A door opens on Adoor
There are individuals who are beyond comparison. They are masters of their respective arts. They are true to themselves and their passion. Even after more than three decades, Adoor Gopalakrishnan is making films with the same amount of zeal as was evident in his first attempt, Swayamvaram. Soft spoken, simply dressed, always wearing a smile, Gopalakrishnan is a true gentleman.
It’s been more than three decades since his first venture on the silver screen. During this period he has done only nine films. You may look at the figure as too few for a director of his status. "In the beginning it was a matter of finance and later it became a habit. After my first film I had the finance. But until I feel like making a film, I don’t even think about it," says Gopalakrishnan.
Interestingly enough, the filmmaker began his career in the theatre world. "My reason for joining Pune Film and Television Institute was theatre. I thought screenplay writing was the same as writing plays. The whole of my first year I was making good use of the institute’s library and soon I was discovering cinema. At the time, the only films I watched were those screening at half rates. It was normally the noon shows that took me to the theatre halls and it was a pleasure watching films by Guru Dutt and Bimal Roy. They were interesting films. They had songs but were quite enjoyable. I still remember a hall, Alka, where Hollywood films were screened. Here I watched Roman Holiday and Come September. Those were the days I at times watched five films a day," says the director with a hearty laugh appreciating the quality of films in days gone by.
But noon shows did not inspire him greatly to take up filmmaking. "There was a director-cum-cameraman. I remember him for his compositions of the sky, characters against the sky and clouds. Then there was Pran Mehra who gave us lectures in editing. They interested me a lot." Gopalakrishnan considers his student-day plays to be immature and says sometime back he was approached by an individual asking him permission for adaptation. It was refused.
"When you are trained in filmmaking you learn your craft. But this does not mean the institute will tell you where to place the cameras. Once you are taught the basic principles, you are on your own. Today, youngsters have more access to technology. They have better infrastructure. When I was at the institute, I did not even know how to operate a still camera." He goes on to narrate how his teacher asked the entire class to take one photograph each and how he chose a pond behind the institute, with tall trees as backdrop, which turned out to be an "interesting" shot.
He feels South Indian directors are making a name for themselves. "Kerala was never on the map. It was either Mumbai or Kolkata. And many consider Indian cinema to encompass only Hindi films. This is wrong. Cinema from all quarters of the country constitute the industry. There is nothing called regional films. It’s a dirty trick. Can you call Satyajit Ray or Mrinal Sen regional filmmakers? The best of Hindi cinema can be regional! One has to have self respect. I raised this issue long back."
Experiences are the best friends of Gopalakrishnan. Much of them enter his films. "An author of a literary work places himself in the book. You can’t create anything outside yourself. But I’m very latent in the films. For example, in Nizhalkkuthu the hangman should not be persecuted. You cannot hate him or love him. But you cannot help but feel for him. It was a practice in Kerala and Travancore that when a hangman was about to go ahead with an execution, the king’s messenger would set off and reach a little too late. By then the execution have had taken place but the hangman would be given the news that the king has pardoned the dead prisoner, thus relieving him (king) of his guilt of killing someone. I had heard this tale in school. Once a newspaper carried a report on a hangman who was in utter poverty. I had kept the clipping for future use. After the hangman died there was another news in the paper. I was soon fascinated by the aspect of human predicament. And the film resulted." The title of the film means killing a person by killing his shadow. "Your image stands for yourself. You kill it and you’re nobody. Media does it often. They over the years build reputations and with a single stroke, kill it."
Often Gopalakrishnan is compared with Satyajit Ray. "Comparison is not good. Ray is a hallmark of reality. My films are different. And I respect Ray as much as I respect Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen."
Another aspect of Gopalakrishnan that is not often highlighted is his interest in making documentaries. "At present I am working on Mohiniyattam. I have finished shooting. After editing it will come to 70-80 minutes. At present, I am not thinking of films, for I love to complete one thing at a time. I need to focus. Filmmaking is not an easy job."
Behind the recent retrospective of films by the legendary director was Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre. "Further, Seagull is planning to come up with a volume of Gopalakrishnan’s writings from three of his books — The World of Cinemas, Cinema, Literature and Life, and Expressions of Cinema. It will be out next year."
It’s been more than three decades since his first venture on the silver screen. During this period he has done only nine films. You may look at the figure as too few for a director of his status. "In the beginning it was a matter of finance and later it became a habit. After my first film I had the finance. But until I feel like making a film, I don’t even think about it," says Gopalakrishnan.
Interestingly enough, the filmmaker began his career in the theatre world. "My reason for joining Pune Film and Television Institute was theatre. I thought screenplay writing was the same as writing plays. The whole of my first year I was making good use of the institute’s library and soon I was discovering cinema. At the time, the only films I watched were those screening at half rates. It was normally the noon shows that took me to the theatre halls and it was a pleasure watching films by Guru Dutt and Bimal Roy. They were interesting films. They had songs but were quite enjoyable. I still remember a hall, Alka, where Hollywood films were screened. Here I watched Roman Holiday and Come September. Those were the days I at times watched five films a day," says the director with a hearty laugh appreciating the quality of films in days gone by.
But noon shows did not inspire him greatly to take up filmmaking. "There was a director-cum-cameraman. I remember him for his compositions of the sky, characters against the sky and clouds. Then there was Pran Mehra who gave us lectures in editing. They interested me a lot." Gopalakrishnan considers his student-day plays to be immature and says sometime back he was approached by an individual asking him permission for adaptation. It was refused.
"When you are trained in filmmaking you learn your craft. But this does not mean the institute will tell you where to place the cameras. Once you are taught the basic principles, you are on your own. Today, youngsters have more access to technology. They have better infrastructure. When I was at the institute, I did not even know how to operate a still camera." He goes on to narrate how his teacher asked the entire class to take one photograph each and how he chose a pond behind the institute, with tall trees as backdrop, which turned out to be an "interesting" shot.
He feels South Indian directors are making a name for themselves. "Kerala was never on the map. It was either Mumbai or Kolkata. And many consider Indian cinema to encompass only Hindi films. This is wrong. Cinema from all quarters of the country constitute the industry. There is nothing called regional films. It’s a dirty trick. Can you call Satyajit Ray or Mrinal Sen regional filmmakers? The best of Hindi cinema can be regional! One has to have self respect. I raised this issue long back."
Experiences are the best friends of Gopalakrishnan. Much of them enter his films. "An author of a literary work places himself in the book. You can’t create anything outside yourself. But I’m very latent in the films. For example, in Nizhalkkuthu the hangman should not be persecuted. You cannot hate him or love him. But you cannot help but feel for him. It was a practice in Kerala and Travancore that when a hangman was about to go ahead with an execution, the king’s messenger would set off and reach a little too late. By then the execution have had taken place but the hangman would be given the news that the king has pardoned the dead prisoner, thus relieving him (king) of his guilt of killing someone. I had heard this tale in school. Once a newspaper carried a report on a hangman who was in utter poverty. I had kept the clipping for future use. After the hangman died there was another news in the paper. I was soon fascinated by the aspect of human predicament. And the film resulted." The title of the film means killing a person by killing his shadow. "Your image stands for yourself. You kill it and you’re nobody. Media does it often. They over the years build reputations and with a single stroke, kill it."
Often Gopalakrishnan is compared with Satyajit Ray. "Comparison is not good. Ray is a hallmark of reality. My films are different. And I respect Ray as much as I respect Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen."
Another aspect of Gopalakrishnan that is not often highlighted is his interest in making documentaries. "At present I am working on Mohiniyattam. I have finished shooting. After editing it will come to 70-80 minutes. At present, I am not thinking of films, for I love to complete one thing at a time. I need to focus. Filmmaking is not an easy job."
Behind the recent retrospective of films by the legendary director was Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre. "Further, Seagull is planning to come up with a volume of Gopalakrishnan’s writings from three of his books — The World of Cinemas, Cinema, Literature and Life, and Expressions of Cinema. It will be out next year."
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