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Different perspective

Gopi Mangalath, who is making a series of documentaries called `Pathukoottam,' tells Shilpa Nair Anand about his films

FOR POSTERITY Scene from Gopi Mangalath's `Natanam'

Gopi Mangalath likes doing things slightly differently. When he approached a publisher to get a story published he was asked what was special about his work and was given some friendly advice "to go to some other publication." And not just that, his book had to have a USP. He carried the `advice' with him in his heart and taking it up as a challenge he brought out his stories in 1-inch books and entered the Limca Book of Records.

"The books have sold around 30,000 copies," says Gopi.

Although he has compiled the history of the Malayalam film industry on a film roll, brought out a thumb-sized compilation of poems and short stories in the `mini' or rather tiny format, his interests extend beyond all things mini.

He is currently preoccupied with the completion of his series of 10 documentary films, `Pathukoottam.' He also hopes to preserve some of the beliefs and indigenous systems that are at risk of becoming lost. And that is what has driven him to can the first five documentaries in the series. He's doing research for the next two. Each subject has been dealt with in a unique manner. The five documentaries that are ready are - `Devam,' `Chaandram,' `Face,' `Marukai' and `Natanam'.

On M.V. Devan

`Devam' is based on the life of artist M.V. Devan; seen through the eyes of the artist and narrated by him. "During the course of the documentary film on Devan Master, we deliberately chose to steer clear of the usual manner of making a docu-film. We had Devan master tell his story, as he goes through each day ," says Gopi.

The third film in the series, `Face' uses another innovative technique: the faces tell the story of Father Abraham who runs a home for the destitute and the abandoned, `Devadaan' at Pala. The camera zooms in on the faces of the destitutes living in the home. Each face wears an expression worth a million words and in the background Father Abraham narrates the story.

The aim behind documenting the lives of artistes such as Devan is to "preserve what they are in their own words for posterity. Usually what happens is that once these people are gone, people propagate all kinds of lies about them to suit their convenience, claim closeness and familiarity with these people. Why let that happen? Let posterity find out for itself," feels Gopi.

The second documentary is `Chaandram.' The film shows K.C. Chandran of Thripunithara who makes amulets and charms, navaratna charms besides specific sculptures for temples. This documentary film is not so much about Chandran but more about his work.

"The documentary shows Chandran and his family at work. But it is more about the elaborate belief system in amulets and charms," says Gopi. Another film in the series `Marukai' deals with black magic and spells.

Gopi has spent time and effort making these films, but the documentary format throws up a few problems.

Scene from `Chaandram'

"Unlike a film, a documentary cannot be subjected to tight editing. The duration then becomes a problem. It would be unfair and impossible to edit the three-hour `Devam' into a half-an-hour film. Television channels have approached me, and some of them have shown portions of my documentaries. Another problem is that these have been shot digitally so transmitting would also be a problem."

Natanam

The fifth film in the series `Natanam' is recorded through the mudras of dancer Jolly Mathew, who has adapted Job's story as a Mohiniyattom piece. But more than being about Jolly Mathew, the focus of the documentary is Bharathmuni's `Natyasasthram' and technical aspects that comprises dance forms.

Home remedies

`Moolam' (`Haritam') and `Shesham' are the next two documentaries that Gopi is working on.

`Moolam' is about herbs and plants that are used as home remedies by grandmothers and `Shesham' is about what Gopi calls "inane beliefs" such as not leaving the house if a lizard makes a noise or if a crow crows from a particular direction.

Gopi feels no compulsion to rush through the docu-films he is making.

"I am taking things at my pace, why rush through things?" he asks. Why indeed when one is doing what is close to one's heart.

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