http://www.thehindu.com/arts/cinema/article972117.ecePublished: December 23, 2010 15:58 IST | Updated: December 23, 2010
15:58 IST December 23, 2010
In search of identity
Anand Haridas
'Bodhi' traces the life of Mathangi, a woman from a backward community
whose meeting with a Buddhist monk leads her in search of self and
identity.
Ajayan has always used his plays to probe the identity issues of those
forced to the margins by mainstream society. Be it his well-crafted
'Oru Dalit Yuvathiyude Kathanakatha' based on the novelette by M.
Mukundan or 'Siddhartha' based on Herman Hesse's work.
And he continues to do so in his debut film 'Bodhi,' which is loosely
based on 'Chandalabhikshuki' by Kumaran Asan and 'Chandalika' by
Rabindranath Tagore. "Both these poems delved into the caste issue.
However, I wanted to go into the history of ostracism based on caste.
That's how I came across Ambedkar's work 'Buddha and Dharma.' My film
takes the path between the Buddha and Ambedkar," says Ajayan.
Taking on the system
The film tracks the life of Mathangi, a woman from a backward
community, who is not allowed to draw water from the public well. She
is shocked when Buddhist monk Anandan asks for water to quench his
thirst.
That was the beginning of her journey to find her self and identity.
She leaves behind the bondage imposed by society and takes on the
system.
She believes initially that her attraction towards Anandan is carnal,
only to realise that he is just a tool in her path to deliverance.
Ajayan's film, takes off from this storyline and brings in the
politics of the subaltern.
More than once does the film depicts Buddhist monks under attack. It
also shows Prasenajith, a Kshathriya king, challenging the Buddhist
group on where to place them socially, as the 'Manusmriti' had defined
only four social compartments.
Interestingly, the Buddhist monks who are depicted to have won over
material worries and bonding are seen fleeing, screaming, whenever
they are attacked. At one point, a group of armed tribals comes to the
rescue of a Buddhist group under attack.
"I wanted to dispel the much accepted notion that the Buddha was a
pacifist. I prefer to treat the Buddha as an activist. The film starts
off from where Ambedkar ended." The film ends with footage of Ambedkar
and his followers embracing Buddhism.
The journey of Mathangi, portrayed effectively by Pooja, a student of
the School of Drama, Thrissur, is divided into four segments – Neeru
(Water), Nadi (River),Pragnja (Intellect) and Yatra (Journey).
For a film that took more than two years in making, 'Bodhi' still has
much chiselling to be done. There are many portions where the impact
of theatre dominates over the art of film; especially in the scene
where Prasenajith, portrayed by Ramesh Varma, renowned theatre person
and head of the Department of Theatre, Sree Sankaracharya University
of Sanskrit, attacks the Buddhist hermitage.
"Moving on to film was a decision taken deliberately, as I have always
found it hard to organise repeated staging of plays. Now, I have the
freedom to take the film, and its politics to places," says Ajayan.
The film was premiered in Kochi last week. Ajayan is planning to
organise screenings at Thiruvananthapuram and New Delhi. "My attempt
was to document the struggles of the downtrodden," says Ajayan.
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