No resting on his laurels
PREMA MANMADHAN
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Director Kamal is writing his next script, in which Dileep will be the lead character.
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We cut a few scenes and songs, got it re-certified by the Censor Board and sent it for the awards.
DIRECTOR'S SPECIAL: Kamal.
Basking in the success of two of his latest films, director Kamal is not content to sit back and relax. He is into his next project and shaping the script at home, at Kodungalloor.
"The hero is Dileep and shooting will start in October. It's a youth-oriented movie and portrays the happenings during a train yatra from Delhi. Shooting will begin in October," he says. The story and script is also Kamal's this time. Kamal prefers to live in rural Kodungalloor where the muse visits him, unlike several other writers who stay in secluded places or hotels to write scripts. Neither has he shifted base to a city to have a better network. He is comfortable in his village home, choosing to go to the locations and labs from where he lives.
Accolades
`Perumazhakkalam' was a movie that rained awards, national and State. It got the national award for the best film on social issues such as prohibition, women and child welfare. This movie has a special distinction in that both its heroines got best actress awards from different bodies, the credit for which goes to the director. Both Kavya and Meera Jasmine has plum roles, Meera with more footage and Kavya, with a role that had a lot of character support. The women oriented movie did not have a conventional hero, which was a bold move in the hero-oriented cinema industry.
`Perumazhakkalam' did indeed create a storm this monsoon season, at the recent State awards, when juror Sreekumaran Thampi commented that some of the songs were cut in the print sent to the jury. Songs are no longer an aberration in today's world, he had said. The award for the best composer went to M. Jayachandran, for the music of `Perumazhakkalam' and `Akale.' The lyricist and singers of the songs, which were cut, did not feature among the contestants, then. Naturally, this must have caused some heartburn. They felt they were unfairly denied an opportunity.
`Not deliberate'
"It was not deliberate. We cut a few scenes and songs, got it re-certified by the Censor Board and sent it for the awards. It is done so that the film is more compact. For the commercial release, we had more songs for a lot of commercial elements were woven into the story. This is a practice that is prevalent in the cinema world, and it was done in good faith," Kamal explains.
`Rappakal,' his 35th film, now running in theatres, is special for Kamal as Sharada, whom he admired as a kid acts in it.
"To be able to work with her is something I cherish. It was made in 42 days at Ottappalam. The set was more like a happy household and the movie invokes nostalgia in all Malayalis," he says.
It deals with a huge extended family gathering in the ancestral house, when problems of modern life turn several lives topsy turvy. After making fun-filled movies like `Niram' (of romantic love) and `Nammal,' (love between friends) people began to see Kamal as a director of campus movies. Romance is his forte, no doubt, but he deals with several other subjects too, as he insists.
"But these are the only two campus movies I made. I make sure that I do a totally different subject after one film usually. For instance, `Rappakal' is a story about a big family, about roots, while `Perumazhakkalam' was a movie about two women who faced opposing situations, a different ambience," he says.
Of `Manjupoloru Penkutty,' which did not do very well, he says that society was not yet ready for such a story that highlighted social aberrations like incest. But Lalu Alex won a State award for the supporting character he portrayed in it. So did the dubbing artiste, Meera Krishnan. It was a totally different story, but our society did not feel comfortable with such a subject.
On the other hand, he says that `Meghamalhar,' which depicted the romance between two married persons, was accepted by the audience. Why? "Because there was a bit of hypocrisy involved. When they found that they were falling in love, they cut the relationship and that was something that our society approved of," Kamal laughs. Had they gone on with the relationship, the film might have clicked.
Kamal started out 19 years ago with his first independent venture, `Mizhineer Pookkal.' His gurus were P.N. Menon, K.S. Sethumadhavan and Bharathan, all celebrated via media directors who combined entertainment and cinematic values with a magic hand.
These schools he learnt at were the best in mainstream cinema with the right combination of cinematic and entertainment values, aimed at more than modest collections at the box office.
Kamal now takes on the dual responsibility of MACTA general secretary and movie director.
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