Dweepa

Dweepa is a 2002 Indian Kannada-language film by Girish Kasaravalli, based on the novel of the same name by Na D'Souza. It stars Soundarya, Avinash and M. V. Vasudeva Rao in the lead roles. The novel dealt with the raging issue of building dams and the displacement of natives. The film, however, focuses more on the human interaction between characters and the dam and displacement themes become somewhat secondary. It won two National Film Awards, four Karnataka State Film Awards and three Filmfare Awards South.

Plot

Located in the backwaters of a dam, Sita Parvata is a low-lying island slowly submerging due to the incessant rains. The government succeeds in evacuating the residents by giving them compensation for the properties they own. The temple priest Duggajja, his son Ganapa, and daughter-in-law Nagi find it impossible to leave their homeland and make a living with the meagre compensation. They have but a small hut, which earns them a compensation of 25,000. In Ganapa's own words, the compensation can give them food and shelter, but cannot compensate for the love and respect of their people. On the island, they are respected people, but outside, they would be one among hundreds of families struggling to make a living.
Krishna, Nagi's cousin arrives later, who was previously settled in Mumbai. Krishna is a city-dweller with a carefree attitude, which provides a stark contrast to Ganapa’s growing pessimism. With his aid, the family temporarily shifts to a house above at a much greater height, thus preventing them from being submerged. As days pass by, Ganapa grows suspicious of the bond between his wife Nagi and Krishna. Meanwhile, the govt officers decide to raise the compensation to Rs. 25000 but Dugggajja refuses to sign it and thus refuses. He and Ganapa goes to perform "Nema", the sacred temple they believe in, and he sends back Ganapa home to stay all night at the temple, as he decides to question the Lord for their worries and problems. The next morning when Nagi goes to bring her father-in-law back, she finds the temple submerged to a great extent, and finds Duggajja dead after drowning. Distraught, the couple performs his last rites. Nagi's father suggests them to shift to the town due to this, and settle for themselves, but she refuses. Following this, they do not talk to Krishna a lot, and he grows more sad due to this. Ganapa also is deeply saddened due to his father's death, unable to cope and move on, Nagi consoles him and tells him to be more confident.
Nagi tells Krishna to leave from there, owing to Ganapa's insecure nature. Krishna agrees to leave, but he takes the only boat they had to row across to Sita Parvata, thus leaving them marooned. To make things worse, a tiger also is seen roaming in and around their house, and water starts seeping into their new home as well. While Nagi still confident and cleans up the mess, Ganapa loses all hope and waits for the end. While he sleeps in defeat, she stays awake all night, protecting her house and the only calf, from the tiger.
The next morning, the dam overflows and thus water slowly begins to recede. Ganapa thanks God for this miracle. When Nagi asks if her efforts throughout the night meant anything, Ganapa dismisses her, saying she was merely a "tool" in God's hands, and its all he who took care of all this.

Cast

Soundarya as Nagi
Avinash as Ganapa
M. V. Vasudeva Rao as Duggajja
Harish Raj as Krishna
Purushottama Talavata
Siddaraj Kalyankar
Malati
Vijayasarathy
Radha Ramachandra
Sringeri Ramanna
Sawant
Production

Development and filming

Upon being impressed by Na D'Souza novel Dweepa, Girish Kasaravalli narrated the story to Soundarya who decided to adapt it into a film that she would produce it. Filming began in August 2000 but was temporarily stalled due to events surrounding the abduction of Rajkumar. As heavy rains were intrinsic to the plot of the film, shooting had to be further postponed to the following monsoons due to inadequate rainfall that year in Karnataka. Kasaravalli shuttled up and down to Linganamakki Dam area, and the surrounding villages Bellenne and Taleguppa with his crew, trying to get the rainy days on film. The filming was completed and ready for release in December 2001. With author D'Souza's consent, changes in the plot were made in the adaptation. The human dimension of the interaction between characters was put to the forefront of the story, with the social concern around the plot being made secondary. The film was first screened at the International Film Festival of Kerala in April 2002. Kasaravalli also showed it to the film appreciation course students of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and received good responses from them.

Theme and inspiration

Kasaravalli said he "read the book and liked the theme very much." He added, "It is all about how people's lives change completely when the land around them gets submerged. It is not just about physical change and survival, but about changes in culture, value systems and even basic self-confidence, caused by circumstances beyond a person's control." Thematically, the film was observed by critics as similar to his previous films, that of "human relationships and struggles". Alienation is another theme in the film that Kasaravalli depicted, like in his previous works, Ghatashraddha and Mane. The female protagonist in Dweepa had an optimistic outlook on life as opposed to her husband's abject resignation to his fate. Critic Srikanth of Deccan Herald wrote, "As always, Dweepa has a woman protagonist who represents strength, optimism and pragmatism signifying the growth of the today's 'new age woman'. The film celebrates Nagi's inner strength, which is also the beauty of human nature. Through Nagi's characterisation, director Kasaravalli hopes to prove that women are capable of unselfish love and facing life courageously." Barring the main characters, he identifies an outsider and the water as two other characters on the film; represents the world on the other side of the river as opposed to the central character's dwelling, and the latter lending a metaphoric voice to Dweepa." He added, "Rarely have the rains been brought to the foreground as a character. But here, it represents some kind of a hope as well as fear as is visible."

Reception

Srikanth of Deccan Herald felt the film was "quite engaging and briskly paced." He added that the cinematographer H. M. Ramachandra "certainly deserves a lot of credit for capturing the picturesque locales of Malnad in its splendour." He commended the acting performances and wrote, "Soundarya... has certainly come of age. She has bloomed into a fine actress and a natural performer besides producing the film herself. Kasaravalli has drawn a superb performance from Avinash, who has portrayed his character with panache. The late Vasudeva Rao has put up a spirited performance. Harish Raju comes as a whiff of fresh air in the film. It is an out and out Kasaravalli film with a lot of surprises!"