Interview: Aravindan

POKKUVEYIL:

POKKUVEYIL is said to be your most slow paced film.
That is right. Some shots in POKKUVEYIL are too long. What happened is that I first recorded the music and then edited the scenes accordingly. But as I was editing, I had to encounter some unforeseen practical problems, mainly recording the length of the film roll. That is why some shots remained lengthier and I could not avoid it. I wanted POKKUVEYIL to be a visual expression and manifestation of music, its many moods and variations, with an end in the past. The story was that of a sensitive young man slowly breaking up mentally. I tried to cut the film according to the notes of the music and tried to give it a structure.

I wanted POKKUVEYIL to be a visual expression and manifestation of music, its many moods and variations, with an end in the past. The story was that of a sensitive young man slowly breaking up mentally. I tried to cut the film according to the notes of the music and tried to give it a structure.

While there is a clear plot related to a young poet's psychic pre-occupations, why did you think of relating this to music and working out a structure according to that?
The film progresses in the musical structure of 1,2,3,4. 1,2,3,4…First, you see the house, then the homely Nisha, the sportsman, Joseph, who is a revolutionary and then again the house, the girl…the repetition of shots in that order. As the girl takes leave, this structure changes. The pace becomes faster. I thought this might help to bring out the life and movements of the protagonist Balu better.

The film begins and ends in the hospital where Balu is finally seen lying down in a foetus like position.
Yes that is right. The film ends on positive note with the protagonist lying down like a child in the womb. This cyclic structure of the film has been carefully and deliberately evolved.

You establish the psyche of Balu in his encounter with four other individuals.
Balu's world evolved basically from his relationships with four individuals! His father who is an idealist and a politician, his girl friend, the sportsman and the revolutionary. All of them mean a lot to him. His relationship with the family breaks with the death of his father; His girlfriend leaves him; the accident of the sportsman shakes him up deeply; and finally the revolutionary also says good-bye to him. His world crumbles and he becomes a mental wreck.

Balu wanted to go with Joseph as a political activist.
Balu does express his desire to get involved. However it is Joseph who has doubts about his ability to withstand the pressure of political involvement. Joseph promises to let him know as to when he can join him. Though Balu does not go along he feels just as intensely... It is just that he is not an extrovert, who could not jump in.

What was the kind of relationship he had with the girl?
It was a common interest in music that brought them together and not an intense emotional relationship based on love. The girl goes away to Bangalore with her father. She being the last link in his small world, he reacts to her departure very strongly and pleads with her not to go. For the first time he holds her hands and literally begs her... do not go... Later he pulls out the tape from the cassette she had presented to him. In fact from here the structure of the film changes completely. The continuity in music ends there and is used again only towards the end of the film. But here again it is a different tune - i.e. the early morning raga - Bhairavi. The music used earlier was a jugalbhandhi - the flute of Hariprasad Chourasia and the sarod of Dr. Rajiv Taranath.

There are some dream sequences of Balu in the film like the burning backwaters etc., which lend the film a more surrealistic air than symbolist one.
I do not use symbols in any of my films. I feel that symbols are not a good technique, either for cinema or for any other art form. The dreams Balu sees can be seen by anyone in Balu's state of mind. I worked out the progression of dreams only after consulting with a psychiatrist (Dr. Ramesh). A few are dreams I have seen myself, and the rest are that of my friends. I attempted to relate these to the subconscious process of the protagonist.

You shot the whole film in the twilight?
The whole event is imagined to be taking place at dusk against the setting sun. The lighting pattern is that which does not cast a shadow. It is the twilight mood.

What do you think about this film now?
I want to see this film once again. There seems to be a sustained interest in this film abroad and off and on I do get both critical and appreciative letters from people abroad. I have also received paintings in response!

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