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Harish Mattur spoke to Sri. Kasaravalli on behalf of OKC.

Girish Kasaravali won the coveted national award for the film dweepa. We met him at his bangalore home for an exclusive interview.

OKC: Congratulations.. you have won the best national feature film award the swarnakamal!! How does it feel?
Girish: When I got the news I was shooting for my serial Gruhabhanga. It took some time for me to realize that I have won the national award. Once I came back to Bangalore I realized how happy my family and friends were.

OKC: Dweepa took a long time to get started, Even after you started the shoot it took a longtime for you to complete it is that your style of film making?
Girish: I normally take one to two years to write the script. I start to write the script only after I select a good story. For me, I need a completed script to start a film. Only when I am ready with all the details of my film, I am ready to go ahead with it.

During one of the Shooting  sessions

OKC: How important was the location for the film dweepa?
Girish: The location is on the banks of the river Sharavati and most of the film takes place during monsoon season. The Sharavati backwaters helped us a lot as there were two dams. one dam was a pickup dam and the other one a reservoir. The reservoir water level never rises. In the pickup dam it does rise. We used this distance between these two locations effectively. The surrounding trees the greenery and the whole ambience of the place made me select Bellenne. I believe it was a perfect location for Dweepa.

OKC: In Dweepa the plot revolves around four individuals: Please describe their characters.
Girish: Nagi played by Saundarya is the central character of the film. She has done a wonderful job. She is one of the best talents in kannada. For me, Nagi is the personification of the energy and enthusiasm present in every human being. Normally a person will not break under stress, he will only bend momentarily. He somehow manages to overcome the difficulties. Nagi is the one who is able to do this. The four characters in the film represent one kind of attitude towards life. Duggappa played by Vasudevrao has faith in the traditions and in the past. His son Ganapayya played by avinash has no such faith but he believes in his father. Through him he is able to pass the turbulent phase they experience. There is an outsider who comes to dweepa. Krishna played by harish raju. He gives the people living on the dweepa a rosy picture about the outside world. That creates the tension between the father, the son and the outsider. Due to this, family living on the dweepa begin to feel isolated, outdated and unwanted. This creates a complex in them. It is only Nagi who does not get perturbed by all this. She is neither burdened by the past or alarmed by the future. For her the present is important. she belives in making today as beautiful as possible.

OKC: What is the perception of the climax of dweepa from director's point of view ?
Girish: As far as I am concerned, there are two climaxes. When the water from the dam overflows Nagi goes and tells her husband that they are in the safe terrain, their fear of drowning is over. Ganapaiyya happily hugs her and that is one way of looking at the climax.
Then the movie continues for other TWO minutes where the husband does not even acknowledges the contribution of his wife. That is when she feels lonely. That is when she feels she is an island or dweepa. Here each and every character remains a dweepa as there is no human warmth and a bonding between them.

OKC: How important was the rain for the movie?
Girish: Rain in its own way is a character in the film. We used rain as the back drop which adds to the tension of the family.

OKC: H. Ramachandra has won the best cinematographer award for the film how was the experience of working with him?
Girish: He is a very talented cinematographer he passed out of FTII in 1974/75. He was working in Mumbai with Rajan Kothari; I invited him to work for my documentary kaagodu satyagraha. I was impressed with his work. So he also worked for my film Taayisaheba which won him the state award. Now he has got a national award for only his second film.

OKC: Do you plan to release the movie in English for the international audience?
Girish: At the end of august Dweepa will be released in Kannada all over Karnataka. The English version will be released later.

OKC: What do you think about the future prospects of the kannada film industry?
In the past few years a couple of new directors have come up and they are quite promising. We need to have good infrastructure which will encourage them to make good movies.This is lacking in our industry.

OKC: In 1978 you won the national award for ghatashraaddha you were the youngest director to do so. Now in 2002 you have won for the 4th time for dweepa; tell us about your journey in film making.
Girish: Lots of ups and downs, a few regrets. After ghatashraaddha, I do not know why did I make two movies which were incompetent. Moorudarigalu was spoilt in front of my eyes as I used to work for the institute and I had no time to correct it. The budget was also a problem. A few technical compromises were made. With "Mane"  I made the mistake of casting non kannada actors like Naseer and Deepti. You learn by these mistakes These films could have been better.

OKC: Twenty five years you have made just 9 films, each and every film of yours has gained international appreciation.
Girish: yes, I could have done few more movies during this span.

OKC: When do you plan to start the your next film?
Girish: Right now I am busy with gruhabhanga, a popular serial. S.L Byrappa is happy with my work. I am also happy with the outcome. It is not a conventional serial; the whole concept, the look and feel, are very different. We have shot 30 episodes. I think we have a long way to go. It will keep me busy for another year or so. After that, I may plan my next project. 

OKC: Thanks a lot for the wonderful interview. We wish you a great success in all your ventures.
Girish: thank you.

Harish Mattur spoke to Sri. Kasaravalli on behalf of OKC.

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