The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Adoor's film plays to packed audience at festival

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 21, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Adoor's film plays to packed audience at festival

By Sudhish Kamath

CHENNAI, DEC. 20. When he agreed to screen his film at the second Chennai International Film Festival, Adoor Gopalakrishnan was hoping that few people would turn up. Reason: The acclaimed filmmaker is planning to release his Malayalam-Tamil bilingual `Nizhal Kuthu' (Shadow Kill) in the city. But the hall was packed on Sunday, when the film played at the festival.

The festival has a Retrospective section that will feature six of his films — `Nizhal Kuthu,' `Anantaram,' `Mathilugal,' `Vidheyan,' `Mukha Mukham' and `Kathapurusham.'

Day three of the festival started ahead of schedule, with Adoor Gopalakrishnan introducing his film. "The title is borrowed from the Mahabharatha ... where the Pandavas were sought to be killed by sorcery," he said.

In one episode, Duryodhana, hires a sorcerer to kill the Pandavas. The sorcerer creates five images of the opponent, kills the images one by one, and finally the original falls dead. The indirect killing is called `Shadow Kill.'

"The film is about perceptions and experience from everyday encounters. We develop a concern by developing empathy for people. It is perceived that executioners are people who have no love. The perception of reality can be very wrong. The effort is to make you live the experience," the director said.

The veteran actor, Oduvil Unnikrishnan, plays the hangman who is summoned by the Maharaja of Travancore in the 1940s and Sukumari plays his wife. The film is written, directed and produced by Adoor Gopalakrishnan.

The film was received with thunderous applause and generated discussion on capital punishment and the plight of hangmen. For film students, it was education from the master himself.

`Vidheyan' will be screened on Tuesday at 10.30 a.m. and `Mukha Mukham' at 4.30 p.m. on Wednesday at Little Anand.

The Bolivian director, Marcos Loaza, accompanied by his producer, made a brief appearance at the festival on the eve of the screening of his film `El Corazon De Jesus' (The Heart of Jesus) on Sunday. The film is about Jesus, a corrupt government official, whose life changes after a heart attack when he checks himself into a hospital treating terminally ill patients, to claim insurance. "What looks like the beginning of a paid vacation soon turns into the most important campaign of his existence: to give courage to the terminally ill."

Later, Taieb Louhichi, the director of the Tunisian film, `Dance of the Wind' interacted with the audience.

With the National Film Development Corporation's `Five by Four' directed by Roopa Swaminathan and Bala's `Pithamagan' also lined up for Sunday, it was a tough choice for movie buffs.

"I cannot believe I am sharing the day with Bala and Adoor, people I respect so much," said the debutant director, Roopa, currently away in Pune.

`Shwaas' a hit

On Monday afternoon, the film on which India has pinned her hopes for the Oscars, `Shwaas,' directed by Sandeep Sawant, wooed the audiences. The poignant tale of a seven-year old boy on the verge of a surgery in which he will lose his eyesight forever, left the crowd with moist eyes. The film was greeted with applause.

Movie buffs can look forward to Krzysztof Kieslowski's `Camara Buff' at 12.30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Film Chamber. The 1943 French classic, `Children of Paradise' directed by Marcel Carne is on at 7.30 p.m. on Wednesday at Little Anand. Films to be screened at the Anand theatre complex include Sekher Kammula's `Anand' (Tuesday, 11.30 a.m); Janaki Viswanathan's `Kanavu Meippada Vendum' (Tuesday, 4.30 p.m.) and Sumathi Ram's `Vishwa Thulasi' (Wednesday, 10.30 a.m).

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