Yesterday when the call came from Vaishali of DRC Cinemas inviting me to see ‘December-1’, I was left wondering what has December 1st got to do with April 25. On being told it was the title of a Kannada film which had just won two National Awards — Best Film in Kannada and Best Screenplay — my ears riveted and there I was at the theatre for a special screening. The exclusive show for the press would be this evening a 5 O’ clock.
Should anyone ask me what was the achievement of our former JD(S) Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and for what he would be best remembered, I would instantly say ‘Village home stay’, grama vasthavya, though some may remember him as a renegade who nearly ruined B.S. Yeddyurappa’s political career in BJP. Let it be.
I only mentioned this because the film ‘December-1’ is all about a Chief Minister’s village home stay. If at all a Kannada film was produced based on a contemporary political theme which is much discussed among the people and so very topical, this one is the film.
The original intention of this idea, as told by H.D. Kumaraswamy himself, was to experience first-hand the daily trials and tribulations, the daily grind of a farmer in the village. To what extent Kumaraswamy’s experience benefited the villagers in whose houses he stayed, or the village which he stayed or the farmers across the State, everybody knows. Neither his host nor the village nor the farmer found any improvement in their lives as a result of this much-publicised and appreciated village stay.
In this film, December-1 the story revolves around a similar village stay by the Chief Minister but not to experience first- hand the poverty and denials of a village farmer as was the idea in Kumaraswamy’s experiment. Here the intention was to send an important message to the people of the State, why, the world ! Well, we find the Chief Minister being appreciated in Delhi by Dr. Manmohan Singh and even in Washington DC by Barack Obama !! I will not reveal the message here for the beauty of the film and the genius of the producer lies here. This message is indeed the fulcrum upon which this most creatively produced, most enjoyable film is well balanced. I recommend this film, a short one at 94 minutes, to anyone who is a cinema lover.
The film no doubt is a political satire and is produced too realistically to be true. It takes the viewers to a typical village, Basapura in North Karnataka. Hence, the spoken language is highly guttural, sometimes musical and idiomatic for southerners to understand every word of it. For example, the refrain while greeting another ‘Saranare Saara.’ Yet this itself adds to the enjoyment of the film all through. Madevappa, played by Santosh Uppina and Devakka by Niveditha in lead roles as husband and wife have given sterling performance, though Devakka seemed a bit sensual for a village belle of Basapura as seen in the film. Never mind. Well, after all, there must be some reason for Devakkana rotti to become famous in the village town! The couple leads a normal village life with a son, an infant daughter and Madevappa’s aged mother. He was a lorry driver but following an accident lost a leg thus on crutches. He works in a flour mill while his wife Devakka sells rottis, the famous Devakkana rotti mentioned above. Not quite a happy family but certainly a contented family.
Then, like a bolt from the blue, arrives at their doorsteps an official and a Policeman. Madevappa was forcibly taken away from his mill to the DC’s office. The manner in which he was made to wait for hours on end at the office is typical of what we all experience when we go to Government office. The ways of the officials and the DC in informing him of the choice of his humble, ramshackle house for the impending Chief Minister’s overnight stay and the official manner in which his consent is taken are too realistic — the persuasion, promises and mild threat. I am reminded of the Russian classic “Dead Souls” by Nikolai Gogol. The Chief Minister finally comes to the village on December 1st. Hence the title of the film.
The Director and the script writer of the film P. Seshadri must be admired for his sense of time in making the film belong to the present — here and now. Otherwise who would ever bring in the scene where a customer questions Madevappa the justification for charging Rs. 3 for grinding one kg of grain when the grain itself costs Re. 1 a kg to buy. I remembered our present Chief Minister Siddharamaiah and his Re. 1 a kg rice to the BPL card holders. It is such existential situations that lifts the film as a whole to a higher level from among other cliched art films of the same old format.
The Chief Minister finally comes to Madevappa’s house, eats, stays overnight and leaves. Then the denouement. The dreams the family had dreamt of bettering their life was shattered. Worse, even their earlier normal work-a-day life of contentment was destroyed. They suddenly become untouchables all because the Chief Minister wanted to convey a message to the world. A film everyone in Karnataka must see and enjoy both as an entertainment and a reminder of our unscrupulous politicians and their crooked ways oblivious of the common man’s needs and sentiments.
It was gratifying to know that a lady from our city, former journalist Preethi Nagaraj too has played a cameo role as a school teacher apart from assisting in script writing. Full marks for a good, must-watch Kannada Art Film in many years. A rose of a film in December !
e-mail: kbg@starofmysore.com
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Abracadabra… Abracadabra / by K. B. Ganapathy / April 26th, 2014
