'''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]]