Reflecting Adoor's craft on film
R. MADHAVAN NAIR
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A documentary on Adoor Gopalakrishnan highlights his work as a documentary filmmaker.
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The director, Pradeep Kaniyadi, points out that the film will throw light on Adoor's brilliance.
MAESTROS AT WORK: Adoor Gopalakrishnan shooting a documentary on Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair.
A film within a film is what Auriga Multimedia has attempted in `Directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan.' The title is self-explanatory - it is a documentary that focusses on Adoor Gopalakrishnan as a documentary filmmaker.
Adoor on the sets
And what better way to shoot such a documentary than catching the Phalke Award winner in action as he shoots a documentary on Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair. The documentary film, shot as a project by the students of a multimedia course conducted by Auriga Multimedia, brings out in graphic detail Adoor Gopalakrishnan's craftsmanship that makes him a master of his genre. The film has two principal characters, both masters of their genre - one a master filmmaker and the other a Kathakali maestro.
The documentary shows Adoor politely but firmly requesting Ramankutty Asan to give several takes, before okaying a shot in which the Kathakali artiste speaks of his days as a student. Adoor, like all great artistes, makes no compromises when engaged in his pursuit of perfection. It also depicts Adoor, a stickler for perfection, making the Kathakali Asan repeat a dialogue a number of times until he gets his intonation right. Ramankutty Asan admitted to the Auriga crew that as the shooting progressed, there were moments when he regretted agreeing to do the film as he found the process very strenuous and taxing.
However, by the time the film was completed, Asan was all praise for Adoor. Earlier, Asan had participated in another documentary film by Adoor. The film was on Asan's disciple Kalamandalam Gopi. "He is so systematic; he is a perfectionist," is what Asan said of Adoor once the shoot was finally over.
Said Najeeb Kuttippuram, the docu-film's executive producer: "This documentary is meant to be study material for researchers and students who are interested in the art of film-making. A filmmaker experiences an intense inner conflict right from the moment he selects the subject of his film till he completes shooting."
The Auriga team's principal aim was to capture this conflict. The director of the documentary, Pradeep Kaniyadi, says that his film will throw light on Adoor's brilliance as a maker of documentaries. Adoor has made over 25 documentaries, most of them on the traditional performing arts of Kerala. His latest is `Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair: a Maestro's Memoir.' Auriga's documentary will be screened in Ernakulam and Kozhikode..
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