Vaishali (1988)

1988

Directed by: Bharathan

Music: Ravi

Lyrics: ONV Kurup

Starring: Ashokan, Babu Antony, Geetha, Nedumudi Venu, 

Parvathi, Sanjay Mitra, Suparna Anand, VK Sriraman

I love period films. I love films based on stories from our epics. In fact, it is a shame that no one has thought of mining our epics and our mythology for plots they could turn into films. What a vast treasure trove of stories there is, just for the taking! Even more so than the Ramayana, the Mahabharata has hundreds of sub-stories that are incredibly rich in colour and detail. One such story is the tale of Rishyasringa, narrated to King Yudhishtra by Sage Lomasa.*

The kingdom of Anga is suffering. Twelve years have passed since a drop of rain has fallen on its parched lands. 

Unable to bear his people's suffering, King Lomapada (Babu Antony) sends for his raj guru (Nedumudi Venu). He wants the royal priest to conduct the sacrificial ceremonies to appease Indra, the rain god.  

The raj guru is torn. His only son Chandrangada (Ashokan) had fallen in love with Vaishali (Suparna Anand), the daughter of a devadasi. Hoping that a separation will allow his son to ponder the social consequences of his actions, the priest had left Champapuri. Now, however, his king's orders force him to return to the capital. 

Chandrangada is happy to be back; not so, Vaishali, who thinks as little of a Brahmin as any of her other admirers - they seek to buy her with money; he seeks to master her with authority. Her mother has promised her that she will never be pushed into their hereditary profession, but she also knows that marriage, especially into a respectable family, is not for the likes of her.

Meanwhile, even the raj guru's presence at the yagna has not melted Indra's heart. Princess Shantha (Parvathi), sympathetic to her father's frustrations, offers to observe penance, but her father dissuades her. 

 

However, there may be hope after all. The raj guru has seen a vision where his guru advices him to invite Rishyasringa (Sanjay Mitra), a young ascetic who is free of sin to conduct the yagna. The question is, who will lure the young ascetic to the city? He has been living deep inside the forests, and, other than his father, Sage Vibhandaka (VK Sriraman), has never seen another human being.

The sage will not allow his son to accompany the royal retinue; neither can they use force against such a powerful rishi. History has been witness to many Kshatriya dynasties that have been decimated by the tapas of sages. Anga is already cursed; do they really want to invoke another curse? So what do they do next? Anga needs rain badly. 

In a masterstroke, the raj guru offers the solution - send a woman to entice the youth. After all, didn't Rishyasringa's father fall prey to the wiles of an apsara?

The queen, not very enamoured of her step-daughter, is quick to point out that Shantha is beautiful and can destroy the tapas of any mendicant. But the raj guru has other plans. The girl who is sent must know the art of seduction, he announces; and so, a competition is announced.The devadasi who wins the contest will be rewarded many times over.

King Lomapada is dejected - he has seen no beauty among the competitors so seductive as to entice a rishi from his meditation. This is the chance the raj guru has been waiting for. Angered by his son's continued rebellion and his determination to marry Vaishali come what may, the raj guru informs the king that there is indeed such a woman - Vaishali, the young daughter of the royal courtesan. 

King Lomapada visits Malini and asks her for her favour; in order to save the kingdom, she must travel with her daughter to the ashram on the banks of the River Kaushiki.

Malini is not very receptive; her daughter is not yet sixteen, and she knows what can happen to her and her daughter if the rishi's rage breaks its bounds. However, the king's personal appeal, the kingdom's salvation, all these make Malini change her mind. The relieved king offers her riches beyond belief if she succeeds in her mission. Malini wants nothing for herself. All she asks for is the king's blessings; and a prayer that her daughter will be safe. Because if Vaishali is cursed, he will forever regret that he sent his daughter into danger. 

Lomapada is taken aback, but Malini swears by all the gods she holds dear. All she wants from him, if they return successfully, is for the king to acknowledge Vaishali as his daughter, and the saviour of the kingdom. Before the king can make that promise, the raj guru intervenes. It is time to set sail. So begins the long journey towards the unknown. 

Soon, they are at the edge of the forest where Sage Vibhandaka has his ashram. Leaving the others outside, Vaishali sets off to meet Rishyasringa.The young sage, unaware of any other being other than his father and the denizens of the forest in which he resides, is soon carried away by her beauty and charm. However, when Sage Vibhandaka returns in the evening, he is not very happy. 

 

Sensing danger, he warns his son not to step into the outer forest at all; but, Rishyasringa is enchanted by this new vision. Despite Sage Vibhandaka, the two young people manage to meet again.

The sage is even more disturbed when he hears of the next day's happenings. The next morning, Rishyasringa is beset by guilt. He has neglected his prayers, his duties, and even lied to his father. Vaishali is also disgusted with herself.

Malini is torn. She has a dream - that of Anga receiving the much-needed rain, and her daughter being given the legitimacy she lacks. But for that, Vaishali will have to do her part. Knowing the story of her birth, and having fallen in love with Rishyasringa, Vaishali is also torn. Her love and duty coincide, but will Rishyasringa cooperate? 

Rishyasringa is battling his own demons. His attraction to the newcomer has destroyed his concentration. Now convinced that his father was right, and the newcomer a demon in disguise to ruin his tapas, the young sage decides to gain control over his mind and emotions. But his meditation is soon broken by Vaishali's enchanting dance, and he follows her to the boat, which soon sets sail on its return journey. 

By the time he takes in his surroundings, they are many miles away from his father's ashram. Enraged by what he sees as her deceit, he is ready to curse her...

Will Vaishali manage to convince him of who she is, and why she came to the ashram? Will Rishyasringa be able to stop himself from uttering a curse? What about Sage Vibhandaka? Surely he will not remain silent while his son is kidnapped. Will the young sage bring rain to the parched land? Will Vaishali be given the legitimacy that her mother seeks for her?  

*According to the Mahabharata, Sage Vibhandaka's penances begin to frighten Indra, the lord of the heavens. Alarmed at the sage's increasing powers, Indra sends his apsara Urvashi to seduce Vibhandaka and destroy his penance. Rishyasringa is born of their union. Mission over, Urvashi abandons both father and son and returns to her heavenly abode. Maharshi Vibhandaka, overcome by hatred at her desertion, takes his baby son and retreats deep into the forests to rear his son in isolation. 

Meanwhile, the king of Anga fears for the welfare of his kingdom and his people. Anga has been facing drought and famine for many years now, cursed as it is by a Brahmin who was ignored by the king. The purohits inform the king that if a sage of unusual power, and one who has practiced perfect chastity conducts the yagna  to appease the rain god (Indra), the kingdom will be saved. So Rishyasringa has to be brought to the city. But how? King Lomapada sends the most beautiful courtesans, and even his daughter Shantha, to seduce the young ascetic. His ploy works, and with Rishyasringa's help, the bounty of the heavens showers on Anga. In return, the appreciative king marries off his daughter to the young sage. 

Envy, revenge, love, seduction, a curse and its alleviation - what more can you ask of a story? Well, more, apparently, if your movie is scripted by a man who delights in setting epics on their heads. What if it wasn't the princess who went out to seduce the sage? What if it was her half-sister, the illegitimate child born of her father's liaison with a courtesan? What if the courtesan agrees to her daughter being used as a pawn in return for the stamp of legitimacy? What if a conniving priest sets to destroy everything that stands in his path? What if? 

So, a script took shape, taking the bare essence of this minor story from one of the greatest epics ever told, and then colouring within and without the lines to answer these hypothetical questions. The script pointedly describes what happens to ordinary people when political expediency intervenes; how a wily politician is willing to sacrifice everything, including his own son, on the altar of duty and social custom; how a weak king can do wrong just by refusing to do what is right, and how women were mere pawns on a royal chessboard. 

When this story was finally filmed by Bharathan, one of Malayalam cinema's auteurs, cineastes awaited its release with keen anticipation. Bharathan had shot to fame with his first film Prayanam; his films stood apart because of the solid scripts, excellent dialogues, strong visual appeal, and plot lines which did not shy away from a realistic depiction of human relationships, including an exploration of human sexuality. 

A huge commercial success when it first released, Vaishali (the typical Malayali pronunciation) has been called a painting in celluloid, the prettiest Malayalam film ever made and Bharathan's masterpiece. It says much for the director's skill in extracting good performances from his cast that Suparna Anand who played the eponymous role turned in her career-best performance as the young courtesan who, entrusted with a job, finds that her heart leads her down a path that can only lead to destruction. 

It also says much of Sanjay Mitra's lack of talent that even Bharathan could not extract anything close to a performance from the lad. However, in a reversal of roles, he was there to provide eye-candy, and that he did, in abundance. But the story was brought to life by the supporting cast, and what stellar performances they turned in! Geetha as Malini, the courtesan who wants a better life for her daughter; Nedumudi Venu as the royal priest who abuses his position to seek petty revenge against a young girl because his son fell in love with her; VK Sriraman as Sage Vibhandaka who, rejected by his beauteous wife, teaches his son that women are not to be trusted (ironically, his son will reject the selfless love of a young girl for no fault of hers); Babu Antony as Lomapada, the king who forgets an unspoken promise made to a lowly courtesan, and sacrifices the well-being of his illegitimate daughter to further the happiness of his legitimate one. It was an ensemble cast, and the three veterans (and one relative newcomer) raised the film beyond the strong script. 

Bharathan had a well-earned reputation for being a master director. He spearheaded the middle-cinema movement in Malayalam, with his films treading the path betwixt the art-house cinema of Adoor Gopalakrishnan and G Arvindan, and the purely commercial star-vehicles. That he cast several top 'stars' in his films did not, in any way, reduce the efficacy of his films - on the contrary, 'stars' seemed to shed their stardom and enter deep into the skin of their characters under his baton. 

Bharathan also had a strong crew. MT Vasudevan Nair, one of Malayalam literature's foremost novelists, penned the script for Vaishali; this was his first collaboration with Bharathan. Veteran music director, Ravi, who had begun his comeback with a fantastic score composed for director Hariharan's Panchagni a couple of years earlier, scored the music for this film, his third in as many years. Credited as 'Bombay Ravi', he set the score to lyrics by ONV Kurup, considered one of India's finest living lyrical poets. Indupushpam choodi earned KS Chitra a well-deserved national award for Best Playback Singer, Female. This was her third award; her second, the year before, also came under Ravi's baton - Manjal prasaadavum nettiyil chaarthi from Hariharan's Nakhakshathangal. The cinematography was by Madhu Ambat, today considered one of the finest cinematographers in the Indian film industry. Together, they crafted one of the finest pieces of celluloid magic that today, has achieved cult status in Malayalam cinema.