Rajasthani folk writer Vijaydan Detha died today. Check out the movie Duvidha based on his short story as a tribute. The movie was remade as Paheli.
Synopsis:
The film is based on a story by Vijayadan Detha which relates a popular folktale from Rajasthan about merchant’s son whose relationship with his young bride is thwarted by his work and a ghost who falls in love with her, resulting in the ghost soon impersonating the husband.
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Rajasthani folk writer Vijaydan Detha dies
Rajasthani writer Vijaydan Detha, who gave a modern touch and identity to folk tales of the colourful desert state, died in Borunda village today following a cardiac arrest.
Detha, 87, is survived by three sons and a daughter.
Popularly known as “Bijji’, Detha kept himself confined to his village Borunda near Jodhpur throughout his life, relinquishing a number of offers and opportunities.
Detha had over 800 short stories to his credit and gave a modern touch and identity to the folk tales of Rajasthan.
“He fondly documented them and converted them into the form of stories”, said Vinod Vithall, a close associate.
Recipient of Sahitya Academy award, Detha was also nominated for the Nobel Prize for his contribution to folk tales and was conferred the Rajasthan Ratan award last year.
‘Paheli’, a movie based on his story “Duvidha”, was the last film based on his works. Theatre director Habib Tanvir adapted Detha’s story Charandas Chor into a successful play which was also made into a film by Shyam Benegal.
Ace directors like Mani Kaul, Shyam Benegal and Prakash Jha also brought his works on the celluloid screen.
Tags: Duvidha Exclusive Mani Kaul Paheli Raisa Padamsee Ravi Menon Tanqeed Film Festival Vijaydan Detha
Thanks Sputnik.
Saw it completely now.
What I liked most is the folk music in this. the folk songs playing in morning , cock’s voice in a distance, the sound of shoes, the feel of a village haveli, the silence…etc..
But this is a horrible way of storytelling. The silence is pretentious and purposefully boring. The direction is so ancient styled – and we cant blame budget etc for it – the director purposefully wants us to get bored its like a mission for her.
Folk tales are so damn interesting and director wants us to believe otherwise here. And this is not a patch on Paheli which is a masterpiece.
What was your criticism on Paheli? I think you had some differences on the ending part if I remember it vaguely – please can you state again? THx
I did not like the art movie style of direction either. It was slow and boring. By the way the director Mani Kaul is a male not female.
Paheli has a happy ending where the ghost comes back after having fooled everyone. I liked the sad/tragic ending here where the wife has lost her lover and her life is back to what it was before.
I think Paheli is the only romantic film of SRK where him being extra-romantic was justified and was an awesome without him getting on nerves.
Oh Thanks. I thought Mani is a she.
Btw, here the sad ending did work for me too – in a way ..but ….
But here the wife’s thoughts , her “duvidha” is not shown – in Paheli – Rani’s Duvidha is shown nicely. Here only the “shephard’s” Duvidha is shown that too briefly. Paheli had very good dialogues / subtle confrontations / and it gave more respect to female character and the romantic Ghost in general.
Here its more like “ankahi story” kind of sad ending. But women are shown suppressed too much in the whole film that I feel they (wife’s character) needed to have more voice of her own than just end the story like that …
I can go on and on about Paheli 😛
Here is one of the best choreographed songs. Rani is priceless whereas SRK is just abt ok. But look at Rani – she really looks and acts like a Puppet/Kathputali.
Who was the choreographer? Vaibhavi?
Lyrics is wonderful by Gulzar saab to say the least – one of his best.
Deh ki reti ud jaavegi, preet sada rah jaavegi
Arey samay gujar jaavega babu, lok katha rah jaavegi
Baat puraani ho jaavegi, naam sada rah jaavega
Despite my criticism on Duvidha , I am madly in love with its folk music…
(first 3 mins ….and then manier times in the movie … ) Its heavenly!!
Another instance of pure magic is at @14:00 – the vocals and music is out of this world !!