Rajesh N Naidu

Articulation is a fckle beauty. She can be disastrously disloyal in

moments of despair and compassionately benevolent in moments of
triumphs and happiness. There are however very fortunate few who
possess her and have her unwavering company. These are serious
students who take things with a virgin mindset. And their est for
life does not end with an event or accident. !nstead it sustains
because they have the ability to look at things as they. !n the
business of cinema" very few possess articulation. This maybe the
possible reasons some critics feel some directors make the same
flm again and again. As regards #indi cinema" Shyam $enegal is a
colossal e%ception. &aving the way for himself in e%perimental
cinema without compromising on the substance and style" his flms
are as articulate as he is. The presence of guileless symbolism in
his frst flm Ankur" penetrating and staid objectivity in $humika"
simmering emotions of love and aggression in 'unoon and
into%ication for power even at the e%pense and peril of flial
relationships in (alyug make his oeuvre as distinct and colourful as
individuals are even in ordinary situations.
!n his second innings on television" after creating remarkable gems
such as $harat )k (hoj and (athasagar and a few social
documentaries" $enegal is in the news for his serial Samvedhan"
the making of !ndian constitution. !n a freewheeling conversation
with T*!" the articulate director talks about various aspects of his
flms and why did he take on the task of making a serial on !ndian
constitution+
How did the idea of creating a ten-hour series on Indian
constitution come about?
! was member of the parliament for the last si% years. ,uring that
time" Rajya Sabha Television had just begun. !t was in -../0.1 our
vice0president ,r #amid Ali Ansari proposed an idea of doing
something on !ndian constitution. !t stayed in my mind. 2hen !
retired from the parliament" ! decided to make a mini0series of 3.
hours on the making of !ndian constitution. The rationale for the
serial was very few people are aware of our constitution" which our
guiding principle. !t is the principle on which our democracy is
being run.
2e began our research on !ndian constitution. Then in -.34" !
decided it is possible to make a serial. 2e faced three challenges.
5irst" it must be interesting with an element of entertainment in it.
Second" it should have the capacity to o6er some kind of
knowledge. And thirdly" it must have information" which one can
use. 7y own e%perience in the parliament told me that it could be
entertaining. !t is often very entertaining. And there is lot of drama.
8ot of these things are very interesting and people come di6erent
constituencies and these people have certain demands from their
respective constituencies. $ecause of this diversity" we are the most
diverse country in the world.
$esides this" there was a challenge of documentation. $etween
,ecember 39:/ and November 39:9" the constituent assembly
discussed" debated" argued" and created a democratic constitution.
*ne advantage we had was all that was debated were recorded
word by word and we had access to those debates. ,iscussions on
one subject in one time and some other time in other year" so we
had to collate" and integrate facts and information for a cohesive
narration. This is a very fascinating story. A lot of things were
discussed and debated. !ssues such as fundamentals rights" and
unitary status to states were discussed at length. 2e did not choose
and culled out anything. 2e have just presented facts in a cohesive
dramatic form.
Did you face any face any interference from Rajya Sabha
members or the government concerning what should be
shown and what should omitted?
!t is not possible. ;ou need to understand that Rajya Sabha is a part
of the parliament. *ur nation has a structure of the state. There are
three pillars which play a crucial role in our democracy. These are
legislature" where laws are made" and the judiciary" and the
e%ecutive" which is what the government does. Now a government
is formed after elections. The government is not more important
than the parliament. And Rajya Sabha is not the government. !t is
an instrument of the state. Similarly" judiciary is not government" it
is the instrument of the state. And it is e<ual to government. So
what the government says it is not necessary only that will happen.
The parliament creates the law" which the government has to
follow. Therefore ! cannot be censored. And there cannot be any
<uestion of interference with the content of the serial.
Lets us talk about your lms! It has been a long journey and
very fullling one for you! If we look at your lms" there is
very judicious use of #silence$ in your lms! %ould you talk
about the use of #silence$ in your lms? How do you ensure
that silence in your lms does not seem stretched and
demanding for the viewer?
;ou need to understand that silence is part of sound. !t is an
absence of sound. !t is connected with sound. !t is not as though it
is dead. That is not silence. 2hen something is dead" that is
di6erent. Silence is a dimension of sound itself. 2ithout silence"
there can be no sound. There is a di6erence between how sound
and silence can been used. !t depends upon how you do it. To
emphasise silence" you to have use sound. 5or instance" there is
this room at night and nothing is there. $ut suddenly you hear the
sound of a small cricket. Now that emphasies the silence and gives
depth to that silence. Suppose in a scene suddenly conversation has
stopped. Then there is pin0drop silence. Then far away you will hear
the whistle of a train" which is when you understand the depth of
silence.
!n my flm &humika" there is no music at all. There is no
background music. A lot of people are very frightened of silence. !
am not. $ecause silence is not silence in the term as it is
understood. There is a poetic e%pression+ It was completely silent
there was not even a rustle of the leaf. 2hen you said that" you
need to put sound to it. So" there is a defnite relationship between
sound and silence.
&humika has been a benchmark when one refers to
biogra'hical lms! (ow when you look back after over thirty
years" has your o'inion about Hansa )adkar changed? )hat
is your inter'retation of the character Hansa )adkar?
She was a seminal feminist. This was way before the word feminism
or the concept of feminism came in to our discourse. Now" if ! have
to recognise you" ! don=t have to see in any conte%t" you what you
are. $ut if ! see a woman" ! need a conte%t. She is somebody=s
mother" somebody=s daughter" somebody=s wife" it is always in
relationship to other people. 2hy is it like that> !t is like that
because we live in a patriarchal society where male dominance is
accepted. Nobody says he is somebody=s son" somebody=s brother.
$ut women are always introduced like that. !n a patriarchal society"
a woman is never given a sense of e<uality that the man has.
Therefore" $humika is a story where you are starting to recognise
seminally" a kind of demand for e<uality. 5eminism really forgets
that.
&ut what is she is seeking through all her relationshi's?
She is trying to recognise herself?who she is and what she is. She
fnds that all her relationships end up becoming une<ual. She feels
trapped in all her relationships. 2hen she meets this landlord from
(onkan" she fnds that she has found certain kind of belief. $ut she
realises that she has moved from one prison to another prison. The
point is in a patrichial society a woman if she really wants to be
e<ual to a man and independent then she ends up becoming a
loner. This is what happens to her. She becomes alone. She has
nobody to her. @ltimately" it is only her daughter and her daughter
wants her to stay with her and then she says why ! should do that.
Then again ! will become a dependent. This is what her character
fascinating dramatically and also realistically.
How would you describe *mol +alekar$s character in the
lm?
Amol &alekar=s character is not a villain. #e" in fact" was in love
with her. #e knew her since she was small. She found later that he
was possessive. #e would not allow her any kind of freedom. #e
got her into the movies. She becomes an actress. $eing an actress
she meets di6erent people. #e does not want her to do that. #e
again puts pressure on her. She cannot stand it. She breaks away
from him. #ere you need to understand that relationship of her
choice is di6erent from the relationship that is forced upon her. And
the fact is the man has an advantage of choosing a relationship" a
woman does not have. That is what she is demanding. This was
historically long time ago in 394.0:. period. $ut even today" the
situation is no di6erent.
)hen you use mythology as a 'remise of your work" do you
think a viewer who is unaware of the story can derive his own
'ersonal inter'retation and add a new meaning to what the
literature conveys? %ould you s'ecically discuss ,alyug"
which is your modern inter'retation of the -ahabharata?
2e look at situations from our point of view and in our own times.
)ach generation comes in and looks at something in its own time.
So the conte%ts that you have are your present conte%t. They were
not necessarily what it was then. $ut the test of a good piece of
literature or any great art is its relevance?you should like it in
your own time and in your own idiom. !f you look at the
7ahabharata" it is about human relationships and it does end in
that era itself. )very relationship in the 7ahabharata can be
applied today. ;ou can see e%amples of every character in the
7ahabharata in your own life" which is why it is a living thing
otherwise it could have been dead.
)hat was the trigger for the lm ,alyug? .ou could have
made a sim'le lm on struggle for 'ower among siblings?
)hy base it on the -ahabharata?
! could have made it in many di6erent ways. $ut the point is it is
very interesting to look at the 7ahabharata because it is essentially
about power. !f it is about power" you have to complement each
other or compete with each other. So" there are many reasons for
looking at the 7ahabharata when the theme is about how does one
compete with power. $ut most people when they have power" they
want more power. They don=t want to share it with anybody. And
they become very competitive. !t is much like ! saw the story as the
nature of capitalism itself. !t is very ac<uisitional. !n (alyug" the
competition is between the cousins. This is actually like the
7ahabharata. 7ahabharata was all about land and rule" (alyug
had to do with the industries. Attitudes are e%actly the same. ;ou
have to recognise this by having an acute understanding of your
own time. That is why the relevance of the 7ahabharata. ;ou look
at the characters+ (arna" Arjun or ,raupadi. All you can recognise
in your own lives. That is why there was a contemporary urban
treatment of the 7ahabharata in (alyug.
How did you avoid so many characters of the -ahabharata
and still develo'ed a cohesive narrative out of it?
! chose the centre core of the 7ahabharata" which is the battle. !t
is the battle for power. @ltimately" everybody worked towards the
battle. !t seems that one side won. $ut actually in the end neither
side has actually won. !t points out an important point which is war
has no winners. That is what ! focused on.
%ould you talk about your working style? How fastidious you
are about getting a re'resentation of a thought in your
shots? If what you had intended to shoot does not
materiali/e" do you change the scene?
;ou need to understand the fact that when you make a flm" there
are many co0ordinates involved. ! will share with you an e%perience
of shooting a story within a documentary ! was working on. There
was a scene in which peacocks were to be shown dancing. ! was
shooting at Airat village in #aryana. 2e had everything ready+ the
actors" the cameraman and other paraphernalia. 2e were shooting
in late 7arch. As we all know peacocks only dance when it rains.
So" there were <uite a few months left for the monsoon. Then
suddenly one morning" it started to rain. ! immediately called the
cameraman and everyone associated with the scene and we got the
shot. Someone said it was a miracle. ! said it is not. ! realised that
when we had nine things out of ten that were re<uired" the tenth
thing will follow. ;ou need to have majority which is major number
of things must be working and then the remaining one or two will
automatically follow. This is how it is. !t is always like that. So" it is
not a <uestion of some intrusion or accidents or some other
obstacle.
%ould you talk about the use of symbolism in your lms? 0he
act of rebellion by the kid who breaks the window of the
tyrannical landlord in the lm *nkur is one such e1am'le!
How a''rehensive are you about the rece'tion of such
symbolism by the audience?
!t is a part of the dramatic structure. There was no other way !
could have ended the story of *nkur. !t had to be done that way.
There is a famous analysis" which says that a good literature
achieves a great level or becomes an art if it gives a new meaning
to e%isting defnitions. To give a simplistic defnition+ !n art" two is
added to two" it should become fve" a new meaning is added and it
transcends its original meaning. There is this famous principle of
montage" where A plus $ e<uals B00a completely new meaning is
created in the scene. So when the boy throws the stone it means
that it means it is a call for a revolution. That is the meaning of the
story. So" it is that transcending thing that makes art meaningful"
otherwise it is just a representative of something.
In your lms" there are cons'icuous elements of revolution
and 'rotests through which a character intends to bring in
change in system! If you look at 'resent times" most
revolutions don$t have a lasting im'act! )hat are your
thoughts on this?
Revolutions happen when there is all0pervaded feeling of need for
change. Now we don=t have a situation where it appears that we
need a revolution or a cataclysmic change. Today" the changes in
our society are not a cataclysmic one. Today" it is an incremental
change. There are two kinds of change+ revolutionary and
evolutionary. At present" we are in the process of evolutionary
change. 2e were in the phase of revolutionary change at the time
of independence of our country. 2e were in similar situation in
certain states such as (ashmir or North0)ast and other parts of the
country. Those were the outcome of social demands that led to
certain kind of situation.
Today" we are not that in situation. ;ou have to remember that we
have also gained a lot in the last si%ty years. Today we don=t have
the level of poverty we had years ago or even famine. $ut we have
lot of unhappiness. This is a di6erent kind of unhappiness. !t is an
unhappiness of saying he has that ! don=t have that. #e has a
bigger car ! don=t have that. ;ou have that kind of unhappiness. !t is
not unhappiness that ! have nothing and he has everything. So" we
are in a phase of incremental growth but not in revolutionary
phase. That is the reason why most revolutions don=t last because
there is a comprehensive and basic need for it.