In April 1980, G. Aravindan appeared in person at PFA with two recent films, Thampu (1978) and Kummatty (1979). Kanchana Sita (1977) screened here in July 1980. It is a measure of the strength of the imagery of Aravindan's films that they were received with tremendous enthusiasm, though shown without English subtitles but instead with live translation. Kanchana Sita is screened tonight in a subtitled print.
Kanchana Sita is Aravindan's second film. In it he interprets the last part of the “Ramayana.” The legendary Rama has returned from Lanka after retrieving his abducted wife, Sita. Rumors begin to spread questioning the fidelity of his wife during her captivity. Out of duty to his people, Rama banishes his beloved wife.
Aravindan's film opens on Rama and his brother travelling through Dandaka forest to attend a religious feast. Rama is strangely conscious of Sita's presence.... The film argues in slow, luminous images that the vanished Sita has now become the principle of harmony in the universe.
Kanchana Sita is both poetic and political: Aravindan uses tribals from Andhra Pradesh to portray the Aryan heroes of the Ramayana. To see nobility flashing from the eyes of the squat-nosed, low-browed tribals is to observe an important gesture in India's politics.