Sankarabharanam - Movie

 1980. 

It's been on my list of rewatches for a while and I am glad I could watch it finally. Many new facets showed up this time - last I saw it must have been as a school boy in 1980! Sankara Shastri and his life of dedication as a musician, his principles and beliefs, the pure love between him and his admirer the courtesan Tulasi who finally becomes his patron, the carrying on of the legacy by her son, a dramatic end where the maestro dies in a music school dedicated to him by his secret patron.

K Vishwanath once again carries subtle shades of an artist's relationship with his art, the purity of relationships born out of mutual respect and admiration with finesse, bringing to fore the irony of life and also the beauty of life.

Sankarabharanam is so named because Sankara Shastri is supposed to have mastered the raga and he is called Sankarabharanam Sankara Shastri. The film apparently opened to empty theatres much as Sholay did, and soon picked up, running for years in some theatres - in Bangalore, Madras - until it was dubbed in Tamil, Malayalam and so on. It was played in many international festivals and received many awards. Somayajulu's performance is rated in the top 25 performances in Indian cinema and the film itself was ranked 11th in a poll about Indian cinema.