Background
The Tamil documentary with English subtitles SHAKTIDASAN – A Poet’s Quest for Truth, is not intended to be a biopic of the famous Tamil poet, Mahakavi C Subramania Bharathiar’s life. On the other hand, it is a unique attempt to visualise and delineate the spiritual (not religious) quest, struggle, and the ultimate realisation of the Truth that this poet had experienced in his short life of 38 years from 1882-1921 (11the December 1882 – 12 September 1921). In this process, he met several people, underwent several experiences, all of which changed and shaped his thinking and changed him from a free thinker to a steadfast devotee of Goddess Parashakti and an Advaitin, a Siddha. These life experiences influenced his philosophy, his ideals and writings and ultimately his vision of life which are captured in the storyline.
This 70min documentary also makes references to his works, poems and body of works that provide a treasure trove for generations to come. In the process of depicting his thinking, the film also conveys his concepts, social messaging, revolutionary ideas, ideals that were very relevant during his time, a period of Indian freedom struggle, both political and social, and are very relevant and important today.
Storyline:
The film depicts the poet Subramania Bharathiar’s early years in Ettayapuram, his education, marriage to Chellamal, his days in Kadayam, Varanasi, Chennai, the start of his career, writings, participation in independence movement, his social reformist thinking, his meeting with Sister Nivedita, a turning point in his life, when he experiences a spiritual awakening, the growth of his spiritual yearning, his days in Pondicherry (Puthucherry), meeting with Kuvalai Krishnaswami, Kullachami, Sri Aurobindo, the influences these people bring upon him, balancing his family life and personal aspirations. The film also depicts his noble character, strength of mind, his relationship to nature, family and foes, the personal side to Bharathiar. Most importantly the film highlights his thinking which is relevant even today.
The 70 min documentary packs these above details in a smooth flow of narration and dramatization, with visuals, songs, dance and cinematic techniques that make the storytelling compelling, informative and interesting.
Important aspects of the documentary/Highlights:
1. Uniqueness – The main focus is to project the spiritual aspect of Bharathiar’s life and works and thinking. The subject though esoteric, abstract, somewhat complex has been handled in an easily understandable, reachable manner with simplified narration in Tamil in both chaste and common man parlance, English subtitles will cater to non-Tamil audience.
2. Simplification of complex ideas – the use of several mediums like dramatization, narration, interviews, illustrations, shadow play, makes the narrative very simple and engaging. The language has been kept simple enough for common man to understand profound ideas. Attempt has been made to break the scenes topic-wise for novices to understand the various aspects of the poet’s life.
3. The project is driven by a team who are experts in their field such as highly experienced Director (Usha Rajeshwari), nationally acclaimed Music composer (Rajkumar Bharathi), well-known research scholar (Niranjan Bharathi) famous musicians (Sikkil Gurucharan, Abhishek Raghuram) popular media and stage personalities (Karthik Gopinath, Elango Kumanan, Isai Kavi Ramanan) making this of very high standard and quality.
4. The technical quality is ensured by highly reputed audio-video technical experts like Director of Photography (Anand Thyagarajan and M T Aditya), It is shot in 4K format ensuring high standard viewing quality.
5. Though the subject may seem abstract and not a mundane biopic, every effort has been made to ensure it appeals to young, uninitiated, also educated knowledgeable sections of the society. Even the scholars may find it a refreshing way of telling a complex idea. English subtitles provide wider reach.
6. Most importantly the focus of this documentary is to propagate his ideas which are relevant and of utmost importance today. We live in turbulent times with divisive forces at work. His noble ideals of combining nationalism or patriotism with spirituality, regardless of religion and caste, concern for humanity at large, respect for nature and love for mankind are the needs of the present day. These need to be reinforced constantly to keep our society unified and caring. Hence the relevance of this documentary.
7. There is too much proliferation of stories based on subjects like crime, violence, sex in the social media that pander to sheer entertainment value for viewers. The aspiration of the Shaktidasan Team has been to showcase history makers, patriots, noble thinkers who have provided social values and positive virtues to our society. Though hailing from different states, they must be hailed as our national treasure worthy of global recognition.
Important members of Shaktidasan Team
Soundarya Sukumar – Producer
The documentary Shaktidasan is Soundarya Sukumar’s maiden attempt. It is inspired by her great love and regard for the Tamil poet and her spiritual affiliation to the Ramakrishna Order. In this case, Bharathiar’s guru was Sister Nivedita, a disciple of Swami Vivekananda of the Ramakrishna Order.
With formal training in Broadcast journalism, Soundarya has been a media practitioner in India and Singapore for several years, including as TV News Editor. She is the recipient of the All India Silver medal for Journalism from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, New Delhi. She has also received Commendation Medal from the President of Singapore. She resides in Singapore. She has been very active in the field of music, theatres and arts for several years and served on the board of several public institutions.
Usha Rajeswari – Director
Usha Rajeswari is a Gold medalist in Direction & Screenplay Writing from the Film & TV Institute of Tamilnadu. She has written and directed a feature film, Shakti Pirakkudhu, based on the real stories of rural Tamil women, which won Honorable Mention at the Los Angeles Movie Awards. Her first TV series was Galatta Kudumbam. To her credit are several documentaries on varied social causes and sections of the society. Her film on dance, Soham received recognition in several film festivals around the world. She has been, over the past several years, been making films of many genres including advertisements, documentaries, corporate videos, fiction for television series and short films.
Niranjan Bharathi – Script writer
Niranjan Bharathi, the great-great-grandson of the legendary renaissance poet Mahakavi Subramania Bharathi , and the son of renowned Carnatic musician Sri Rajkumar Bharathi. dons several hats as a poet, lyricist, writer, speaker, and online Tamil educator. Inspired by the poetry of legends like Vaali and Kannadasan, Niranjan began writing poetry at the age of 16. He has since published two poetry collections: Vaaname Un Ellaiyenna and Maamagal Potrudhum. As part of his efforts to interpret Bharathiyar’s poetry, he has also authored two books titled, Bharathiyar’s Sudhesa Geethangal – Part 1 (Interpretation), and Puthiya Aathichoodi – (Interpretation).
Over the years, he has penned lyrics for songs in several notable films and won prestigious awards. In recognition of his contributions to Tamil Poetry, Niranjan was honoured with the prestigious “Annam” award in 2018 by the literary organization Ilakkiya Veet
Beyond films, Niranjan has also contributed lyrics and scripts to several TV shows, independent music albums, and Bharatanatyam productions.
He also operates a YouTube channel “Pasumaikkavignyan, dedicated to raising awareness about environmental issues through Tamil poetry and the founder of My Tamil Guru, an online Tamil School offering courses in Foundational Tamil, Tamil Grammar, and Tamil Literature Appreciation to students of all ages from around the world.
Rajkumar Bharathi – Music Director
Rajkumar Bharathi, great grandson of Mahakavi Subrahmania Bharathi stands today as one of the most popular musician and composer of his generation. Among the several awards he has received, the prominent ones are Sangeeth Natak Akademy Award from the President of India and Kalaimamani award from the Govt. of Tamilnadu.
Rajkumar Bharathi known for his creative explorations and improvisations. is a much sought-after music composer for dances and ballets and has worked with musicians from Java, Indonesia, Srilanka, Singapore and Europe in many cross cultural productions.
Karthik Gopinath – Actor
Karthik is the founder of the Youtube channel Ilaya Bharatham which is aimed at spreading awareness among the public in general and youth in particular about current issues that grapple the state and the nation. Karthik is an engineer by profession and has also qualified examinations in law from the prestigious Madras Law College. Karthik has been a mentor to many civil service aspirants and continues to guide and mentor students in helping them to realise their potential and achieve their goals. Karthik is a regular and a sought-after speaker at various forums on a vide range of topics,
Anand Thyagarajan
M T Aditya
Elaiyabarathy -Illustrator
S.A.V.ELAIYABARATHY is a profound artist who excels in art across all mediums. He started his career in 2007 in watercolour medium. His paintings capture the day-to-day life of south Indian culture in a hyper realistic manner with a play of white space which is his unique skill. His paintings which include working on acrylic and oil in canvas medium have been exhibited in major cities in India.
-Based on Press Release
