The Becoming

Ananya Kasaravalli brings in a rare form of sensitivity with her debut film – Harikatha Prasanga (The Chronicles of Hari) – that traverses the murky waters of mythology and gender with grace and confidence

- Praveena Shivram

When Ananya Kasaravalli speaks, her words are measured, like they are standing one behind the other maintaining perfect one-arm distance. Nothing is said in haste, there are no digressions, and no unnecessary long pauses. It is as if cyclical thought processes have found their rhythm in her words, and there is a special kind of allure to the cadence that it then brings, evident, in abundance – visually and narratively – in her debut Kannada film, Harikatha Prasanga (The Chronicles of Hari). Much as the film itself, I found the interview too an immersive experience and I realised that this Kasaravalli was entirely different from the other, senior Kasaravalli – her father, Padmashri Girish Kasaravalli, winner of the National Award 14 times. If her father’s films found its powers in the lyricism of subversion in the every day, then the daughter’s film finds its powers in the crippling pathos of allusion in the every day. Ananya might have had an overwhelming legacy to carry and the privilege that comes with it, but she stays true to the only thing that matters – the story.