Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva
The simultaneity of creation, preservation and destruction
The ocean has been an object of ceaseless fascination for mankind over so many centuries. To describe it just as an unfathomable and enchanting body of water would be a definite understatement. The beach, where the notional boundary of the physical space of human existence ends and the mighty ocean begins, has been the inspiration for many a poet to muse on the mysteries of life. The relentless waves many a time appear to resonate with the emotions and passions of the human mind, ranging from powerful and ferocious to frivolous and gentle. The waves are also forever romancing with the rocks and the sands to simultaneously create, preserve and destroy innumerable works of art, many unseen and unappreciated. No wave pattern ever repeats itself, yet there is a spectacular sense of rhythm in this drama that has continued over millions of years, even before life itself came into existence.
Creating a film that tries to capture this complex tapestry of “nature’s theatre” within the technical constraints of the medium is undoubtedly a daunting task. The filmmaker R.V. Ramani has been able to do a fair amount of justice in capturing the engagement between land and water, life and death, creation and destruction and other multifarious confounding contradictions in life. Ramani has even gone one step ahead in his adventure, by also capturing a gamut of human emotions on the seashore, and also involved an artist in the whole experience. With the dexterous use of the video camera, he has seized many candid flavours of the human mind with the backdrop of the Chennai beach.
The first thing that strikes about the "story" is its sense of adventure. An artist, who is comfortable with the medium of clay, is faced with the challenge of doing something with sand -a medium with contrarian characteristics. The movie begins with a shot of the artist staring into the ocean, appearing to be confounded and searching for an elusive creative spark. Or perhaps one wonders if he is just awed at the very sight of the infinite entity and is at a loss as to what to do. Nevertheless he does make a beginning. The first creation is that of a few radially outward spiral arcs. One wonders if the artist is trying to rival the creativity of the waves by drawing a pattern that they had perhaps never created. Ramani's focus now subtly shifts from filming the artistic process to filming the happenings on the beach. One recalls that to be the nature of documentary, to capture action as it happens. One appealing scene is that of the young boy who stares into the camera for a long time and very gradually yields in to an unsure smile. Perhaps we as individuals also will similarly require time to overcome our baseless fears and smile away through life!
Ramani brings the focus back to the artist. A deep hole is being created very intensely by the artist, but to the children on the beach it is a joke to laugh about. Rings a bell on "different perspectives". The waves seem to now be competing and playing games with the artist and in one big sweep the whole thing is washed off. The artist laughs it off and possibly realizes that it is futile to compete with this giant and there is no way but to cooperate. Ramani's attention now seems to be zigzagging between the people on the beach and the artist. He captures the footprints on the sands, and how they are washed off with the tide, irrespective of whose footprints it maybe. Surely this is true of all achievement and fame too. Ramani also captures the diverse reactions of people to the waves. While some are apprehensive and do not dare to venture, there are others who joyfully plunge into them. People seem to come to the beach for different reasons, some come to remember, and some come to forget.
By now the artist seems to have finalized on an approach and has begun dumping buckets of wet sand that look like mini pillars. The first few are merrily devoured by the merciless and inevitable arrival of the waves. Or is it that the artist is making some initial offerings to appease the hungry beast? Ramani captures the artist's intensity and dedication in crazily churning out more and more pillars. There is great sense of purpose in the artist though the whole thing appears meaningless to passers-by. The waves play a game of destroying them partly and in the process creating new forms. The pillars now seem to resemble the ruins of some long lost civilization. Time and tide are undoubtedly great levellers.
The uncontrollable rage of the waves is greatly creative and at the same time greatly destructive. I wonder if all uncontrollable creative urges necessarily require a refining element to them to bring about beauty. If so, what was nature's check for refinement here? Is it the play of the low and high tides? I then wonder if it is fair at all to compare nature's creativity with human creativity. Perhaps both have entirely different purposes, or perhaps one already knows its purpose, and the other is still seeking the purpose.
Ramani once again meanders focus into the scene of action. A little fish has been caught and is gasping for breath. The innocent children are overjoyed at their little success, but it is a life and death situation for the unfortunate fish that yielded to temptation. Ramani makes the viewer uncomfortable about life's strange equations by acutely focussing on the imploring eyes of the fish and its last struggle.
Meanwhile the artist continues relentlessly with his offerings. A shy little girl smiles away selling a bunch of colorful balloons, jarringly in contrast against the silvery-gray dull background. The waves have now become boringly regular. I wonder that if there is so much of striking regularity and rhythm in everything in the universe, from the tides to the days and nights and planetary motions, why is there no sense of rhythm in our life? Events and experiences seem so disconnected, our plans never work and there are twists and turns at frequent points. Is it that we are riding on a single wave and are missing the big picture of the tide…?
All along the film until now, Ramani's focus is dominantly on the activities on the beach, attributable both to people as well as the waves. Suddenly towards the end, when the activities have become monotonous, one notices that the only sound all along has been that of the waves and occasionally of children's laughter. One becomes acutely aware of the ocean's existence all along. Ramani now wields the camera to slowly but surely make the sea look bigger than the activities on the beach. He succeeds in capturing some part of the majesty of the waves on the ocean, perhaps signifying its unfathomable depths, and maybe also those of human creativity. In one swift contrasting shot, Ramani refocuses on a single wave that is receding gently with the tide, and in great humility appearing to give way to the artist by leaving his creation intact. A quotation of Kabir occurs to me here: "All know that it is the drop that merges into the ocean, but few know that it is the ocean that merges into the drop".
The movie ends with the artist creating the form of a Shiva-Linga with the sand and the little children spoiling it playfully. The artist wears a satisfied look in the end, and there is a definite sense of completion. I imagine his ego has been humbled by his realizing the infinitesimal and transient nature of his contributions. In conclusion of this review, I reproduce here an overwhelming poem on the same topic of a beach by none other than the greatest poet William Wordsworth.
Evening on Calais Beach
By William Wordsworth
1770-1850
IT is a beauteous evening, calm and free,
The holy time is quiet as a Nun
Breathless with adoration; the broad sun
Is sinking down in its tranquillity;
The gentleness of heaven broods o'er the sea:
Listen! the mighty Being is awake,
And doth with his eternal motion make
A sound like thunder--everlastingly.
Dear Child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here,
If thou appear untouch'd by solemn thought,
Thy nature is not therefore less divine:
Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year;
And worshipp'st at the Temple's inner shrine,
God being with thee when we know it not.
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