SINCERELY SATYU
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Satyu recalls the past, which shaped his ideology, and fumes at the present, which is marked by corruption
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Satyu was greatly inspired by the Socialists. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy
M.S. SATHYU, the celebrated director and theatre person whose forthright views have earned him both admirers and critics, was his true self yet again at Maneyangaladalli Mathukathe. The 75-year-old Sathyu who has borne the brunt of the Freedom Struggle, has always stood by his ideology, which he reiterated even in this programme.
He was scathing about the indiscriminate distribution of film subsidies to unworthy Kannada films. Satyu made sweeping remarks about the lack of commitment of producers, who according to him, made films that were completely out of sync with Kannada culture.
This generated a lot of resentment, and some people in the auditorium even tried to jeopardise the proceedings. But Sathyu, who didn't look offended, maintained that the sole purpose of art is to raise questions in the mind of the people, and to ensure a better tomorrow. M.S. Sathyu, on a nostalgic trail, recollected the atmosphere in his house at Mysore, during his childhood, at a time when doyens of Carnatic music such as Vasudevacharya, T. Chowdiah used to visit his father. There were hardly any Kannada cinemas, except perhaps Hemareddy Mallamma, produced by the Mysore Movietone. But the film which left a lasting impression on his mind was Bharathi from Navajyothi Studio, which had for its cast M.V. Krishnaswamy, T. Rajakumari, Sampath and H.K. Ranganath.
The other things that stick in Satyu's memory are the people's struggle for a responsible government, death of the young freedom fighter Ramaswamy (after whom there is a circle in Mysore), and speeches of Ashok Mehta and Achyut Patwardhan at the Socialist Convention held at Nanjanagud.
Although, he went to Bangalore to complete his degree course, his inclination towards theatre and stagecraft was so strong, that he decided to move to Mumbai even without knowing Hindi.
The big break
He got a break with Chetan Anand's film Anjali, which was made during the 2500th Buddha Jayanthi. . He recalls the thrill he experienced when they went to Ladakh for shooting Hakeekat.
Sathyu vividly narrates his excitement when he was forced to recreate the scenes with the help of photographs at the Mehboob Studio, Mumbai, as the unit could not revisit Ladakh due to heavy snowfall.
No wonder he got the Filmfare Award for Best Art Direction for his work in the film!
Sathyu has many outstanding films to his credit including Garam Hava, Kahan Kahan Se Guzar Gaye in Hindi and Kanneshwara Rama, Chitegu Chinte, and Galige in Kannada, but it was Bara about which he spoke elaborately.
While he stressed the need to awaken people politically and socially, he spoke about IPTA, Indian People's Theatre Association, the oldest cultural organisation in the country which had its birth in Bangalore, when Jamshedji Tata, Hassan Rajarao, and Harindranatha Chattopadhyaya met in the Tata Institute and with which he is closely associated till date.
Sathyu strongly criticised the discriminative policy of the State Government, which collected taxes from theatre groups while it chose to give 100 per cent tax exemption to cinema.
B.S. VENKATALAKSHMI
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