Love in the time of trauma

Whenever the strains of this most popular and melodious song, Nammora Mandara Hoove... ring out loud from the movie Alemane, for which C Ashwath and L Vaidyanathan scored the music, the first picture that comes to mind is of senior actor Suresh Heblikar who is known more as an environment crusader.

The expert film maker is renowned for his feature film Kadini Benki, for which he earned the best director national award. His other venture, Prathama Usha Venture also dealt with a psycho-social phenomena, and the actor, director and environmentalist Suresh Heblikar is back with another similar venture which talks about counter-transference. Bengaluru Chronicle reports on Mana Manthana which is set to release in the coming weeks.

“Mana Manthana is a narrative drawn from real life instances. It deals with psycho-social issues of the current era, and has cultural dimensions as well,” says Suresh Heblikar, adding that the film is produced by Dr KA Ashok Pai, a psychiatrist, who had earlier done films based on psychological themes like Aghata (trauma) directed by Heblikar in 1995.

He says that Dr Ashok Pai was very particular that the film be made as he felt that the psychological pressures, especially faced by the youth are on the rise, and there is a lack of awareness among people about the need and availability of psychiatric assistance.

“The film highlights these issues through a narrative involving a traditional family set up which steers through conflicting interests and aspirations of a father-son duo that hold different views on our changing times. It’s a tale of rising aspirations of a young man when compared to his father,” says Heblikar.

Mana Manthana also talks about a small-town environment where cultural and  social values are more meaningful and help families live with their traditions.

“Senior actor Ramesh Bhat plays the main role with Kiran Rajaput making his debut whereas Arpita, Suman and Sangeeta are the female artists. I have played the role of a psychiatrist while KS Sridhar plays a cameo,” he adds. He has written the screenplay apart from directing the film. As the expert signs off, he explains Mana Manthana has a strong academic theme with an appealing love story for the present generation.