Jayashree B.

Mookajjiya Kanasugalu (Visions of Mookajji) is a movie based on the Jnanpith Award winning novel of the same name by K Shivaram Karanth. Mookambika, a victim of child marriage, is widowed even before she attains puberty. The solitude resulting from the customs of those days to be confined by four walls coupled with her innate sensitivity helps her develop the power of extra-sensory perception. She tries to question with her rationale, the barbarism of the civilized society and is labeled a lunatic for doing so and is punished. She chooses silence as a mark of her protest. Thus, Mookambika eventually comes to be known as Mookajji (literally meaning mute, old woman) The movie deals with how she, now in her 80s tells stories about antiques excavated by Subraya, her great-nephew and a history student, through her "dreams" which deal with a wide array of themes from evolution of culture, concepts of God, religion, relationships, humans and their sexuality, etc.

An orphan slum boy who is adopted by an old lady who finds him on a footpath. She brings him to live with her in the slums. With his friends, he makes a living picking up selling rags. An encounter with some school going students, who call him an uneducated brute, changes the life of this slum boy. He takes up a personal challenge to attend school and get educated. The film depicts how this slum boy faces hardships in getting admission and attending schools and in fulfilling his dream to become educated.

The story of the film was adapted from a play of the same name written by well-known writer Girish Karnad. The movie was directed by award winning director T.S. Nagabharana, who is deemed to be one of the ace directors in Kannada film industry. Music was scored by C. Aswath and Srihari L. Khoday produced the movie. The film touches one of the most sensitive issues of marital life. In folk style and form, the film throws open a question as to who is the husband – the person who marries an innocent girl and indulges in self pleasures or the person who gives the real and complete experience of life. G.S.Bhaskar, and his work is a visual thunder in this movie. Especially the night scenes & interior scenes are spellbounded. Bhaskar is a famous technician; he used contrast lighting in this movie, that clearly gave the touch of folk life in every frame.