India's third Sanskrit movie to get underway

Thiruvananthapuram: After almost two decades, a Sanskrit movie, depicting the life of 17th century Keralite poet-scholar Unnayi Warrier, is getting ready and is expected to hit the screens by September this year.

When completed, this will be the third Sanskrit film in the history of Indian cinema.

Award-winning director Vinod Mankara will be helming the film in the "language of Gods", taking the path trodden by legendary film maker late G V Iyer, who has the credit of making the first two Sanskrit films.

Titled "Priyamanasam", the one-and-half hour-long period film revolves around the mental conflicts and agonies experienced by Warrier while he had penned his magnum opus "Nalacharitham" aattakkatha (Kathakali play).

The shooting of the movie will begin this week and it is scheduled to be released in the coming September.

Mankara says besides his love for Sanskrit, an intense desire to do something to revive the almost 'dead' language made him think on the lines of directing a movie in Sanskrit.

"A movie in Sanskrit may not create ripples in theatres, may not excite box offices, there may also be difficulty in getting theatres for its release. Still I have been cherishing an intense desire to do a movie in Sanskrit all these years since I watched G V Iyer's films," he told PTI.

"Adi Shankaracharya" (1983) and "Bhagavad Gita" (1993), directed by Iyer, are the only movies ever made in Sanskrit. Both films had bagged National Awards in the respective years.
He said though Sanskrit is considered a "dead language" by many, collective efforts can revive it and bring it back to its past glory.

"Jesus Christ's language Aramaic is now used by only around 25 families in Syria. But one of the biggest blockbusters in the history of world cinema, 'Passion of Christ' was made in that language. Its success shows that a good movie will definitely strike a chord with audience even if it is in a dead language," he said.