Portraying historicals on celluloid

Moving images begin with the written word. Irrespective of genre, good writing makes us feel joy, sorrow, and valour; and Anirudh Kanisetty achieves this with his debut book, Lords of the Deccan. It’s wonderful to see how his writing style harks back to the great Kalki. Kanisetty’s historical has a fiction-styled narrative that throws the spotlight on the mighty Cholas, Pallavas and Pandyas, along with the main players, the Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas. Each chapter has high drama, ensuring that a history book becomes a binge read.

Anirudh Kanisetty’s book Lords of the Deccan.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The book’s non-linear narration, which begins with one king, cuts across to another, and comes back to pick up the plot point, makes it ideal for the visual medium. The royal durbars and anthappurams (courts and harems) emerge effortlessly before us. We hear the sound of elephants and horses in blood-stained armour and the war cries of valiant soldiers. The historical cities of Kanchipuram, Hampi, Ajanta, or the riverbanks of Cauveri, Godavari, and Narmada witness wars and victories. Kanisetty’s lucid writing gives sight, sound and life to a world long gone, much like movies do.

Kalki had his book Parthiban Kanavu made into a film starring Gemini Ganesan and Vyjayanthimala in 1960. Now, his most popular book, Ponniyin Selvan, will become a two-part film directed by Mani Ratnam. Part 1 will hit the screens in September. Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus stars leading actors and is a project that’s been the dream of many film legends (beginning with MGR) with its gripping script, known by rote to most Tamil literary readers.

Tamil and Telugu cinema have a long legacy of historicals. If you dream of a scene in Rajaraja Chola’s court and the king who flashes in your head looks like Sivaji Ganesan, or if you imagine fencing with Madurai Veeran and he looks like MGR, you’re not far off the mark.

In his long acting career MGR played the swashbuckling prince in more than two dozen films, his key roles being in films like Marmayogi, Manthirikumari, Gulebakavali, Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum and his own directorial production Nadodi Mannan. He has played Raja Desingu, Prithviraj Chauhan, and Malaikallan apart from being hailed as Mannadhi Mannan, Rajarajan and Madurai Veeran. His last film to release after he became Chief Minister was Maduraiyai Meetta Sundarapandiyan. MGR’s filmography is a series of historical movies from 1936 to the mid-60s, the peak of his film career, after which he shifted to social dramas.

The 1957 film where MGR played the great Chola king failed at the box-office, but when Sivaji made the character his own in the 1973 Rajaraja Cholan, filmed in Thanjavur’s Big Temple, it was a huge hit. Sivaji also played freedom fighters (VOC in Kappalottiya Thamizhan); and Greek and Roman icons such as Socrates ( Rajarani 1956) and Caesar ( Sorgam 1970).

N.T. Rama Rao.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives

The count of historical characters is even higher in Telugu, where actors like N.T. Rama Rao have played gods and kings countless times. (NTR was Krishna to Sivaji’s Karna and Krishnadevaraaya to the latter’s Tenalirama).

Sivaji Ganesan in Veerapandiya Kattabomman.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu Achives

Sivaji’s powerhouse performances and emotional drama (in Karnan and Veerapandiya Kattabomman, for example) took viewers so thoroughly into those worlds that they believed that this was how ancient kings walked, talked and behaved. Such was his love for playing historical characters that he would don the role of a Shakespearean hero or king even for in-film stage sequences in social dramas like Raththa Thilakam, where he played Othello.

The 1954 superhit Manohara (written by Karunanidhi) set the trend for the dialogues of historicals in classical Tamil, which Sivaji spoke with such elan. It remains to be seen how Mani Ratnam handles this in Ponniyin Selvan, since modern actors find it much harder to speak classical Tamil.

A new trend

Kalki’s book on the Chola kings, their politics and personal life is filled with emotional tension, much like Anirudh’s account of the Deccan lords. Period films got a fresh lease of life with Baahubali. Today’s films, from Baahubali to Rajamouli’s upcoming RRR, have recourse to high-end computer graphics. In the 50s and 60s, it took scores of artistes, technicians, production designers, costume experts, writers, and cinematographers to recreate the past.

I have often heard stories of how MGR would arrive early in the morning to oversee the set work for Nadodi Mannan or how Sivaji would reach ahead of time to ensure that the details of his costumes, including the rings on his fingers, were in sync with his role.

A scene from Mayabazar (Tg. S Rajeswara Rao and Ghantasala, KV Reddy and Marcus Bartley Special Arrangement

Mayabazar, the fantasy tale adapted from the Mahabharata that was shot simultaneously in both Tamil and Telugu, was a technical masterpiece. The great Marcus Bartley was the cinematographer, and he created a moonlight effect for the first time on screen for the song, ‘Unakaagave naan uyir vaazhthene’. There were numerous other special effects, all created by a 400-plus team of technicians, light men, carpenters, painters, etc.

With the high standards of CG and SFX available today, a book like Anirudh Kanisetty’s has all the potential to become an excellent historical film or long-format OTT series — authentic and gritty but also accessible and interesting.

The writer is a content producer, writer, artiste and curator.