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Real on reel
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"Action films are meant to kill time. They do not make you think. But, my effort is to make the audience face reality."
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ADOOR GOPALAKRISHNAN does not hide his feelings on the criticism that his films are made for foreign audiences first and only then for Kerala's viewers. "The chastity of a film is not lost if it is premiered abroad first," comes the reply with discernible dismay over what he considers a misplaced opinion.
"My latest film (Nizhalkuthu) is running for the fourth successive week in Kerala. I do not know why such opinions are expressed when my films are accepted back home also," the celebrity director said during an interface with the students of the CMS Institute of Management Studies, as part of their residential personality development programme, "Awakening 2003".
Down-to-earth as the themes of his films, Gopalakrishnan finds no reason to conceal his resentment and indulge in sophisticated glossing over of the criticism.
In fact, he begins what could be termed a defence of his genre of films, by asserting there is nothing called "art cinema".
He disagrees with the view that art films (or parallel cinema) and mainstream cinema are two different entities.
The point he was driving home is that the discerning audience will appreciate films that totally reflect reality. He asked the students "How many of you have seen my films". A few hands rise. "Oh! There are at least four to five". A pointer to the notion his films do not belong to the popular section?
Not quite, according to him. "A lot of youngsters called me to appreciate my films, even the latest one. I received reports that a lot of youth are flocking the theatre where Nizhalkuthu is screened."
He points out that the youth are underestimated. "We presume our youth lack sensitivity. Our judgment is wrong. Actually, we are not giving them enough material to exercise their sensitivity."
Adoor, as he is popularly known in Kerala, and probably elsewhere too, concedes that at present the success rate of a film is more if it is far removed from reality.
"Action films are meant to kill time. They do not make you think.
"And, the audience also does not want to think. Makers of such fare may be right in their approach.
"But, my effort is to make the audience face reality. For this, the character must have life."
To a student who asked whether he would shoot commercial films, he replied, "I am not a businessman. I am an artiste who believes in sensitive portrayal. I do not believe in compromising on art for the sake of crowd pulling. At the same time I do not sermonise. I do not want my audience to suffer my films and I try to entertain them at a very deep level."
For long, the strong themes in the mainstream Malayalam cinema were very similar to the ones in parallel section. The dividing line is thicker now what with more of slapstick and action flicks.
It is time for introspection? "There will not be any introspection now. Films of these genres are doing well at the box office now. When the streak of success ends, there will be introspection."
A pithy reply that suggests crass commercial fare may not be able to sustain viewer interest for long.
Referring to the script and character being tailored to suit the artiste, he says it will end up creating only a "masala" fare.
Adoor is critical of the shift in the outlook of the larger Malayalee audience. Earlier, tragedies were a hit. Now, Malayalam films with tragic endings are rejected. However, the same audience prefers tragedy on the television. The Malayalee audience is now Janus faced. They want to laugh in the theatres and cry at home, when the vice-versa should be happening, he says.
Are films portraying reality tarnishing the country's image abroad? "Are not the riots tarnishing India's image enough. Feel sorry for the evils persisting in society rather than their being captured on screen."
"Foreigners are not interested in the poverty in India. And, my effort is not to portray anything negative about my country or the people."
To persistent queries from a knowledgeable group of students on the world premiering of his films, he says, "I compete with the best in the world. So why should not my films be world premiered first? Malayalees back home should be proud of it. There is no need to restrict my films to Kerala."
Does he make a conscious effort to showcase Kerala? "My films show Kerala, not as a peripheral existence but as a deeply-felt experience; sometimes in anguish, sometimes in anger".
K V PRASAD
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