Film: Kanchana Sita (Golden Sita)
Year: 1977
Language: Malayalam
Director: G.Aravindan
Its a story set in the time of 12th year of Rama’s vana vaasam. He yearns for Sita. There is a request from rishis to Rama that he has to conduct Asvameda yaaga. He rejects the idea saying that he doesn’t have his wife – which is one of the main conditions necessary to perform the yaaga. But he is reminded about his duty as a king, to consider the welfare of the people and to go ahead for the yaaga.
One striking and refreshing quality is how Aravindan uses nature as a symbol of the presence of Sita time and again. The music is used very aptly, particularly using its rhythmic movements of Indian classical music structure to accompany and prompt various film’s mood and movements. The Cinematography is at its highest quality. Shot in the forests of Andra Pradesh, they dwell in caves. There are a lot of things that are perplexing, for example, the last scene where Rama goes towards the ocean with a sand pot in his hands which is lit, while the background music is of soothing Tanpura (Tanpura is mainly used for tuning in classical music). There is a subtle symbolism even with using Tanpura here. Rama without a stop gets into the ocean. The beauty here is that the way Rama body is changing from a male to a female body by a distortion. It should suggest his search of Sita and act of uniting again mentally. The Samkya philosophy of Prakriti and Purusha is mentioned in many places in the film. The final scene can be taken for a perfect uniting of those elements.
There are many versions of Ramayana found in India, but the best of film adaptations should be this one.
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