Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Style and substance
|
Balu Mahendra loves filming movies that are close to life
|
The film industry is a big jungle and all the birds will have to make their own noises
PHOTO: K. ANANTHAN
The creator.
Athu Oru Kanaa Kaalam was not a run-of-the-mill movie. A tale of a youth who falls in love with his maid and ends up in a prison for an accidental crime, it was critically acclaimed but failed to keep the cash registers ringing. The same happened to his previous film, Julie Ganapathy, in which Saritha played a person with maniacal obsession.
Educating audiences
Balu Mahendra is one of the few filmmakers in Tamil who believes in telling a story visually.
Has he failed to change with the times?
"Many ask me this. The change has to take place within and when it happens, my moviemaking will also change. I try to be very honest with my subjects and retain viewers in my own way. I want to make films that will improve audience aesthetics and sensibility. Style and substance have to be there," says the film director, who was in town recently to participate in Contagion, a festival of short films organised by the Dr. GRD College of Science.
Film appreciation, he says, should begin in schools. "People will have to be taught to look at films. You will have to create an audience and give them a better film."
Asked about the slow pace of Athu... , he says that there is nothing called a slow or a fast movie. "Each script has its own speed. Because the general public is brainwashed with the artificial speed of concocted stories they are not able to keep pace with the speed of normal stories. You can speed it up only when the script demands it. I believe in visuals and that's my way of filmmaking. Only when I'm unable to make a point visually do I get the help of sound," he adds.
Classic films
He rates Athu... along with his classics like Moonram Pirai, Moodu Pani and Marupadiyum and films of that calibre made for the mainstream market. "I'm quite happy about the film about many aspects of the film — scripting, performances, camera work and editing. A reasonably satisfying movie."
This filmmaker draws inspiration from stories close to life. "Most of the time, it is within me. Next, from people near me. Then, I look outside. I like to tell what I have felt and experienced."
True to life
SATISFYING ATTEMPT Athu Oru Kanaa Kaalam.
He adds that when the audience is able to relate to stories, they react positively.
"My films are based on life and relationships. For instance, Marupadiyum (starring Revathy, Rohini and Nizhalgal Ravi) that dealt with `two women and one-man relationship' is close to many people and dangerously close to my personal life. With such stories, I know the material ... every fibre of it ... so I get into it a very detailed way."
Any upcoming projects? "I have started working on an idea. Hopefully, I should start shooting this March."
Women have always come out strongly in his films. But, he says he can't make a rule like that always.
"I would like to have an open mind and be dictated by the script."
Does he want to be identified as a trendsetter? "I refuse to fall into any image slot. I made Azhiyadha Kolangal and then went on to make Moonram Pirai and Moodu Pani. Later, I made Veedu and Sandhya Raagam, which have nothing to do with any of those films. I made Sathi Leelavathi, a runaway comedy, when nobody expected it from me."
Space for everyone
On the future of Tamil cinema, he says: "The film industry is a big jungle and all the birds will have to make their own noises."
His list of favourites actors? Sridevi, Archana, Mounika and Poornima Bagyaraj.
"All of them have the talent and I got the opportunity to get the best out of them."
K. JESHI
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
|
