Bannada Vesha 1988 110’ col Kannada d/s Girish Kasaravalli pc Doordarshan (Bangalore) c G.S. Bhaskar m B.V. Karanth lp Sridhar, Smitha Kasaravalli, A.B. Jayaram, Narayana Bhatt, Shantamma, Loknath, Shankar

Folk-theatre-derived melodrama set in the famed Karnataka tradition of the Yakshagana, a variant of the Kathakali style involving complicated make-up and rigorous dance codes, patronised mainly by temples which invite groups to perform for worship and to raise revenue. The central character, Shambhu (Shankar), a member of such a group, is a traumatised and guilt-ridden figure usually relegated to minor roles but with the driving ambition of playing the male lead by displacing the arrogant Sheshappa. When he is allowed to play the demonic Jhunjhutti, he pretends to be possessed by the demon and uses his newfound reputation to start an alternate theatre group sponsored by the financially ailing Kapileshwara temple. His performative limitations, and the secondary problems caused by his having to live a fake identity, intensify his emotional crises and the film ends on a tragic note after he is revealed to be a fraud. Kasaravalli’s stylised idiom, the film’s most attractive aspect, is restricted to the performances while routine realism prevails in the rest of the story.

Film