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Literary vignettes

Venugopal Thakker's `Katha Charita' presents 13 stories written by different authors

CREW AT WORK Venugopal with actors Rajesh Singh and Amruta Subhash

Channel surfers who rue that there are no alternatives to soaps and film-based programmes can take note. Just like film-makers across the world turning to the written word for inspiration, so does our national television channel.

Gulzar transforming Munshi Premchand's works for television made news almost a couple of years ago. Continuing with the trend, the channel has been presenting both classic and contemporary works as mini tele-serials.

Archive literary works

Venugopal K. Thakker, who has won several awards for his work on television, is the next director on board. He has directed 13 episodes under the theme Katha Charita, and each episode is based on a short story.

"When Gulzar saab's Godan went on air, the response exceeded the expectations of the channel. They decided to rope in more award-winning directors and give an audiovisual form to appreciated literary works. This series is meant to archive good work and a panel select stories for the episodes," explains Venugopal.

Katha Charita comprises 13 stories. Admitting that it isn't easy to work on literary works, Venugopal says, "Some of the stories were tough to execute. The story Hingwa Ghat Main Paani talks about the water woes of a village. Politicians visit the village with promises of building a bridge across the river. A lot is conveyed through thoughts and this is tough to translate. The story doesn't keep you on the edge of the seat. So the dialogues and location had to be interesting."

Having completed shooting 13 episodes within three months, he highlights the use of natural locations as opposed to staid studio sets.

"For one story, we used an ancestral house of a descendant of Chatrapathi Shivaji. The location has contributed 50 per cent to the story." Post Katha Charita, which will go on air beginning August 20, 11 a.m., Venugopal plans to shoot a serial based on a pilot project he had submitted to the channel.

"This story is based on a real life incident. A young doctor goes against her father's wishes and weds an army officer. On the day of the wedding, he is asked to report for Kargil war. He goes missing and is declared dead by the government after seven years. Conceding to her parents' wishes, she weds the person chosen by her family. The army officer returns."

Quiz him on doing more work for Doordarshan and Venugopal reasons, "Contrary to common perception, the channel is widely watched and is unmatched in its reach. The channel is open to new ideas. There's more to television than unending saas bahu dramas."

SANGEETHA DEVI. K

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