NEWSMAKERS
Layers of creative depth
K.P.M. BASHEER
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Lack of money to fund his films makes no difference to the National Award winning director Priyanandanan. He continues to make the films he wants to make.
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Photo: K.K. Najeeb
Sheer grit and hard work: Priyanandanan’s looking ahead.
As we drive through the rain, tea-shops and signboards of ‘arts and sports clubs’ pass us. The narrow inner roads of Vallachira are dotted with puddles of rainwater. A little schoolgirl splashes a street dog and laughs. We stop by an old
man. “Is film director Priyanandanan’s house close-by?”
“That ‘naatakakkaaran’ Priyan?” May be, the old man is unaware that the naatakakkaaran (theatre person) recently brought the national best film award to this village. “Take a turn to the left, then right, then left, again left…”
Two rows of working class houses emerge. Priyanandanan’s house, located in one of them, has an incomplete look. “The money meant for the house was spent on ‘Neythukaaran’,” Priyan explains.
The debut
“Neythukaaran” (the weaver) was his directorial debut and won the Kerala Government’s best debut director award in 2001. Friends who had dropped in to congratulate Priyan for the national Best Film award for 2006 for his “Pulijanmam” take their leave.
Tall and frail, 42-year-old Priyan smiles easily — the no-holds-barred smile of a villager. The afterglow of the national award is still visible. The man, who left school to work in a factory at the age of 12, has made two award-winning movies in a row.
Behind the I-am-just-Priyan-of-Vallachira look, there is grit, steely nerve and hard work. Like the myth-and-reality intertwined “Pulijanmam” (A life as tiger), Priyan’s personality has layers of creative depth.
“I have acted in over 100 plays and directed dozens of others,” he says with a touch of pride. “Even now, my soul is in the theatre.” His acting prizes are stacked in the austere living room. Priyan believes his love of theatre comes from his father who was a prompter and actor as well as from his village’s fascination with the theatre.
Vallachira is known for its arts and sports festival during Onam. For three days each year, the village bursts with creative energy and thousands of people gather to watch and take part in the 42-year-old “Vallachira Onam festival”. The theatre competition is a major attraction and serious amateur plays are staged by local as well as outstation theatre troupes. In this village of 14,000 people, there are half a dozen ‘arts and sports clubs’, which double as theatre troupes during the Onam season.
Tough times
Helped by his father, Priyan made his stage debut at the age of 10. But his father, who made wooden handicrafts for a living, was struck down by tuberculosis. “I was a brilliant student, but had no option but to leave school in order to support my family.” At 12 years, he found work at a local crockery factory. When that folded up, Priyan joined a local goldsmith.
“I am a goldsmith by trade,” Priyan says. “For nearly 15 years, my main source of income was making jewellery.” Those were hard years. The work demanded precision, patience and long hours. The wages were meagre. While he worked at the goldsmith’s his mother worked in the fields. Because of the extreme poverty at home, he could not realise his dream of going back to school.
But his love of theatre kept him going. At night, he would rush for rehearsal; on weekends, he and his friends would stage plays at temple festivals in nearby villages. In between, he read drama, poetry and books on theatre. This compensated for his lack of a formal education. Priyan was a dreamer; only he backed his dreams with hard work.
Behind the camera
Acting led to directing, which triggered an interest in the language of the camera. He trained under well-known directors P.T. Kunhimohammed and K.R. Mohanan and made a few documentaries. Then came “Neythukaaran”.
When the producer backed out at the last moment, Priyan went to the people. His friends helped out too. A poet friend, who had just won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi award, put the entire award of Rs. 5000 in the film’s kitty.
“Finding money for ‘Neythukaaran’ was a real struggle; the film needed was bought on a day-to-day basis.” Only John Abraham had made a film (“Amma Ariyaan”) by raising funds from the people before. No wonder, John is Priyan’s favourite filmmaker.
To save money, Neythukaaran was shot on 16 mm film, which was later “blown up”. (The same technique was used for “Pulijanman”.) Priyan’s determination made the film possible. “Neythukaaran” went on to win the best debut director award for Priyan and the best actor award for Murali at the State and national levels.
Fortunately for Priyan, an NRI businessman, M.G. Vijay, footed the bill for “Pulijanmam”. Priyan tries to reinterpret a North Malabar myth in terms of a young couple’s current reality. “I am always fascinated by the glorious failures of individuals who work for society; they work silently, sacrifice themselves for their causes and fade away unnoticed.”
Special shows
In both “Neythukaaran” and “Pulijanmam”, he explored such individuals. Because of the ‘art film’ tag Priyan could not get his films released in theatres. But he would not be cowed. He arranged special one-time shows at small village theatres or schools and accepted the contributions offered by the audiences. “I have recovered the cost of “Neythukaaran” and I am sure “Pulijanmam” will not let my producer down.”
And, in his incomplete house, the goldsmith has already started dreaming about his next film.
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