interview: g aravindan UTTARAYANAM (Throne of Capricorn) I would like to ask some questions specifically about each of your works. We did have some discussion generally on form and content. You had already stated that you don't have a formalistic approach to film making. Therefore if I ask you about why you used a particular colour in a particular shot or why you edited a shot in that particular way, I suppose it may not be relevant. Yes, you are right. I don't think, one can attribute any given meaning to a form. e.g. to say that a given colour in a given shot and situation means specifically a meaning, a value, is irrelevant. If the colour red means, blood, danger and revolution that will remind us only of Velichappadu. According to belief, within the sun's cycle, the best movement of the sun is uttarayanam - which is the time the sun moves to the north. Symbolically this becomes Ravi's own uttarayanam i.e.-a journey or movement into the forest - where he finds his peace/reconciliation. The central theme (issue) of your first film UTTARAYANAM is unemployment, as also reminiscences of some people who took active part in the independence movement. What was your approach to the very contemporary issues dealt with in the film? The scriptwriter Thikkodyian is a person very committed to social and political issues. He has been active in the 'movement' too. But I don't believe that one can fulfil one's social commitment by shooting a film, I do not think that with one film we are going to change society or influence the thinking of the people much. What I am arriving at is, that the subject, the content of a film is not central. The superficial sentiments expressed through the theme cannot really influence the people. What goes into the human mind is the subtleties and it is that which ticks. In the last scene of the film, Ravi (the main character) goes to the forest, where he meets with an old woman. This character seems to have transformed Ravi so much that he removes his mask and throws it into the fire. I had conceived the character Ravi as a person who was unsure about returning from the forest - this is evident at the point when he stands at the entrance to the forest thinking about what to do. Later he meets with the elderly woman and they understand each other, perfectly. Here the quality of innocence predominates for it is there (in the film) that Ravi smiles for the first time. This is because he could spontaneously respond to the smile of the old lady with whom he could identify his own state of being. In our context, fire is purifying: Throwing the mask into the fire where the old woman was warming herself was an act of purification, on which note I ended my film. I do not think it will be relevant to ask what he will do after the purification! What I would like to ask though is that, inspite of your emphasis on Indian tradition, you have not become ritualistic. Kurosawa for instance is a film maker who carves out characters from the Samurai tradition and the treatment of the characters e.g. the way they move, talk, draw their swords etc. are very ritualistic, shorn of any flexibility. In comparison, your treatment of tradition is neither religious nor ritualistic. Can we call it humanistic or romantic? Since Kurosawa was born in a Samurai family, their movements and rituals are in his blood. But every ritual has its rigidity; each act has its signs and codes. This does not go with my concept of cinema. Flexibility is of utmost importance to me. In this film you have also brought in political activists, a group of extremists and a master who can be called Gandhian. They were characters from real life. The extremist Achu, in UTHARAYANAM is Kunjiraman Kidavu, who has been involved in the Pizhalur bombing case. Kelappan, the father of Kunjiraman was a Gandhian. Kunjiraman was there with us for the entire shooting. We shot those sequences with a lot of real ism, with a great deal of accuracy. There is not even one element of fiction. While the form in its totality is of course fictitious, these kinds of details are an actual documentation. Why we have done this, I don't exactly know. It is just that I felt one need not necessarily fictionalise and dramatise such social events. While Kunjiraman was an extremist and his father a Gandhian, they had respect and love for each other. There was no enmity and disrespect as you see today. This respect and love for each other I have maintained in the film as well. The scriptwriter had a close association with the people and the actual events. We spoke earlier of your experience and perceptions as a cartoonist. How has this experience specifically been reflected in UTHARAYANAM? Some influences are there in the characterisations. The main characters in UTTARAYANAM are an unemployed youngster (Ravi) and an idealist, the 'Master'. 'Cheriya Manushyarun Valiya Lokaum' also carried two such characters (Ramu and Guruji). While I think there is some relationship between the two, it is not deliberate. I simply could not get out of the influence of years of cartooning. However these characters were an integral part of the original script- in which there was this explosive dramatic situation, where the son was about to kill the father. Thikkodyian (the script writer) being a playwright himself let the theatre elements prevail in the script. I removed these elements, and made the film more visual. The film proceeds on the plane of realistic narration till the very end when it moves into the world of mysticism. I have tried to give a logical progression towards this end, which is not a sudden development. Earlier Ravi meets a European Sanyasi. Think of the scene of him leaving home - his mother is crying, he has set off without even saying good bye to her; this is not just a trip - it is the 'movement'. This kind of leaving home and getting involved in movements are a common occurrence in our culture. There are many scenes before that, in the film where Ravi says farewell. Hence there was already a suggestion of what was to come. Is the title UTTARAYANAM connected to the sun? Yes, according to belief, within the sun's cycle, the best movement of the sun is uttarayanam - which is the time the sun moves to the north. Symbolically this becomes Ravi's own uttarayanam i.e.-a journey or movement into the forest - where he finds his peace/reconciliation. | Previous Page | Next Page | | Home | Mail | | History of Indian Cinema | Indian Parallel Cinema | History of Malayalam Cinema | | Malayalam Parallel Cinema | Malayalam Middle-Stream Cinema | | Malayalam Cinema Database |