35 years ago, a film starring Kashinath, Abhinaya, and Umashree, Anubhava, released and it broke many existing rules of the Kannada Film Industry. The film has attained a cult status among cinephiles. Today, we tell you 10 reasons why Anubhava is a barrier-breaking film in KFI.
A non-popular star cast
It is one of the first few films in the Kannada film industry which became a blockbuster even without having a crowd-attracting Star cast. Back then, Kashinath wasn’t a popular face yet and Abhinaya was in her initial years at the Industry. This gave a boost to many filmmakers and actors to try making a film who lived under the perception of “No-star. No-film”.
Un-orthodox filmmaking
Anubhava broke a handful of rules which existed in the Industry. Apart from its unique plot, in terms of making the film, it broke the biggest rule of a hero and heroine. It treated its lead characters as characters and not as a “hero” and “heroine”. It came as a pleasant surprise where you see the characters in a grey area instead of a completely white and black.
The issues addressed
Anubhava was a bold film for its time. While many movies were churning out talking about ideal family and ideal marriage, Anubhava chose to address the taboo; ideal knowledge of sex. It also addressed the issue of child marriage. When Abhinaya’s character isn’t even 18 and is married to Kashinath’s character. The lack of knowledge of Sex by Abhinaya infuriates the marriage and eventually becomes the conflict of the film. The youth of then identified themselves with the issue which in turn made the film a hit.
A different perspective of marriage
Anubhava was one of the first off-beat Kannada films to have a whole new different perspective on the concept of marriage. Not only the take was a fresh one but it was entertaining as well. It really is a good example of dealing with a taboo subject in an entertaining manner. Off late, that has become a formula for the success of some films.
Pioneer in Adult Filmmaking
Adult films or as we call it in India, “A-rated” films are not yet a norm in the Kannada Film Industry but compared to earlier, a filmmaker can dare to make one and expect it to make money. Back then, when the films of Rajkumar and Vishnuvardhan were dominating, it required some courage to dream of a film like Anubhava and eventually get applauded by the audience. Anubhava opened doors for many such films in the future.
It Empowered Producers
The growth of an industry is determined by the number of films it makes and the success ratio of the same. The success of Anubhava made the producers trust young and new voices. This eventually led to different kinds of films in the Industry. A new set of makers brought a new set of audiences to the Industry.
Introduction of the term “Double meaning”
Anubhava also marked the entry of what we call “Double Meaning” dialogues into the Kannada Cinema. A mammoth number of films have been made with its sole purpose being to entertain the audience with Double meaning dialogues. It has become a genre in itself in Kannada Film Industry.
Launched Kashinath in Bollywood
Anubhava’s success crossed borders and made noise in various other film industries. Remake offers began to flow. It was remade in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Hindi. In Hindi and Malayalam, Kashinath himself directed with Shekhar Suman in the lead. Kashinath’s talent shined on a national platform.
Upendra and Sunil Kumar Desai
The success of Kashinath and Anubhava also paved the way for filmmakers like Upendra and Sunil Kumar Desai who once were Kashinath’s assistants. Sunil Kumar Desai assisted him on Anubhava. Both these directors went onto creating magical films taking Kannada Cinema to greater heights.
Kashinath’s rise to prominence
Though Kashinath had earlier directed films, with Anubhava, he launched himself as a lead actor which proved to be a huge call in hindsight. After this, his acting career took a new turn and was finally accepted as a mainstream star by the audience.
Anubhava has been re-released thrice and has become a celebrated film today. What it has achieved in 1984 is something every filmmaker dreams of! It is truly a barrier-breaking film. If you haven’t watched this gem yet, it is available for free on YouTube.
