Recreating history of Vidhana Soudha, legislature through films

Karnataka legislature is all set to visually document the history of the State’s power centre — the Vidhana Soudha as well as the functioning of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council — by roping in renowned film-makers Girish Kasaravalli and T.N. Seetharam.

A meeting of the joint House committee, headed by Speaker K.B. Koliwad and Council Chairman D.H. Shankaramurthy, recently took the decision to fund the two films, said S. Murthy, Secretary of the Legislative Assembly.

I’m researching on the seven-decade history of the Vidhana Soudha. I am planning to speak to people privy to the process of its construction. — Girish Kasarvalli,film-maker

“The idea of commissioning the documentaries came up during a discussion on celebrating the platinum jubilee of the Vidhana Soudha. Girish Kasaravalli and Seetharam were chosen considering their mastery over the visual medium,” said Mr. Shankaramurthy.

While Mr. Kasaravalli’s documentary will focus on the Vidhana Soudha, which completed 60 years recently, Mr. Seetharam’s will trace the history of the Legislature Assembly and the Legislative Council.

Though both the directors are facing one big problem — of lack of visual records — they are coming up with plans to get around it. Mr. Kasaravalli has taken a break from making feature films and is now busy, along with a team of experts, on researching the story of the Vidhana Soudha and the changes it has seen as the seat of the State legislature, besides the political history of Karnataka that is associated with it.

It’s not easy to record the 136-year-old history of the Karnataka legislature. Lack of visual documentation is a major hurdle. — T.N. Seetharam,film-maker

“The process has just begun and it takes time to zero in on the central theme and format,” the film-maker said.

Though Mr. Kasaravalli is better known for his feature films, he has also made the award-winning documentary Images/Reflections on film-maker Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Ananthamurthy…Not a biography…but a hypothesis on writer U.R. Ananthamurthy for the Films Division.

Mr. Seetharam, who admitted that he has chosen a big canvass, said he was planning to document the history of both the Houses of the legislature in seven parts of 30 minutes each.

“The history of the legislature goes back to the days of Dewan of Mysore C. Rangacharlu. The first session was held in 1881, with as many as 144 members present. That was how the seed of a democratic structure was sown,” said Mr. Seetharam.

“Narrating the history and analysing the important milestones through commentary is not my style. I am planning to recreate history by visualising landmark incidents through characters,” explained Mr. Seetharam. He is planning to use vehicles and costumes of an earlier time for his documentary.