Saagara Sangamam, Sruthi Layalu, Swarna Kamalam, Swathi Kiranam.

This highly acclaimed movie, starred (the only real stars were Music and Dance) JV Somayajulu, Allu RamaLingayya, Manju Bhargavi, Chandra Mohan(in a spl. role) and Master TulasiRam.

Sankaraabharanam Sankara Sastry, popularly known as Saraswathi Putra (abode of all knowledge), is the doyen of Carnatic music. He has mastered the raga Sankaraabharanam. He is a sage when he sits to perform in a kutcheri. He bathes in the Rasa Ganga with his nirantara saadhana (uninterrupted practice - riyaaz). He wins accolades across all barriers. Wealth has always been a by-product of all the sanmanas. (Saraswathi and Lakshmi were together !).

Tulasi (daughter of a pimp), as the name suggests, is a real gem of a girl. She remains chaste in the most maculate of environments. She has an intense propensity for dance and music along with some professional training too. She has also been gifted with an innate laya.

The movie starts with an introduction by Viswanath,

"'SiSurvEtti paSurvEtti, vEtti gAna rasaM phaNihi'
(Music is enjoyed equally by babies, animals and even snakes)
We hope you appreciate our effort in bringing you the Jeeva Dhara of the Indian classical music."

followed by a song by Sankara Sastry(sung by SP Balasubramanyam) in a packed auditorium.

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Omkaara Naadaanu samdhaana mavu gaaname Sankaraabharanamu
[That which is congruential with the primordial sound AUM is Lord Siva's ornament....]

.....

Advaita Siddhi ki, amaratva labdhi ki gaaname sopaanamu
[Music is the means by which one can achieve the goals of Advaitha. It is also the road to immortality.]
Satwa saadhanaku satya sodhanaku sangeetame praanamu.
[It is the means by which one can minimize one's entropy.]
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{Sankara Sastry (predicatbly) chose Music for his salvation}

Sankara Sastry is distracted by some unwanted chatting (by Tulasi's mother and her client !! ) in the hall, which results in his leaving the hall.

Sankara Sastry is pacified by his 7 yr. old daughter's sruthi on the tambura. He starts training her too beside a river bank. It so happens that Tulasi keeps listening to this training session and so Sankara Sastry gets to know abt Tulasi and her disposition towards the art. This gradually grows into a strong bond of Guru-Sishya.

Tulasi, is one day subjected to sexual abuse by her mother's client(a Zamindar). She is taken to an yield point, where she has to murder the zamindar. Sankara Sastry requests his friend, Madhava(by Allu RamaLingayya), a lawyer by profession to redeem her off the crime. Sankara Sastry turns into her redeemer. But sooner, Sankara Sastry has to batter a few existing social customs to incorporate her into his house, which he does. But not able to tolerate all the criticism her Guru is facing, she decides to maroon herself.

Ten long years pass by...

in the mean while Sankara Sastry is reduced to a pauper, unable to withstand the onslaught of western music over India.

Tulasi returns to Sankara Sastry's place to admit her son (biological father: the Zamindar) into Sankara Sastry's house.Her Son manages to sneak into his house and starts learning music under his aegis. Madhava helps Sankara Sastry in getting his daughter married. Tulais comes to know thru Madhava that she has inherited a large amount of mproperty from her mother. She utilizes all that money in reviving the dying art forms. The movie ends as Sankara Sastry passes over his gandapendera (his heritage) to Tulasi's son.
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Veturi Sundaramamurthy has excelled in composing the lyrics. ( Raagam Thaanam Pallavi is still believed to be esoteric ). Swara Brahma K.V. Mahadevan's music for this movie is divine. Viswanath made sure that Sangeetha Saahitya Samalankruthe. (that both music and lyrics were equally adorned)

Somewhere in between the story, when Sankara Sastry sits down to perform Tyagaraja Aaradhana, the audience estrange him, for he had broken social customs and brought an outcaste(Tulasi) into the society. Sankara Sastry decides to sing for himself and the God.

Sankara Nada sareeraapara, veda vihara hara, jeeveswara...
[Oh! Sankara, whose form is vibration, who is the soul provider of LIFE, i call you....]
.....

Merise merupulu murise pedavula chiru chiru navvulu kaabolu
[i guess those lightenings are Layaraja's(Siva) mischievous smiles]
urime urime urumulu sari sari natanala siri siri muvvalu kaabolu
[and those roaring thunders emanate from His all pervasive dance]


{In short, Veturi was at his best}
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"Show" is one extra-ordinary Telugu movie, produced by Manjula ['Superstar'(uff!) Krishna's daughter], in recent times. This movie should stand as a torch bearer of Telugu Cinema, where cinema is more or less reduced to faction-ism and teenage love stories.

The movie starts with a dedication to the almighty. It reads "This movie is dedicated to the Sakala charachara srishti kartha"(Almighty). "This show, a part of Your SHOW is all Yours" would have been apt. The story is woven around JUST two characters and what they do in a time spanning 8 hours. Rhythma (by Manjula herself) who works for a pharmacuetical company comes to buy patent rights for a drug made by Prof.Krishna Mohan. Unfortunately, Professor happens to go to a nearby town even before Rhythma reaches his place. Rhythma is left with keys and a big estate to explore till the prof is back.(He's supposed to be back with in a couple of hours.)

Madhav(by Surya), Krishna Mohan's advocate also comes to meet him. Madhav also begins to wait for the arrival of the professor. This waiting brings the strangers closer. Rhythma and Madhav begin to share their pasts. Madhav, a badly henpecked husband, interested in acting had to giveup all his dreams. Rhythma is in love with some guy in Delhi. After some lighter moments, Madhav challenges that he is gonna introduce the actor in Rhythma to herself and Madhav succeeds in this endeavour.

This propells them to enact an unusual drama(to entertain themselves) with just 2 characters and 'no' audience. They decide to act extempore, the ploy being wife pestering a husband. This coincides so much with his own story that Madhav fails to distinguish between his own life and the current drama. He begins to react forgetting that all they were doing is just a play. He goes to the extent of committing a suicide with a knife. Rhythma stops him by bringing him into the 'real' world by clapping and cheering his acting.

The movie ends saying that "The world is a cosmic drama created by God to entertain ourselves". Man fails(or forgets ?) to realise his trueself (Atma) and gets trapped in the bhava saagara getting involved too much with his worldly identity. This is probably, what the director Neelakanta wanted to tell us through his movie. (which he does successfully)

Unfortunately, TeluguCinema.com and 'idle'brain.com fail to mention this sublimity of the movie in their reviews.

The movie is very pleasant to eyes with some good comedy(not the slapstick kinda stuff, which generally dominates Telugu comedy).

Finally, this movie is an award winner too...National award for the Best Screenplay.

Kudos to Manjula for her innitiative, Neelakanta for a sublime screenplay !!