Conquerers of the Golden City

Conquerors of the Golden City

January 28, 2007 at 12:26 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment 

A long while ago, I saw a movie called The Conquerors of the Golden City on television.  That must have either been a Turkish or Iranian Production and it told the moving story of a family consisting of brothers and a sister migrating from village to the city with visions of plenty and prosperity, and it turned out that city life dealt them a raw deal, particularly crushing on the girl.  I do not remember the end of the story. The family might have returned to their village a dejected lot or slogged on and braved their new miserable life in the city.

I saw a Movie made in Tamil which was almost the exact replica of this movie, at least in content.  Though I don’t readily recall the name of the movie just this moment, I presume it had something to do with a city or ‘Pattanam’ as the rurals call a city in their slang.  This was directed by a famous Tamil Movie Director, S. Balachandar.  I feel more movie ideas can be copied if they can be presented fittingly with the local flavour so that new awareness is created among people. 

If I remember right, more movies on the same strain have been made in Tamil; one with the famous comedian Nagesh in the lead role, as a rural fisherman visiting Madras for the first time and his hilarious encournters there.  There was this very tragic movie whose diagues and story were penned by the literateur-Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi of Tamil Nadu.  This concerned the story of a family which split in their infancy and meet in the city under tragic circumstances in the city.  There is also a humorous episode about a musical group visiting Madras from a famous Tamil movie on the lives of a Nagaswara Vidhwan and a Bharata Natyam Dancer.  My treacherous memory is not helping me recall the title of the movie.  I will come up with it in due course.

In all these movies, Madras is the Golden City which lured people from the villages to come and be bedraggled in the city.

Madras is not that bad really.  The beauty of a thing is in the eyes of the discerner.  Madras is not bad at all.  Madras is the cultural and Carnatic Macca for all Tamilians.  Tamilians from all over want to spend their retiring years in Chennai.  The Chennai Marina still holds its sway over beaches all over the world.   December Music Season in Chennai attracts music lovers from all over the world.  Chennai is still the centre of learning in all of Tamil Nadu.  Though life styles are changing in Chennai as a result of the IT boom, the common man still finds Chennai affordable, and you still get a good cup of tea and hot bajjis in the tea shops, you get a cone icecream still for Five Rupees, and gingery, lemony sugarcane juice is still available on the streets of Chennai.  You get good Madras Meals for affordable rates in Chennai Udipi and Brahmin Hotels and mess rooms.  Chennai is the haven for textiles and gold ornaments, terracotta artefacts.  You witness creativity and beauty in the Government Fine Arts and Crafts College, and the Cholamandalam Artists’ Village.  Chennai still holds annual exhibitions of handloom fabrics, industrial exhibitions,housing exhibitions, Job Melas.  Elecion time is gala time for people to get confused with the promises of politicians, and there are political meetings on street corners.  Though I heard that they have stopped issuing permission for holding public meetings on the Marina.  Marina is also getting a facelift, litterfree sandy expanses of beaches.  If you wish to have a few minutes of peace, quiet and tranquillity, go to any temple on lean days.  Not only will the visit rest your mind, it will also rest your eyes on the exquisite temple sculpture.  You can go to the Ramakrishna Mutt and meditate in silence.

 P.S:  I conclude with a postscript. Just yesterdeay. Madras Government fixed auto fares minimum at 14 rupees, with the meter hurtling at Rs.2/- for every additional kilometer over the minimum fare distance.  Do you think the auto meters will start functioning at least now, or will the automen revert to their old ways of demanding contract rates .

NAGARAME NANNI 1967

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Morality tale The film was hailed as a realistic breakthrough

Prem Nazir, Madhu, K. P. Ummer, P. J. Antony, Sukumari, Usha Nandini, Jyothilakshmi, Adoor Bhasi etc

‘Nagarame Nanni,' released in 1967, can be easily considered one of the best social movies produced in Malayalam. The film represents an impressive attempt at realism that began in Malayalam cinema with ‘Neelakuyil' and which attained more attention by the mid-60s. Most of the earlier social movies in the language were a far cry from reality, with unusual twists and turns.

Produced by Shobhana Parameswaran Nair under the banner of Roopavani, the film was directed by A.Vincent. A. Venkit handled the camera for the film that was shot partly outdoors, in Madras and at Satya, Prasad and Vikram Studios.

The story, script and dialogues were by M. T. Vasudevan Nair. In fact, this was a story written specially for the film. Most of the other films of this writer were based on his already published literary works. The dialogues had a strong Valluvanadan flavour and this was one of its attractions.

The star cast included noted stars of that time like Prem Nazir, Madhu, K. P. Ummer, P. J. Antony, Sukumari etc. in main roles. The lyrics by P. Bhaskaran were set to tune by K. Raghavan. Dances choreographed by P. S. Gopalakrishnana also impressed.

The film told of the tensions between tradition and the culture of the city, in the form of a morality tale, the story of a family that migrates from a village to the city of Madras in search of a better life. In the city some of the family members succumb to depravity and vice. In spite of the high melodrama the film was hailed as a realistic breakthrough. The dialogues penned by MT was perhaps one reason for this. This film is considered one of MT's best contributions to Malayalam cinema.

In the words of one of the characters, the city is a ‘concrete jungle lit up with neon lamps,' where humanity has no value. It may be purely accidental perhaps, but the film closely resembles two films that were shown in India at some film festivals during that period. One is ‘The Conquerors of the Golden City' (1965) directed by Getin Gurtop and the other is ‘Birds of Exile' (‘Gurbet Kuslari' in Turkish - 1964) directed by the noted Turkish film director Halit Refig. K. Balachander's Tamil film ‘Pattina Pravesham' (1977) also was based on the same theme and closely resembled these foreign films.

Madhavankutty( Prem Nazir) is from a rich aristocratic family in a remote village in Kerala that was reduced to penury due to his spendthrift father, whose extravaganza in conducting temple festivals took away the wealth of the family. After the death of the father Madhavankutty's family consisting of his mother (Bharathi Menon), sister Kunhilakshmi (Jyothilakshmi) and brother Unnikrishnan depend on their rich aunt's family. Madhavankutty leaves home in search of a job and reaches Madras. Raghavan (Madhu) gives him shelter in his small room where he lives with some of his friends who have small jobs in the city. With the help of Anandan Pillai (P J Antony), Madhavankutty gets the job of a driver. Anandan Pillai's daughter Bharathi (Usha Nandini) falls in love with Madhavankutty and Madhavankutty begins dreaming of a happy life. Madhavankutty brings his mother and younger ones to Madras. Kunhilakshmi joins tailoring classes and Unnikrishnan joins a Polytechnic. But the cruel hands of the city do not let the family lead a happy life. Kunhilakshmi falls in to the trap of Mrs. Mudaliar (Sukumari) and Captain Das ( K P Ummer) and ends up as a call girl. Raghavan tries to correct her but in vain. Madhavankutty meets with an accident. Except Raghavan nobody helps him in the hospital. One night Madhavnkutty chases the taxi in which Kunhilakshmi was travelling and his car crashes. He dies. Madhavankutty's mother returns to the village with her daughter and son.

Prem Nazir excelled in his role of the dutiful son in the family and so did Madhu as the good friend of Madhavankutty.

Jyothilakshmi as the innocent village girl in the begining and as the call girl did her role in an impressive manner. The villainous roles handled by K P Ummer and Sukumari also impressed the audience. In contrast to the Malayalam cinema's archetypes, the film offered some well drawn and realistic characters, which one could find aroundThe four songs penned by P Bhaskaran were tuned by K. Raghavan. All the four songs became instant hits. S Janaki sang the romantic hit, ‘Manjani poonilavu Peraattin Kadavingal.....' The song describing the city life, ‘Nagaram Nagaram Mahasagaram....." (Yesudas) remains one of the best in Malayalam cinema. The dance number, sung by L.R. Easwari, ‘Mullappoo Maala vilkum .....' also became a hit and stood the test of time.

Why remembered: As one of the best social movies and for the excellent music.

B. VIJAYAKUMAR

Getin Gurtop Director

Halit Refiğ (5 March 1934, İzmir – 11 October 2009, İstanbul) was a Turkish film director, film producer, screenwriter and writer. He made around sixty films, including feature films, documentaries and TV serials. He is considered to be the pioneer of the National Cinema movement and the initiator of the production of TV serials in Turkey.^[1][2][3]