M.P.Sukumaran Nair

M P Sukumaran Nair started his career as the assistant of renowned filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan. His major works are Aparahnam, Kazhakam, and Sayanam, which were critically acclaimed and won several State awards.

Selected Filmography:

Aparahnam - 1990
(The Late Afternoon)

Released from prison, the ex-Naxalite Nandakumar remains a suspect and is unable to settle into a job. He refuses advices to emigrate to the Gulf. He suffers harassment from both police and from his erstwhile comrades. During the emergency in the mid 70s, he is imprisoned again. In the end, all that remains for him is the memories of his days as a radical.

Direction & Screenplay: M P Sukumaran Nair
Cast: Babu Anthony, Jalaja, Kaviyoor Ponamma, Babu Namboodiri
Cinematography: Ashwini Kaul
Music: Jerry Amaldev

Kazhakam - 1995
(Temple Service)

After the death of her husband and son, Radha becomes unbalanced with grief and starts living with her mother. They derive something from the pilgrims of a local temple for their living. When the teacher Nandini arrives to visit the temple with her young son Kannan, the distraught Radha latches on the son imagining him to be Krishna. When Kannan falls ill and dies, Radha's delusional mania, the only source available to her in an impossibly constricted and oppressed situation, overwhelms her.

Kazhakam won the state award for best film.

Direction & Co-screenplay: M P Sukumaran Nair
Co-screenplay: M Sukumaran
Cast: Urvashi, Nedumudi Venu, P C Soman, Valsala Menon, Ravi Vallathol, Kukku Parameshwaran
Cinematography: Ashwini Kaul
Music: Jerry Amaldev

Sayanam - 2000
(The Sleep)

The village church expands its graveyard by taking over the adjoining land, which had been used to cremate those it had excommunicated or who met with unnatural death. As the work progresses, the workers find that one of the coffins, containing Thoma's body, cremated a year ago, remains unsullied. The church decides to bury him once again, with full religious honours, but his wives are not contented. They want him to be canonized. The church committee meets and assesses his life on the basis of the Ten Commandments. Confusion prevails. Different versions of his life, especially those narrated by his wife senior and another woman, turn the proceeding upside down. Adding to the confusion, his senior wife claims that she can work miracles. His coffin becomes a wonder for the crowd, a burden for the authorities and a treasure for his wives. Finally, it rains. It rains for days and weeks and months. And there is deluge that would swallow all.

Direction & Screenplay: M P Sukumaran Nair
Cast: Babu Antony, Kalpana, Babu Namboodiri, Indrans
Cinematography: K U Mohanan
Editing: B Ajith Kumar
Music: Jery Amaldev

Drishtantham - 2006
(Paradigm)

Drishtantham represents the desperate turns in the destiny of alien communities in interior Kerala, trapped between dying traditions and emerging new orders of the world. The representation depicts through narrating the story of a family engaged in the ritualistic performance called 'Theeyatt', which is based on the puranic leged of Kali-Darika combat.

Lord Siva creates a ferocious force in the form of a female called Kali (Durga) to annihilate the Demon King Darika who acquired a boon from Lord Brahma that he cannot be killed by any male. Kali took over the mission and killed Darika. This story is enacted in the temple art form, Mudiyettu. After killing Darika, Kali becomes violent and Gods send a group of dancers to calm her down. This is performed in another art form, Padayani. In Theeyattu, Kali narrates her heroic deed of slaying Darika to her creator Lord Siva. The right to perform this ritual rests with a division of Brahmin community known as Unnis or Theeyattunnis.

Myth and reality becomes one at least for Vasunni, the senior member, and deepen the misery of his family.

Direction & Screenplay: M P Sukumaran Nair
Cast: Murali, Indrans, Margi Sathi, Rathya, Jijoyi
Cinematography: K G Jayan
Editing: B Ajithkumar

| Home | Mail |