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‘Cinema limits freedom of viewers’

Staff Reporter

Fiery opinions voiced at an open forum conducted as part for the Rasmi International Film Festival

Cinematic views: Filmmaker Shyamaprasad interacts with the audience at an open forum as part of the Rasmi International Film Festival in Malappuram.

MALAPPURAM: Cinema as a medium never gives its viewers as much freedom of imagination and interpretation as a literary work gives its readers. Rather than allowing the viewer to interpret according to his or her imagination, cinema limits the meaning to what its director sees or wants to convey, said poet Manamboor Rajanbabu, summing up an open forum held as part of the Rasmi International Film Festival here on Sunday.

The discussion on ‘Film and literature’ drew a good audience to the courtyard of Naveen Theatre, where the week-long festival is on.

Independent art form

Opening the discussion, Kerala State Chalachitra Akademi chairman K.R. Mohanan said the trend of making films based on good literary works was on the decline. He said cinema’s dependence on literature had become minimal today as it was being widely viewed as an independent art form.

He said literature and cinema had an inseparable link, with the latter giving permanence and more popularity to literary works among the middle class. Indian cinema was more strongly linked to music than to literature, he said.

Prem Chand, editor in-charge of the Chitrabhoomi film weekly, said even established filmmakers such as Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Aravindan used to turn to well-known works of literature to get wider public appreciation.

“Even our public education system underscores the belief that printed literature is sublime and unprinted base,” Mr. Prem Chand said.

It was those with colonial education who decided what was literature and what was not, he said.

Shibu Mohammed, film critic, said the present generation was trying in vain to free itself of the shackles of established literature. He said film as a medium should explore its visual possibilities to the maximum rather than depend on literature. “Even Adoor’s films are shortstories and novels written with the camera,” he said.

Jyoti Prakash, documentary maker, said all literature-based films except ‘Chemmeen’ in Malayalam had failed to rise above their original works.

“Over 90 per cent of films are today made with stories written exclusively for cinema. That’s why we have screenplays as books,” he said.

No mass appreciation

Filmmaker Shyamaprasad said film appreciation had become an individual rather than a group effort.

Mr. Shyamaprasad blamed the changes on the technological front for the lack of mass appreciation.

A film director is not bound to do justice to the author of a work on which his film is based, he said.

The open forum followed the screening of ‘Monsoon Wedding’ by Meera Nair, ‘Ore Kadal’ by Mr. Shyamaprasad, ‘Father’ by Majid Majidi, and ‘All About My Mother’ by Pedro Almodovar.

On Sunday, films such as ‘Saira’ by Bijukumar, ‘Teeth of Love’ by Zhuvang Yuxin, ‘Bliss’ by Abdulla Ogus, ‘AKG’ by Shaji N. Karun, and ‘Bad Education’ by Pedro Almodovar were screened.

Screenings today

The films to be screened on Monday include ‘The Wind that Shakes the Barley’ by Ken Loach, ‘At 5 in the Afternoon’ by Sameera Makhmalbaf, ‘Drishtantham’ by M.P. Sukumaran Nair, ‘Silence’ by Mohsin Makhmalbaf, and ‘Talk to Her’ by Pedro Almodovar.

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