Driving home a message

Stage and screen actor Dr Shreeram Lagoo is hugely popular on the Marathi stage as he has been in the cameo roles he’s played in Hindi mainstream cinema, the best remembered one being in Gharaonda, for which he won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor. He goes back in time to the era of legendary film maker V Shantaram and recommends his 1935 classic, Dharmatma for its social message

“Dharmatma was among Prabhat’s (Studios) and Shantaram’s early films. It also featured another legend, the great Bal Gandharva. Like the rest of us, V Shantaram too was as much a fan of Bal Gandharva and wanted him to play a role in his film. Since Bal Gandharva was no longer young, he could not have played the part of the young hero. So, in Dharmatma, he got him to play the character of Sant Eknath, one of the saints of Maharashtra. But the film was much more than just about a saintly person — it focused on a great social wrong which was in practice in those days — untouchability.

It is important to remember that this was a film made in the 1930s when untouchability was widely prevalent, especially among Brahmins, who followed it very strictly. Of course, a stream of thought had already begun to emerge against the practice and people had begun to oppose it. Gandhiji gave special importance to its abolition.

Spreading the message was important and the film did this very effectively — especially the scene when there is this untouchable, thirsty and parched, and Eknath (a Brahmin) passes by with a pitcher of water meant for the temple. Instead of continuing with that pitcher full of water for the gods, seeing the man’s plight, he gives the water to the untouchable thirsty man — a scene which made a great impact on me.

Eknath’s aim was to show that there is no such thing as high and low caste, which he demonstrated well by his actions in giving the water to the living person who needed it rather than to the idol. The scene played out Eknath’s work of wanting to do away with untouchability very effectively.

The story was indeed a very touching one and the theme appealed to me greatly. Keeping in mind, that the film was made in 1935, its technique was very advanced. It is very rare in a film that the story and the technique come together so well. For its time, the film also did well. Bal Gandharva was definitely a big draw, while the story was told so powerfully by V Shantaram. Definitely a movie you should try and get hold of for the weekend.