Vanaprastham

<p>The story revolves around a male artiste Kunjikuttan, an admirable and respected performer but a member of a lower caste. He struggles to come to terms with the rejection and estrangement of his father, a member of an upper caste who denies his paternity. Poor, unhappy, and stuck in an arranged marriage that provides no respite, he gets by for the sake of his daughter. One night, whilst performing as from from the epic on stage, his performance is witnessed by Subhadra, an educated and married upper-caste woman, niece of the and an aspiring composer. Impressed by his performance she invites him to play in her adaptation of . Defying norms of India’s rigid caste system, the two have an affair which results in the birth of a son. It soon becomes clear that Subhadra loves the character Arjuna from his stage performances, and not Kunhikuttan the artiste. More in love with the valiant, noble hero of the , than the lower-caste dancer Kunhikuttan, she rejects him and refuses to let him see their son. Denied access to his son, and rejected by his father, Kunhikuttan returns to the stage, leaving behind his hero roles to play demonic characters, reaching within the dark corners of his mind, becoming increasingly resentful and full of anger, until one last dance which brings the feature to a stunning end. The film premiered at the on 21 May 1999, where it was selected in the section. In 2014, the film was screened retrospective during the in the section. Writing for , film critic said that ” , which marks noted Indian cinematographer-director Shaji Karun’s third appearance in , is an elaborately produced, exceedingly handsome period film about the art form of Kathakali, which combines dance, pantomime and theater […] Through his meticulous and well-crafted production, director Karun offers poignant commentary on the political and mythic role of artists in a rapidly changing society, and the fine line between the characters they play onstage and off”. Prem Panickar of wrote, “From a viewer’s point of view, it is interesting that after watching the film, you come away talking of the passionate ‘virtual love story’, of the stunning visuals, of Mohanlal’s brilliance and Suhasini’s surcharged performance — but rarely, if ever, of the director. Perhaps that is Shaji N Karun’s biggest victory. He is there, in the meticulously etched story and the sparse, telling dialogues. He is there in the use of Kathakali as a medium — inspired, perhaps, by his mentor, the late Malayalam auteur ‘s 1988 opus, .” The film has been nominated for the following awards since its release: The music for the film was composed by . The soundtrack album was distributed by , it was released on 1 October 1999 in Europe. was the first Indian film shot with cameras and lenses. Mohanlal’s performance in the film is often regarded by critics as one of the best performances in his career. was Karun’s third directorial after (1989) and (1994) and it was the third time his film getting selection at the . After the screening of the film, the conferred him with the title ( ); Karun responded that “I think they gave me the award because all three of my films were premiered at Cannes – a very rare honour”. Impressed with his work in , A. Sreekar Prasad was hired by for editing (their first collaboration), who later becomes his regular editor. In 2005, Mohanlal listed in his list of top ten best Indian films of all time. In 2013, in an online poll conducted by on their website as part of the 100 years celebration of , came ninth in the poll for finding the “greatest Indian film ever”. In 2016, on the occasion of India celebrating its , news agency compiled a list called “70 Years, 70 Great Films” and was among the four Malayalam films that found place in the list.</p>