KAMALA KUNWARI - A TRAGIC MYTH

The film 'Kamala Kunwari: A Tragic Myth' is based on a folk tale
comprising a number of folk songs and other elements of folklore. The film is presented in two streams moving on simultaneously - in one the story is being staged by a drama troupe and, in the other, a series of incidents being happened depicting the similar story in real life. In doing so, the basic pattern of treatment is of two different styles. While presenting the drama on the stage, the camera movement was very restricted and so there is no much focus on the characters and the set-props because of the fear that the artists would be disturbed. But in filming the actual storyline, all sorts of liberties were exploited to make the incidents full of cinematic acting and camera drama. In case of music and editing, two different means were adopted. The stage version was full of folk music elements which was left untouched. It was only because, the play had been staged for last ten years and so its music part possessed a specific design already adopted after many a trials and tribulations. In case of real-life drama part, cinematic music was obviously preferred and that too on the basis of the folk tunes since the storyline being almost same. The exact style was adopted in editing part. The stage drama portion has hardly seen any such new editing of scenes. But while dealing with the real storyline with camera, actors and various indoor-outdoor locales, cinematic editing was given priority. Over and above, the film emphasis upon women empowerment. In both the storylines of the film, the female protagonists die. But both the deaths were projected as results of destiny but actually motivated by male chauvinism. The sense of women empowerment was placed before the viewers ideologically - the rage of outcry, vehement protest and loud appeal to all to make the society free from the clutch of male chauvinism are the mental agony expressed by both the women.