Changes between Initial Version and Version 1 of SAINT FILMS

Timestamp:

Jun 23, 2012, 11:27:57 AM (12 years ago)

Author:

salomex

Comment:

--

SAINT FILMS

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+'''SAINT FILMS'''
+
+
+Genre of film biographicals of the medieval
+Saint-poets. This Bhakti tradition emerged from
+the proliferation of regional and lower-caste
+cultures after the 7th C. when the Pauranic
+texts and portions of the Mahabharata were
+rendered in the Prakrit or demotic languages
+spoken by the lowest castes of Shudra or
+Atishudra. Starting with Shankara (8th C.) and
+Ramanuja (12th C.), the movement expanded
+into several sects: e.g. the Jaina, the Shaiva, the
+Natha, the Lingayata, the Mahanubhav. It was
+strongest in the South and the West, creating
+the first major literatures in Tamil, Telugu,
+Kannada and Marathi. Directly addressing the
+peasantry and the artisans, the Bhakti tradition
+was revived in several currents of 19th C.
+nationalist and egalitarian reformism, e.g. by
+Mahadev Govind Ranade (1842-1901) who
+opposed a Vedantic revivalism by modelling
+his own sermons on the verses of the 17th C.
+Marathi poet, Sant Tukaram. In Telugu and
+Kannada the movement is traced to the spread
+of the Veerasaiva cult, pioneered by
+Mallikarjuna Pandit and Basvanna respectively,
+leading to the earliest reform movements
+which, as e.g. with the educational activities of
+the Lingayat Viratka monks in 19th C.
+Karnataka, fed into the social reform
+movement under British occupation (see
+Social) Used for the first time to create a
+political language in the banned film Bhakta
+Vidur (1921), a tradition continued by e.g.
+Prabhat's famous Saint films: Dharmatma
+0935) drew parallels between Gandhi and the
+16th C. poet Eknath; Sant Dnyaneshwar
+(1940) made a call for peace in the context of
+WW2. The theatrical version of the genre
+emphasised miracle sequences in narratives
+culminating in intense devotional emotions.
+This approach found a natural extension into
+filmic spectacle beyond the means of the
+conventional mythological, best exemplified by
+S.S. Vasan's big budgetAvvaiY.var 0953). In
+Telugu the form is uniquely associated with the
+star Chittor V, Nagaiah (Bhakta Potana,
+1942; Tbyagayya, 1946; Yogi Vemana, 1947
+et al.). Other classic Saint films are Chandidas
+(Bengali, l934),Sant Tukaram (Marathi,
+1936), Bhakta Cheta (Tamil, 1940), Bhakta
+Kabir(Hindi, 1942),Meera (Hindi/rami!
+1945), Bhakta Gora Kumbbara (Kannada,
+1949), etc. The last major film in the genre is
+the Punjabi classic Nanak Naamjahaz Hai
+0969) although this is not strictly a
+biographical.
+
+[[Glossary]]