Swayamvaram (One’s Own Choice)

Since the time, I started watching Malyalam movies and did some research on great directors of our times, I have been trying to get my hands on Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s movies. And it’s as hard as it can get. While University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the United States has started a Adoor Gopalakrishnan Film Archive and Research Center, to get subtitled restored DVDs of his work in India is no mean feat.

I was ecstatic when I discovered the subtitled version of his first directorial debut Swayamvaram on YouTube. It’s a dream come true.

I sometimes rue the fact that it is so easy for us to get Kurosava or Fellini or Bergman in India but if we have to find restored and subtitled works of Adoor Gopalakrishnan or Ghatak or Padmarajan or K Balachander, its next to impossible.

Modern interpretation of Sita’s life and choice from Ramayana,

Swayamvaram is the story of a newlywed couple Vishwam and Sita who have eloped from their home town. The opening sequence is an almost five-minute sequence of a bus ride. Five minutes to convey the excitement of the love-struck couple, the hope for the future, to start the life together – nothing can come in their way, not a bother in the world. It will make all the those who have lived this moment at least once in their lifetime sigh. And all this is conveyed through mere expressions, ‘cause the only sounds you hear are the sounds of the bus.

The couple start their life in an upscale hotel. There is another almost eight-minute sequence with no dialogue, only the sounds of the sea as Vishwam and Sita lose themselves on the beach or the sounds of the train from a nearby track.

For a moment, it reminded me of Kurosava. Surprisingly, I couldn’t find any detailed critique of the movie on the internet. There are moments in this sequence which for me set the tone of the movie and which stay with you throughout the movie. It’s not just a couple strolling on a beach. This movie is as much about the craft making films as it is about the story, probably even more. For me, the ominous burden of the choice these two make in their lives start from here, especially for Sita.

Very soon the realities of life hit Vishwam and Sita and they move to an ordinary hotel. Vishwam is a struggling writer and has written a novel “Ecstasy”. He tries to get it serialized in a local daily, but is rejected. The dilapidated and shady condition of the hotel, makes the two move to a small house, almost a hut with an old widow and a prostitute as neighbours.

Vishwam after a few days of joblessness gets a job in a private tutorial college as a Zoology lecturer.

Life seems to get better but not for long. The owner of the tutorial is a fraud and very soon Vishwam finds himself again without work. You see Sita all this while settled, happy with her life, in love with her man supporting him through it all. She tries to find a job as a sales girl but is unable to as she cannot afford the Rs.1000 deposit they demand. Vishwam then gets a job as clerk in the nearby factory. His struggle for a job in shown with the lovely backdrop of the class struggle and communist undertones which probably made the political scene of Kerala at that time.

For those who read the reviews I write, compare this with the trivialised Bangladesh liberation struggle which partly forms the backdrop of Aparna Sen’s Goynar Baksho. There its almost forced to be part of the story, it has no place in while in Swayamvaram it forms an unobtrusive backdrop, merely a reflection of the times the story is set in.

Sita is soon pregnant and life seems to go on predictably for a while. Sita has a dream while sleeping one of the nights. (the subtitles were basic, so not sure if my interpretation is correct) Someone is trying to pull her down a pond when she bends down to pick some flowers. She thinks it’s her father. She tries to look for Vishwam but is unable to find her anywhere. For me this again grounds the viewer to the fact that all is not well and somewhere Sita already feels the burden of her choice.

Sita and Vishwam have a baby girl. Sita as a pregnant lady is one of the most realistic rendition I have seen on screen. In fact, it was applauded by many master filmmakers. The way she sits and pick up the pot after filling it with water, her gait when she walks, it’s as if she is living the character not just playing it on screen.

Unfortunately, Vishwam falls critically ill. By the time, Sita could call a doctor he dies. Everyone around her tells her to go to her parents, an old colleague of Vishwam invites her to come and live with his family. Sita steadfastly refuses. In the closing sequence, we see Sita looking at the picture of proverbial Sita from Ramayana and a closed door, resolute in the choices she made.

This movie also reminds me of Deepti Naval’s Ankahee (a must watch) where the last dialogue in the movie summarizes it all – Zindagi har kadam par aadmi ka apna chunaav hai…

There is a thing about great film makers, they make you live the movie not just watch in onscreen. Every frame tells the story. Swayamvaram hardly has any dialogues, it’s the sounds that carry the movie forward. This technique was used for the first time in Malayalam cinema where ambient sounds formed the leitmotif for the life of Vishwam and Sita.

Madhu (Vishwam) and Sharada (Sita) have done a stupendous job in bringing Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s characters to life. For me, Sharad as Sita especially stands out. You can see she literally lived the character. She hardly has any dialogues, but then she doesn’t need any. Her expressions and eyed and body language convey it all. Sharada is a delight to watch as Sita.

I know this movie is not everyone’s cup of tea. But for those who love the craft of filmmaking should watch this for the sheer perfection the movie is.

Must watch.