FILMS OF THE SPIRIT

Curated by Rajiv Mehrotra

 

Samskara (Funeral Rites/Kannada)

(100 min; 1970; dvd; English subtitles)

Director: Pattabhi Rama Reddy

 

With Girish Karnad, Snehlata Reddy, P. Lankesh

 

Recipient of the National Award for Best Feature Film, 18th National Film Awards 1971; Second Best Film Award, Best Supporting Actor, Best Story Writer & Best Cinematographer, Kanataka State Film Awards 1970–71; and Bronze Leopard, Locarno International Film Festival 1972

 

Samskara initiated the parallel cinema movement in Kannada. Initially banned by the Madras Government, the film is a bold and blistering attack on the caste system. It follows a religious dispute in a small village community about whether a rebellious meat, alcohol drinking Brahmin who dies suddenly has the right to a decent Brahmin funeral. The beauty of the film lies in its confrontation of tradition with modernity and rationality. The realization that the good Brahmin has about living a life without judgement, a life outside of caste, honesty and humanity as the only path to moksha

 

(Collaboration: Foundation for Universal Responsibility of H.H. The Dalai Lama; and National Film Archive of India, Pune)