TRACING LORD SHIVA’S CINEMATIC JOURNEY
On Maha Shivratri, here’s a look at some iconic manifestations of the deity on the big screen
Since the silent era, Indian cinema has explored the mysticism and charm around Lord Shiva in all its glory. And the saga still continues. Through film titles, characterisations, narratives and plots, songs or actors’ looks — filmmakers have, over the years, depicted manifestations of the Hindu deity who holds a special place in Hindu minds for his role both as a creator and a destroyer.
Mythology made a chunk of the content for Hindi cinema in its nascent stage and it was only normal to have Shiva’s tales get screen adaptation. “The first Shiva avatar to do well was played by Prithviraj Kapoor’s brother Trilok Kapoor ji. He played Shiva in most of the films in between 1950s and 1960s, and Nirupa Roy ji played Parvati’s role,” says film historian SMM Ausaja. From songs such as the iconic Jai Jai Shiv Shankar, sequences to mythological topics, Shiva has been an integral part of the film journey in India, feels Ausaja.
As a subject, the deity has been all-pervasive in films across languages — Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and more. Ram Gopal Varma made his famous Telugu film Siva in 1989, which he then remade it in Hindi as Shiva in 1990, followed by its prequel in 2006. A decade later, Ajay Devgn’s Shivaay (2016) saw the actor flaunt his personal Shiva tattoo on his chest, and inkings of a trident and a snake — iconographic elements associated with the Lord. Shiva linga has been used in film sequences, multiple times. More recently, in an iconic scene in Baahubali: The Beginning (2015), where we’ve seen a muscular Prabhas carry the Linga on his shoulder against a thundering waterfall.
WHAT MAKES LORD SHIVA CLICK
Ajay had said Shivaay, which he even directed, revolves around the imperfections of the Lord and how that makes him strong. “Shiva, I feel, is the only God who connects with today’s youth. Every other God is flawless, while Shiva is the only god with humane flaws. He smokes, drinks bhang, gets wild, and when he does, kills randomly. When he realises that he has made a mistake, people can fool him, too. He is good at heart, but when he gets violent, he’s terrible. Shiva is the only God which has all the elements,” said the actor.
Director Abhishek Kapoor, who helmed Kedarnath — a film, where the Hindu temple of the Lord plays a pivotal role — said, “The film brought me closer to Him.”
A MONOLOGUE WITH THE LORD
Who can forget that imposing scene in Deewaar (1975), where Amitabh Bachchan, in his Angry Young Man avatar, enters a Shiva temple and pours his heart out to the idol. “Aaj khush toh bahut hoge tum?” is a line etched deeply in the minds of cinephiles. The same can be said about Hema Malini’s ‘guftagoo’ with the idol in Sholay (1975), where Dharmendra as Veeru, talks as Lord Shiva to Hema’s Basanti. Her repartee, “Yunki… yeh kaun bola?” is memorable. Conversations with the God is seen in Yaarana (1981), too.
CONTROVERSIES
Sometimes, elements around Shiva have landed films in trouble. Salman Khan got embroiled in a controversy when Shiva linga photos covered with wooden planks during the shooting of Dabangg 3(2019) surfaced on social media. The poster of Behen Hogi Teri (2017) infamously had featured actor Rajkummar Rao dressed as the God. Aamir Khan’s PK (2014) elicited trouble when locals objected to the shooting of a scene, where a man dressed as Shiva pulls a rickshaw with two burqa-clad women passengers. The film featured a man dressed as Shiva, too. Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ Quantico had courted a row after her role thwarts the plot after noticing a Rudraksha on a chain worn by one of the terrorists.