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First-look poster of Śākuntalaṃ

For the first time ever, a Sanskrit movie on Kālidāsa's magnum opus

Directed by Dushyanth Sridhar

Produced by Dushyanth Sridhar & Srinivas Kannaa

Starring Payal Shetty & Shubham Sahrawat

This is a 'Desika Daya Production' (www.desikadaya.org/ddp)

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Https://Www.desikadaya.org/Ddp

Overview

Śākuntalaṃ (Sanskrit translation: ‘of Śakuntalā’) is an upcoming 2021 Indian Sanskrit language historical film directed by Dushyanth Sridhar, a renowned speaker, writer and researcher on Indian scriptures. The film has been produced by Dushyanth Sridhar and Srinivas Kannaa under Desika Daya Productions. The film is an aesthetic adaptation of Abhijñāna Śākuntalaṃ from Kālidāsa's work.

Set in an era pre-dating the Mahābhārata, the film tells the story of Śakuntalā, the daughter of Sage Viśwāmitra and the damsel Menakā, and her love for King Duśyanta. Duśyanta, the King of Hastināpura of that time, belonged to the Chandravamsa and the Puru Dynasty. After a marriage which results in Śakuntalābecoming pregnant, the King goes back to his capital promising to come back for her, but does not. Later, when Śakuntalā goes to his palace to claim her love, he has forgotten her, much to her shock and disappointment.

The film stars Payal Shetty (debut) and Shubham Sahrawat (debut) in lead roles with Y.Gee Mahendran, Mohanraman, ‘TV’ Varadarajan and Sivakumar playing important characters. Rajkumar Bharati, great grandson of Subramania Bharathi, has composed the music, and Sai Shravanam, who was the Sound Recordist for Academy award winning Life of Pi, is the music producer for the film. Audiography is by A.S.Lakshminarayan, a two-time National Award winner. Editing is by B.Lenin, a five-time National Award winner. Make-up is by Pattanam Rasheed, another National Award winner. Costumes were designed by Lakshmi Srinath. Filming for the movie began in June 2021 at Maara Studios, Chennai.

Salient Features

  • The dialogues are primarily in Sanskrit (95 percent) followed by Prakrit (5 percent) while the sub-titles are in English
  • The lyrics of the songs comprise lines from
    • Kālidāsa’s Śākuntalaṃ, Shringara Tilakam & Shyāmalā Dandakam (in Sanskrit)
    • Bhatruhari's Shringara Satakam (in Sanskrit)
    • Thiruvalluvar's Thirukkural (in Tamil)
    • Kshetrayya's Padam (in Telugu)
    • Swati Tirunal's Padam (in Malayalam)
    • Goswami Tulsidas's Ramcharitamānas (in Awadhi)
  • The hymns recited in the background are derived from Rig Veda (Surya Suktam & Sri Suktam), Krishna Yajur Veda (Narayana Suktam, Mantra Pushpam, Sri Rudram, Arghya Mantra) & Shukla Yajur Veda(Satapatha Brāmhana)
  • The dance movements are primarily based on Bharatanatyam, with minor influences of Odissi & Mohiniyattam as well. A performance in Yaksha Gana (traditional dance form in Kannada) also forms an integral part to the story line.
  • The ragas deployed in the movie are of Carnatic & Hindustani styles of classical music
  • The architecture showcased is from four prominent dynasties of Ancient India:
    • Badami, Aihole & Pattadakal (in Karnataka) depict the Chalukya Architecture (~ 6-8th century CE.)
    • Tiger Caves (in Tamil Nadu) depict the Pallava Architecture (~ 8th century CE.)
    • Somanathpura (in Karnataka) depict the Hoysala Architecture (~ 13th century CE.)
    • Lepakshi (in Andhra Pradesh) depict the Vijayanagara Architecture (~ 16th century CE.)
  • Khādi (handwoven fabric) was procured from the weavers of Gandhigram and the Crafts Council of India (for the forest and earthy colors, natural dyes of flowers, leaves and vegetables were used)
  • Through a rishi, different āsanās (postures) in yoga are depicted such as padmāsana, vatayanāsana, eka padāsana & trivikramāsana

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Christophe Vielle
Louvain-la-Neuve