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Articles: Literature | Chillara Devullu
- Dr. Rajeshwar Mittapalli
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Therefore, her psyche contrives the device of fainting in order to draw the attention of her father to the gravity of the situation. As the village doctor rightly diagnoses, her illness is psychological and has nothing to do with her body. She lives out much of her love in the world of imagination:
She felt that with a smile on his lips and with outstretched hands Pani was calling her. How nice would it be if she put on wings and entered that dream world and rested her head on his chest!
After experiencing a bout of jealousy for Vanaja, occasioned by Vanaja’s proximity to Pani, she realises the true relationship, both hers and Vanaja’s, with Pani. She continues to helplessly struggle within and Pani’s expulsion from the mini-castle worsens the situation. She falls seriously ill and begins to faint more often. It is only in Madras when Pani is discovered to be the son of her maternal uncle Indra Reddy (hence eminently eligible to marry her) that her illness suddenly disappears.
In all these love affairs, Pani seems to play largely a passive role. Except in the case of Tayaru, for very different reasons, he seems to be nose-led by the other women. Vanaja frequently changes her attitude towards him (he is first her lover, then brother and then prospective groom-cum-brother) and Pani accepts these mood-swings cheerfully. That it suits his purpose is a different issue. Whether he admits it or not, Vanaja is important for him to learn more about Manjari and get closeer to her. It is psychologically very interesting to note why he loves Manjari in preference to Vanaja and Tayaru. These latter two women are only too readily available.
In fact, if he so desired, he could have had Vanaja sexually satisfy him right on the first night of his stay in Reddy’s mini-castle. Being too readily available and with a tainted past at that, Tayaru and Vanaja do not seem to fascinate him. Manjari, on the other hand, has all the trappings of a romantic heroine—a virgin in mind and body, physically attractive, a sweet voice, and completely lacking in hypocrisy and experience of the world. By virtue of all these attributes Manjari seems to hold great attraction for Pani and he falls headlong in love with her. But he lacks the courage and will power to bring his love to fruition. It takes very unconvincing turn of events, including his being discovered as the son of Manjari’s maternal uncle, for their love to come to a successful conclusion.
Chillara Devullu is not all about exploitation, violence, injustice and love. It is also about arts, aesthetics, beauty and celebration of life as well. It is Pani’s musical accomplishments which bring him to the village in the first place. For all his cruelty and scheming, Reddy has a highly developed aesthetic sense. The coloured glass vessels symbolise his love for all things beautiful. The central hall in his mini-castle is tastefully decorated with chandeliers, life size pictures of characters from the Puranas, Ravi Varma’s paintings depicting Shakuntala writing a love letter to Dushyanta and Vishwamitra about to desert Menaka.
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