The return of Sati Sulochana, the first Kannada talkie

“A grandson is set to recreate the first talkie of Kannada of which his grandfather was a part,” said a smiling P Sheshadri, the first Kannada filmmaker to win a National Award eight times consecutively.

Shedhadri was referring to his latest venture Sati Sulochana-3-3-34, which holds the distinction of being the first Kannada film with sound, although Bhakta Vatsala (1931) was the first to be shot, Sati Sulochana (1934) was the first to be released.

Sheshadri has undertaken the venture with the support of Srujan Lokesh, grandson of Subbaiah Naidu, who essayed the character of Indrajit, son of Ravana, in epic Ramayana in Sati Sulochana.

Earlier this month, on March 3, Sati Sulochana completed 91 years of existence. To mark the occasion, the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy organised an event. It was at this event that Srujan Lokesh and Sheshadri announced their recreation — titled Sati Sulochana-3-3-34, because the movie released on March 3, 1934.

The task at hand

Sati Sulochana was made at a time when the film industry was transitioning from the silent to the sound era. The advent of sound created both technical and creative challenges, but it was a breakthrough for the industry, especially in regional cinema.

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“Interestingly, the story of Sati Sulochana is a subtext in Ramayana. Her character has not been dealt with in detail even in Valmiki’s Ramayana. The story of Sati Sulochana is based on the legendary tale of Sulochana, who is known for her devotion and sacrifice. The film focuses on her story highlighting themes of love, devotion and sacrifice. The film dramatises the conflict of Sulochana’s life and her commitment to her husband, who is under the curse of being turned into a stone statue,” says Sheshadri, underlining the need to recreate the film at a time when creating gender sensitivity is much needed.

Sati Sulochana was directed by YV Rao and produced by Chamanlal Doogaji and Bhurmal Chamanlalji of South India Movie Tone. Renowned writer Bellave Narahari Shastry wrote the screenplay. Actors including Subbaiah Naidu, R Nagendra Rao, Tripuramba, and YV Rao have essayed various characters in it.

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While it is believed that Sati Sulochana has 18 songs, the gramophone record jacket unearthed from the private archive of noted writer Dr Vijaya Subbaraj, has a different story to tell. The jacket says that film has 30 songs, which is a record of sorts.

Belying the notion that the first four talkie films of Kannada had no recorded soundtracks, a gramophone record jacket testifies the presence of a recorded soundtrack and that a harmonium was used for the score.

“My paternal uncle CT Sheshachalam joined Gubbi Company, one of the landmark professional theatre groups of Karnataka, when he was just 10 years old. He essayed the role of Narada in Sati Sulochana. I inherited these archival materials of the film,” Vijaya Subbaraj told The Federal.

“It is a tragedy that we have gramophone jackets, but no gramophone records or celluloid reels of the film. I even checked with the family of Doongaji, even they don’t have anything related to the film. Thanks to the film heritage culture of Karnataka,” film writer NS Sridharamurthy, who was working on a documentary on Sati Sulochana a few years ago, told The Federal. He collected archival materials including lyrics of the songs, media reports, brochures, posters and a few photographs of the film from Vijaya Subbaraj.

According to Sridharamurthy, rewriting or recreating Sati Sulochana is a challenging task and demands rigorous exercise. “We heard from our grandfather that Sati Sulochana has thrilling shots of Hanuman carrying Sanjeevini mountain (medicinal mountain to cure Lakshman), the epic Ram-Ravana battle, creation of Mayaratha (magic chariot) and Mayasita. The film had tricks, magic shots and songs were recorded on the sets. The music was played by a band sitting on a platform above the sets,” recalls Vijaya Subbaraj.

Asked, in the absence of any reference material, what motivated him to attempt to recreate the first talkie, Sheshadri says, “Two years ago, Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy decided to mark the 90th year of Sati Sulochana and I was asked to coordinate the programme. In the course of research, I found that there are no remnants of the film, except a book on the film by writer Cha. Ha. Raghunath. While reading that slim volume, I understood visual possibilities of the film that could create a history of some kind.”

Recalling Harishchandrachi Factory, a 2009 Marathi film directed by Paresh Mokashi, which portrays the story of the making of India’s first feature film, Raja Harishchandra, directed by Dadasaheb Phalke in 1913, Sheshadri said, “I also came across Vigathakumaran, a silent social film written, produced and directed by JC Daniel of Kerala and released in 1928. Unfortunately, the film has no viable copy which has survived. I understand that there are no films on the making of Alam Ara, Kalidasa or Bhakta Prahlada, which were silent films. I thought that making a film recreating Sati Sulochana was a worthy challenge to accept, at this point in my career.”

Why Sati Sulochana

To understand the importance of Sati Sulochana, one has to revisit the nine-decad-old history of Kannada cinema. The tradition of talkies started in India with the Hindi film Alam Ara in 1931. Significantly, Bhakta Prahlada in Telugu and Kalidasa in Tamil were released in that year. But the first Kannada talkie had to wait for its release till 1934.

When R Nagendra Rao, one of the pioneers of Kannada cinema, was in search of producers for his dream talkie project, he came across two Chickpet businessmen Chamanlal Doongaji and Bhurmal Chaman Lal Doongaji, who agreed to fund the project. The film’s director YV Rao also acted in the film, with an ensemble cast of Subbaiah Naidu, doyen of Kannada theatre, Nagendra Rao, Lakshmi Bai, and Tripuramba. The film shot in Chatrapathi Cinetone Studio of Kolhapur ran for six months, becoming so popular that people from nearby villages of Bengaluru came to watch the film riding bullock carts.

Though the film wasn’t a major commercial success compared to later films in Indian cinema, it marked the beginning of the Kannada industry’s arrival in the sound era, which would later see much success with films such as Bhakta Prahlada, which was the first major commercial success for Kannada cinema.

The remaking

It took two years for Sheshadri, who always sets his eye on the details and conducts thorough research, before taking a call on whether to make a film on the subject or not. Noting that the first draft of the script is ready, Sheshadri said, “Slim volumes on R Nagendra Rao, YV Rao, Subbaiah Naidu, Lakshmi Bai and Kamala Bai published by Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce helped me understand the life and challenges of artistes at the time. Nataratna, a life sketch of Subbaiah Naidu penned by her daughter Bangaramma and published in 1972 and a story narrated by R Nagendra Rao to C Seetharam, a renowned journalist, which was chronicled in the famous film magazine Menaka in the early 1970s, helped me a lot in finding visuals that can match my imagination in recreating Sati Sulochana.”

Sheshadri’s eureka moment was when one of his friends sent him the script of Sati Sulochana by Bellave Narahari Shastri, published in 1950. “In his preface, Narahari Shastri admitted that the script was written for the film. Professional theatres later adopted that for a play. It was Seetharam Shetty, who worked with South India Move Tone, who paid Narahari Shastri to write the script and he was instrumental in bringing in Nagendra Rao, Subbaiah Naidu and YV Rao, to produce the film,” says Sheshadri noting that had he not got the script, it would have been a yeomen task for him to recreate the historic film.

Sheshadri doesn’t forget to mention the support extended by Srujan Lokesh, who is producing the film under his banner; Lokesh Productions. Even Srujan Lokesh looked enthusiastic about this project.

“This is not just a film; it is a dream. My grandfather introduced my father (Lokesh) to the films as a child artist through Bhakta Prahlada. My father introduced me to films as a child artist through his directorial venture Bhujangayyana Dashavatara (1991) and now I am introducing my son Sukruth as a child artist through my film GST. This legacy is unique in the Indian cinema industry. I am making this film to carry on the legacy of my grandfather Subbaiah Naidu. It is not business for me. It is not a profit or loss project for me.”