Chennai's own documentary film maker, Ramani feels the gravity and is enamored by the 'artistic' presence in the proximity and touch of Bhanu during their first meeting with the 92 year old Bhanumathi Rao, and instinctively asks Maya Rao, Bhanu's elder daughter, if he could make a film on Bhanu. Maya had some how seen this coming, as she had noticed how possessed Ramani looked during the brief interaction with her mother. What then started was a film that was 5 years in the making, with footage shot on and off between Delhi and Bangalore, and culminates in the documentary 'Oh that's Bhanu',that was premiered in Chennai this Sunday and also has already earned Ramani the Balakailasam Memorial award, in its fifth year, instituted by Cinema Rendezvous, who also hosted the screening.
Ramani is known for the personal streak in his film making. He is a constant presence in his films. even if he doesn't appear on the screen, you can feel his presence. This film revels in and has let this style prosper and bloom to it's fullest glory, more so because it adds spice to the Chemistry between the beautiful soul of Bhanu and the enamored spirit of Ramani.
The viewer is smitten by Bhanu, right from the first shot, just as much as Ramani claims to have been in their first meeting. it's quite difficult to identify what is it about Bhanu that ties the viewer tightly up to this close to 2 hour long movie.
At one level Bhanu is this 95 year old lady who has the spirit of a young girl. Her walk is a march of joy, it resounds with the the jubilance and self assuring feeling of walking free of any support or a stick.
Bhanu is this loving friend when she courts Ramani with a warmth of making friendship every time they meet; she is this obedient child when she waits for instructions to get down from the car; she is this complaining house holder when she talks about the mali; she is the purposeful and devoted student when learning music; she is a possessed lady while immersed in music and dance; she is the busy mother in Maya's recounting; she is a coy young widow lovingly reminiscing memories of the good times with her husband; she is a dark koel in the lush green groves of Calicut; she is the performer who loves to play the jester; she is the independent minded who loves socialising; and she is the caring comrade who dips into her own insecurities of the past and is bothered about Ramani's future.
At another level, Bhanu is troubled by memory. Unlike others who might feel defeated or frustrated by the loss of memory, Bhanu is happy accepting it for a fact and makes it interesting for her and for us by playing around this handicap by inventing stories of the past and improvising in the present.
Bhanu's memory is tricky and is fascinating and exciting for that reason. She does remember some facts. for instance she remembers her year of birth, can identify her grand parents in a photograph and can even identify Indira Gandhi in a photograph, but she can't remember who she learnt Bharathanatyam from, but has no doubts that she learnt it in Madras. Her brilliance sizzles when she remarks how sad it is that we keep remembering things that we wish to forget.
Every time she meets Ramani, he has to go through the motion of introducing himself and answering curiosity of how does he mange a living. Ramani makes himself vulnerable in this sequence; but every time it sounds different and the coolness of a rock that Bhanu shows in not blinking while asking the same question for the umpteenth time, the innocence and genuineness she radiates in her curiosity are never tiring and ever interesting because of the freshness it reeks of, in spite of the repetition.
Bhanu revels in the gaze of the camera. she is an ever green performer, ever happy to make herself up and ever ready to perform. she courts the gaze of the camera and flirts with it in a very romantic way. she is at her spontaneous best and bursts with energy and quick wits all through the movie. She is in fact the one who comes up with a name for the movie about herself. there is never a dull moment when she is around.
she is ever obliging for the camera and even the occasional walking away as a result of tiredness, is very soon followed by another flash of a performance. Ramani seems to have had a good measure of Bhanu's moods and capabilities, and his camera never gives up even Bhanu walks away. The capturing of the wonderful and spirited dancing sequence in the garden is a gift won by this perseverance of Ramani's camera.
Ramani has brilliantly used this dynamic Bhanu-scape to investigate and make us reflect on the nature and role of memory. It is thrilling to watch the process of Bhanu pick upon some cues from Maya and perform spontaneously , while retrieving from her physical memory of the mudras while performing a Kathakali piece. The evident tension, and the supple creation of a performance from the thin air of a distant memory of a training is a glorious sequence that can summon an aesthetic equal in a 'time motion' captured blooming of a flower.
It is also quite fascinating how Bhanu keeps coming up with some brilliant articulations brimming with wisdom and makes the viewer pause and wonder how can a someone with a faltering memory produce such brilliant articulations.
Ramani uses the siblings Maya and Tara to bring out different facets of Bhanu. Through the stories shared by the daughters we get a fair idea of Bhanu's early life and the influence she has been on her daughters. Maya comes across as the more tightly bonded of the two. The mother and daughter constantly draw inspiration from each other. Bhanu jovially drops a remark that she likes the 'people' in Delhi better and Maya is brimming with thoughts about her mother that invariably find place in her works like 'loose women', excerpts of which Ramani so beautifully captures and juxtaposes fragments of the performance with what could be perceived as the seed in Bhanu.
While Bhanu comes across a person obssessed with 'performance' while she is in Delhi with Maya, she seems to be a different person when she is Bangalore with Tara. In Bangalore, she is obsessed with music, trying to learn it and trying to unravel a new strand of herself through music, again another flash of brilliance in articulation.
when one looks back at the end of the film there is not much we get to know about the biographical details of Bhanu's life. But that is not Ramani's brief and i am not complaining.
Ramani has not approached the subject of Bhanu through an investigative lens of her early life , character, etc. He has rather let us just relish the beauty of Bhanu, letting her just be and letting stories drop by on their own and not going for a biographical and psychological dissection of the 'Truth'. Ramani has 'seen' the beauty in Bhanu, and through this film shares the joy of this beauty with us.
Congratulations to Ramani on treating us to the joys of a beautiful mind and to Cinema Rendezvous for hosting the show.
Ramani is known for the personal streak in his film making. He is a constant presence in his films. even if he doesn't appear on the screen, you can feel his presence. This film revels in and has let this style prosper and bloom to it's fullest glory, more so because it adds spice to the Chemistry between the beautiful soul of Bhanu and the enamored spirit of Ramani.
The viewer is smitten by Bhanu, right from the first shot, just as much as Ramani claims to have been in their first meeting. it's quite difficult to identify what is it about Bhanu that ties the viewer tightly up to this close to 2 hour long movie.
At one level Bhanu is this 95 year old lady who has the spirit of a young girl. Her walk is a march of joy, it resounds with the the jubilance and self assuring feeling of walking free of any support or a stick.
Bhanu is this loving friend when she courts Ramani with a warmth of making friendship every time they meet; she is this obedient child when she waits for instructions to get down from the car; she is this complaining house holder when she talks about the mali; she is the purposeful and devoted student when learning music; she is a possessed lady while immersed in music and dance; she is the busy mother in Maya's recounting; she is a coy young widow lovingly reminiscing memories of the good times with her husband; she is a dark koel in the lush green groves of Calicut; she is the performer who loves to play the jester; she is the independent minded who loves socialising; and she is the caring comrade who dips into her own insecurities of the past and is bothered about Ramani's future.
At another level, Bhanu is troubled by memory. Unlike others who might feel defeated or frustrated by the loss of memory, Bhanu is happy accepting it for a fact and makes it interesting for her and for us by playing around this handicap by inventing stories of the past and improvising in the present.
Bhanu's memory is tricky and is fascinating and exciting for that reason. She does remember some facts. for instance she remembers her year of birth, can identify her grand parents in a photograph and can even identify Indira Gandhi in a photograph, but she can't remember who she learnt Bharathanatyam from, but has no doubts that she learnt it in Madras. Her brilliance sizzles when she remarks how sad it is that we keep remembering things that we wish to forget.
Every time she meets Ramani, he has to go through the motion of introducing himself and answering curiosity of how does he mange a living. Ramani makes himself vulnerable in this sequence; but every time it sounds different and the coolness of a rock that Bhanu shows in not blinking while asking the same question for the umpteenth time, the innocence and genuineness she radiates in her curiosity are never tiring and ever interesting because of the freshness it reeks of, in spite of the repetition.
Bhanu revels in the gaze of the camera. she is an ever green performer, ever happy to make herself up and ever ready to perform. she courts the gaze of the camera and flirts with it in a very romantic way. she is at her spontaneous best and bursts with energy and quick wits all through the movie. She is in fact the one who comes up with a name for the movie about herself. there is never a dull moment when she is around.
she is ever obliging for the camera and even the occasional walking away as a result of tiredness, is very soon followed by another flash of a performance. Ramani seems to have had a good measure of Bhanu's moods and capabilities, and his camera never gives up even Bhanu walks away. The capturing of the wonderful and spirited dancing sequence in the garden is a gift won by this perseverance of Ramani's camera.
Ramani has brilliantly used this dynamic Bhanu-scape to investigate and make us reflect on the nature and role of memory. It is thrilling to watch the process of Bhanu pick upon some cues from Maya and perform spontaneously , while retrieving from her physical memory of the mudras while performing a Kathakali piece. The evident tension, and the supple creation of a performance from the thin air of a distant memory of a training is a glorious sequence that can summon an aesthetic equal in a 'time motion' captured blooming of a flower.
It is also quite fascinating how Bhanu keeps coming up with some brilliant articulations brimming with wisdom and makes the viewer pause and wonder how can a someone with a faltering memory produce such brilliant articulations.
Ramani uses the siblings Maya and Tara to bring out different facets of Bhanu. Through the stories shared by the daughters we get a fair idea of Bhanu's early life and the influence she has been on her daughters. Maya comes across as the more tightly bonded of the two. The mother and daughter constantly draw inspiration from each other. Bhanu jovially drops a remark that she likes the 'people' in Delhi better and Maya is brimming with thoughts about her mother that invariably find place in her works like 'loose women', excerpts of which Ramani so beautifully captures and juxtaposes fragments of the performance with what could be perceived as the seed in Bhanu.
While Bhanu comes across a person obssessed with 'performance' while she is in Delhi with Maya, she seems to be a different person when she is Bangalore with Tara. In Bangalore, she is obsessed with music, trying to learn it and trying to unravel a new strand of herself through music, again another flash of brilliance in articulation.
when one looks back at the end of the film there is not much we get to know about the biographical details of Bhanu's life. But that is not Ramani's brief and i am not complaining.
Ramani has not approached the subject of Bhanu through an investigative lens of her early life , character, etc. He has rather let us just relish the beauty of Bhanu, letting her just be and letting stories drop by on their own and not going for a biographical and psychological dissection of the 'Truth'. Ramani has 'seen' the beauty in Bhanu, and through this film shares the joy of this beauty with us.
Congratulations to Ramani on treating us to the joys of a beautiful mind and to Cinema Rendezvous for hosting the show.
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