Entries Tagged 'Interviews' ↓

The brilliant film maker Harikumar who won state award for the best director for”Sukrutham”(1995) and “Pulervettom”(2002) is now doing the script work of his new film . He was a member of the national film award jury this year. Lets go through his viewpoints regarding today’s malayalam cinema.

Q: Sir, you are well known to the Kerala film viewers as a family film maker. Your last commercial film “Paranjutheeratha Visheshangal” came after 7 years gap in 2007 (after Swayamwarapandal in 2000). How do you analyse today’s malayalam cinema?

A: For the last ten years, a lack of interest is visible among the viewers towards the movies which depict the family relationships and values due to the changes in life styles. Especially in cities, economical growth has affected the relationships too. Another fact that affected the family movies is mega serials in television. The female viewers of family movies became addicted to low standard serials, and it ultimately affected the financial success of good standard family movies. This addiction to the serials can be compared with that of the immense popularity of “M” weeklys in the 80s. But I feel this addiction to serials has diminished a little bit since the last two years.

This television penetration affected all movie industries in different periods. Hollywood was supposed to be dead in the 70s due to the over poularity of television. The same trend has repeated at Mumbai in 80s regarding the Bollywood, and it affected malayalam industry in the late 90s. As like the recovery of Hollywod and Bollywood, Malayalam cinema will also comeback. This addiction to television is temporary, just like our affection towards a newly bought fancy item. Television became a member of majority kerala families in late 90s. That affection towards the newly bought good can last for a few years. So now people prefer to go to theater only for the films which are different from the serial formulas.

As like the collapse of “M” weeklys after the 80s, (almost 20 weeklys were there) this serial trend will also fade away as it doesn’t offer anything creative or related to life.

Q: So can we expect a big comeback of a prosperous malayalam cinema age?

A: Cinema will exist forever though whatever other temporary trends come in between. Cinema is the youngest art form, as its only a century old. But take the case of drama its thousands of years old art form, and still exist here. Its only 40 years since India’s ever best film is made by Satyajith Ray. The development in technology will contribute more for cinema’s future. Changes may happen in viewing methods and screening technology, but cinema won’t go away from the viewers.

Q: Do you think the themes of today’s malayalam cinema is competable with that of Tamil, Hindi movies? Do our film makers make enough experimental films as compared to other language films?

A: I was a jury member of last national awards and happened to see around 110 films from different languages in India. There were 15 films from Malayalam, 18 from Hindi, 10 from Bengali and 12 from Tamil in the first round. Only 30 films were selected for the final round. 8 films were selected from Malayalam and only 1 film from Tamil(Paruthiveeran). 7 films were selected from Bengali. I was surprised to see that only a single film is selected from Tamil, though we all say Tamil films are more experimental. Even Paruthiveeran was also constarined to all the boundaries of a commercial films and it has all the ingredients of a commercial. If there is a chance for a film like “Pulijanmam” to be made in any other languages, its only Bengali or Marathi because their govt gives a subsidy upto 30 lakhs. A film like Madambi’s first week share is 80 lakhs but Adoor’s “Naalu Pennungal” got only 3.5 lakhs in total gross.

But in case of commercial films, there are better films in Hindi and Tamil as compared to that of malayalam. Omkara, Lage Raho Munnabhai etc are good examples. Madhur Bhandarkar’s “Traffic Signal” deserves an applause, as its a very difficult one to picturise. Such efforts are not common in Malayalam. But Tamil is not upto Hindi in that respect.

The generation came after Bharathan, Padmarajan era is not having innovative thoughts like the ancestors. Its time for a new generation of film makers to come in to revolutionise malayalm cinema. They must be able to think away from the usual pattern. Today’s film makers are just folowing the predecessors’ path only for their own benefits. Thats one of the major drawbacks of today’s mainstream cinema.

Q: How do you consider the star dominance in malayalm cinema? is it positive or negative for our industry?

A: Ya its one of the major problems that our cinema is revolving around just two super stars, and its dangerous for our industry. It can adversly affect the viewers too that they wont accept the films which don’t give importance to the superstar’s stardom. There are superstars all around the world. But our major plus point is that both of our super stars are excellent actors too, can be called the best in India. But how many of the films are utilizing their talents? Do the films which utilize their talent get accepted by today’s viewers? Even Orekadal didn’t get a good run in boxoffice. Now films which are only made according to star’s pattern are accepted( like Annan Thambi). So the major crisis of malayalam cinema is the lack of confidence in the film makers for different thoughts and contracting into two stars. At the same time different themes of other languages are accepted here. The fans associations are never for the betterment of cinema.

Q: What is your hope about the upcoming film makers and actors in malayalam?

A: There are promising talents among the young film makers and actors. But it should not be constrained to one or two people. Today’s majority of actors and directors are still from 80s. We must get a group of talents in all the fields of cinema. Then only we can dream about a bright future for our cinema.

Q: Which is your next project?

A: Now I am working on a script. Its a superstar in the lead and it will not be based on the superstardom. Planning to start the shooting by the end of this year.

Nik: Thanks a lot for your time, and my best wishes for your future projects.

I got a chance to contact Shri Madhupal recently. He allowed an interview for me. His debut directorial venture, Thalappavu starring Prithviraj, Lal & Atul Kulkarni is in the post production stage.

Q: Sir, You have worked as writer, assistant director, actor and now as director. Can you explain this transition briefly?

A: I had a taste for writing in my school days itself. But in film field, initially I got the helping hands of Jude Attipetti and worked as an assistant director with him. After that I got the chance to work with Bharath Gopi. As an assistant director, I did maximum films with Rajiv Anchal. I grew with the help of many people, moving from one person to another and learning from them. No one grows of his own. My part in Kashmeeram was that of an assistant director but circumstances made me to act in a few scenes in that film. It was quite natural for any assistant director to do a small role in a film. After Kashmeeram, I got many chances in films and majority of them were negative roles. Acting was never in my dreams. When I thought of making a film, Varghese’s story came into my mind since I admire him a lot. Babu Janardhanan has written an excellent script for the film and i think the film has shaped up well.

Q: How much relevant is Thalappavu in current context, when Nepal voted naxals to power and several states in India are struggling with naxal violence?

A: Now a days, how many people will react when they see some bad guys teasing a girl by the road side? When a man reacts to such a situation, we think that he will be from some political party or he has some strong backing. Can we call such a reaction from a common man as naxalism? If so I would like to call Jesus Christ also a naxal. In 70’s, the youth had their own politics. The members of political parties had the privilege to question even the leaders. But today, the youth is getting away from good politics, as they lose the interest. The leaders decide everything based on money and other factors.

The lead character of Thalappavu Joseph is also such a man who reacts against the evil in the society. He does his goodness for the whole society, not for an individual. That may be viewed as a sin in some others’ perspective. In such a perspective Jesus Christ must also be a naxal who reacted against the evils, hit a bad guy with whip, took awareness classes and united people in the society.

Q: Do you think the story of Varghese will make an impact on today’s youth who go behind Star Singers and big budget Hindi and Tamil films?

A: It is said that a story which a writer writes is getting written for a single reader who is somewhere in the society. But cinema is a product for the mass. I know that there are many people in the mass who have some elements of Varghese inside them and can relate themselves to him. We cannot say that a film can satisfy all the people in the society. It will get its viewers.

Q: What compromises you made in fictionalizing the story of Varghese and Ramachandran Pillai to make it appealing to the modern audience? Is it due to legal troubles, the original names were not used?

A: Of course there are changes in the respective characters. But their basic nature is kept intact. As I said earlier, the viewers will be able to identify their nature in the characters. There is nothing related to the legal issues regarding the names. Thalappavu’s lead characters are just inspired from Varghese and Ramachandran Pillai.

Q: A few fresh faces are there in the supporting cast of Thalappavu. How hard was it as a first time director to get the best out of these new actors?

A: I was very comfortable to work with the new comers. As a director I was able to handle them with ease. That may not be the case with senior actors. It was comparatively easy to mould the new comers into characters since they don’t have any established images.

Q: Some previous Prithviraj films like Vargam, Vasthavam were really good but those films didnt get enough pre-release publicity. Do you have some plans to market Thalappavu more aggressively?

A: As a director, I am ready to go for any extent to market this film. I made this movie for others to watch.

Q: How did Prithviraj perform in Thalappavu as compared to his previous ventures like Vargam and Vasthavam?

A: He is the most brilliant actor of new generation. He is so enthusiastic to observe people and to adapt any feature of them for his characters. When we thought of making Thalappavu, he was the unanimous choice. Writer Babu Janardhanan had drawn a sketch of Joseph during the scripting. It had a big resemblance with Prithviraj. He did full justice to “Joseph”.

Q: Having donned the director’s role, what part of the task do you think was most challenging - visualizing the scenes, training the actors, discussing and debating the screenplay with the scriptwriter or is it something else?

A: For a director all these tasks are challenging. I cannot say that one is more challenging and other is not. Cinema is a team effort. The entire crew have their respective roles in it.

Q: Which all directors have inspired your style of direction? Who is your favorite director?

A: Actually there are many brilliant directors who inspired me. I cannot say only some names specifically. I cannot say that my directorial style will be 100% pure. My shot selection and style will have shades of good works which I had seen in the past.

Q: If I say malayalees won’t accept new actors easily, what will be your opinion? Is it the reason our established directors like Priyadarshan, Fazil, Laljose, Siddique are planning their films in Tamil?

A: In Tamil there are around 25 established actors. Even our Prithviraj and Narain got enough market there. If Shivaji and Pokkiri are hits there, the same audience is ready to accept films like Paruthiveeran, Mozhi etc also.

Malayalee audience are still worshiping the big stars. I know many people who say Mohanlal and Mammootty films are guaranteed but newcomers/youngsters films are risky (in terms of quality). Malayalees need everything free without paying its cost. Kerala is one of the places in the world where there is maximum number of libraries. The reason is that Malayalees are reluctant to buy books, they need it for rent. Kerala is the only place where we can watch drama for free. In UK, if we need to watch a drama, we have to book the tickets at least before three months.

Q: What are your future projects/plans?

A: I cannot predict what can happen in next moment. Some times I may stand up from this chair with my right leg or my left leg. But it cannot be predicted now.

Q: About your family.

A: Wife and two daughters. Wife is working in Mathsya Fed.

Q: Do you have any message for the readers?

A: Be honest while approaching a movie. Say only genuine opinion about any film you watch.

Nik: Thanks you sir, All the best for Thalappavu and your future projects.

Q: As far as our Malayalam cinema is concerned, majority of the directors take films based on other writers’ script. But in Tamil industry, the directors are coming up with their own script. In your opinion, can a director with his own script shapes up a better movie? or a director-writer combo can help in polishing the entire movie due to the team effort?

A: I cannot say a specific answer that director with his own script may be better than director-writer combo or vice versa. It purely depends. For example Alfred Hitchcock is a world famous director who never wrote script for his films, all his films were made on other writers’ scripts. Another one is Roman Polanski, who made fantastic films like China Town based on others’ scripts. As you mentioned the case of Tamil directors, there are many directors in malayalam who write their own scripts.

Bharathan, Sethu Madhavan, I V Sasi, Joshi etc made excellent films on others scripts. In this generation, Roshan Andrews, Lal Jose etc work on others’ script but Blessy directs with his own script. If there are good films in Tamil with directors’ script, there are many world classics based on director-writer combo. So we cannot say that a director with his own script is a better practice over the other. On considering my case, Roshan and I have almost identical mentality. When our ideas get exchanged, it provides more output. Then why should we give up such a team.

Q: Do you have a plan to direct a film in future?

A: Script writing and direction are different faculties. So if there comes a question whether a script writer can become a director, I cannot answer it now. Right now I am not having a dream of becoming a director. I think I need some more improvement in this faculty(writing). I will try direction only when I feel that I cannot stay away from it anymore. Sometimes it may happen in future.

Q: What about your tele serial Avicharitham- a 40 episode serial came in Asianet with your father played the lead role and handled a sensitive subject like extra marital affair and it won the state award for best script. Notebook also handled a sensitive subject like teenage pregnancy. Both the projects were handled well without losing its soul and both these works gave a message to the society. Is the selection of these sensitive subjects intentional?

A: There is no intentional thoughts that my films must handle only sensitive subjects. But I usually get attracted by the stories which people fear to tell. So there are many such stories which have a chance to be made into a serial or cinema. I cannot say that its courage to shape-up movies with such untold subjects. In my opinion, there is no need to hesitate to tell such sensitive stories. Extra marital affairs are becoming very common in the cosmo politan culture, where husbands and wives become unsatisfied in a family. I am not mentioning the physical pleasure. The most important is the unity and satisfaction of minds. Physical pleasures and its importance are in a very much exaggerated form in our society. In Avicharitham, the lead character Aravinda menon’s wife is not ready to share his articles or creativity. That makes him to get attracted to another woman who can creatively criticize his works. I decided to do this serial only because we got a promise from Asianet that it can be ended in 40 episodes. Otherwise I wouldn’t have done a mega serial.

Q: Was there any suggestions or opinion from your father for Avicharitham’s story?

A: Actually there was no suggestions from him for the story development. But he was very keen in his character’s journey in the serial. He would indicate doubts in some situations about some dialogs, and it demanded a lot of explanations for the situations.

Q: Then, your new project is Casanova, again teaming up with director Roshan and Mohanlal in the lead. What is the theme of it? Can you please give a one liner about it.

A: Actually Casanova is a man who lived in Italy long time ago. It is not sure whether he is only a fictitious character. Casanova was a man who won the love of almost 120 women in his life. Casanova is a symbol of love and romance. The Casanovas are there in all the times. We can identify many Casanovas among our society. So our new movie is about such a person who loved and won the love of many women. More than a love story, it will be a story of love. The shooting may start after mid 2008.

Q: Why did you choose Mohanlal for Casanova’s lead role? Do his character has more importance than the story?

A: He is the best actor in India. When the character Casanova is born, we thought he would be the most suitable actor for it. We think that he can handle the role much better than any other actor. As a film maker, I would like to create a film which I love to watch it in theater. I assess the story development as a viewer first. I can write a scene only which i like to see it on screen. So a film becomes successful and gives biggest satisfaction when my taste and the viewers taste meet. I can say that the lead character of Casanova is not a super human. But he is a person who attracted many women. For normal people like us, its very difficult to attract atleast a single woman in our life. So Casanova has something special in his personality to attract that much women.The film’s story and Mohanlal’s character will have equal importance.

Q: Earlier, I heard that there was a movie planned by Roshan-Suresh Gopi team named Womaniser. It didn’t happen. Is Casanova the same project.

A: No no. That was entirely a different story. That has no connection with Casanova. Actually Womaniser was only a temporary name for that Roshan project.

Q: Your previous film was with Roshan Andrews. Now the upcoming two films are also with Roshan. Do you feel that he is the best director whom you can work with and has a better chemistry?

A: I was very comfortable in working with Siby Malayil. And it was a good experience to work with him. As I told earlier, we had worked together as Kamal sir’s assistants. More than as a director, he is a very good friend of mine. We used to discuss all the matters which are related and non-related to cinema. And it is very nice and comfortable to work with a close friend. Both of us have the freedom to tell anything openly. When I suggest a scene, and if it is not upto mark, then he can instantly tell that its a boring one. And me too have that freedom. This freedom can make the work more smooth and comfortable.

Q: In malayalam industry, movies with young actors in the lead are not frequent. Notebook had entirely new faces. When will you do another youth film with the young stars of Malayalam?

A: Youngsters films are inevitable for our industry. I would say that its the fault/disability of the film makers of malayalam including me, that movies of young generation are not getting made frequently. First we have to develop or reach to a youngsters story and we should be sure that the particular story suits the young actors. There is no point in making a youngsters movie without a suitable story for it. Majority of the young actors in malayalam are really talented. They have to get utilized well. Youngsters project will be there in the near future, and we are in search for such a story.

Q: Do you think that the young actors are not getting utilised well by the film makers?

A: Exactly.They are not getting the characters that demands their full caliber. Mammootty and Mohanlal got powerful characters in the starting time of their career and they got the opportunity to work with class film makers. Mammooty’s popular films “Thrishna”, “Koodevide” etc are good examples. But today’s young actors are not getting that opportunity. They can do only the characters which they get. There is not happening a sincere effort from the film makers to utilize these youngsters’ skills.

Q: There is an unanswered question in Notebook. Who wrote that letter to Saira?

A: (Laughs). I am not ready to reveal that suspense. If I reveal it, that will be a betrayal towards that cinema. The answer is there in the movie itself and you can find it if you watch the movie closely. If one says its written by Suraj, that interpretation is true. If another man feels that its written by Suresh Gopi or Seetha, that is also true. Its upto the audience to find a solution for themselves.

Q: The number of private TV channels have increased a lot in this decade. Do you think that these channels and the mega serial culture have kept away the audience from the theater?

A: I know that when the serial “Sthree” was a hit, the attendance of first shows were affected. But even if a serial is so much good, and there is a film like Classmates in theater, its first shows will not be affected. Now the living standards of people are improved a lot. Majority of them are not ready to watch a film in a C-class theater which does not have AC or DTS. Even common people are expecting that the theater’s seats should be good, projection must be good, sound system should be good and many more. This is also a major factor in deserting the C-class and B-class theaters.

Q: Can you please describe your writing procedure of the script.

A: First of all the story discussion will take place after getting the main thread. This part is very important. My ideas and director’s ideas get exchanged and we develop the scene-order. In this discussion, the plot gets a full form and we fixes the scene order. That time I make some rough notes. But the rough notes are not necessary. Casanova is having 60 scenes. Without referring anything, I can memorize all these 60 scenes right now. So when the scene-order is complete and fixed, I starts writing scenes from the beginning. It include the dialogs also. I write a scene, by speaking the dialogs myself and self analyses the dialogs whether it suits the mood and situation. After writing the particular scene, I re-write it by omitting and adding some points. Then writes that scene once more. In total, I write a scene three times. The same procedure will be followed for all the scenes in the scene-order. If I feel a scene is boring while writing it, I stops/give up that scene right there and tries for another one, may be written only after discussing with the director. All writers are not having identical methods, there will be changes in the procedure.

Q: Which is your next movie after Casanova? Is it a Mammootty project?

A: Ya, my next film has Mammootty in the lead. The director is Roshan himself. This film will be a thriller. I cannot reveal more about the film now.

Q: Now the other language films are invading Kerala. More Hindi films re becoming successful here, so as Tamil too. More Telugu dubbed movies are coming in. Do you believe that this invasion will be a threat to our movies?

A: In my opinion, we must take this as a challenge. Taare Zameen Par is a super hit here. People are going for these films because it gives more quality than our current movies. Our commercial cinema must improve to compete with movies like Taare Zameen Par . On that occasion, we cannot say that other language films are a threat.

Q: What about your family.

A: Bobby is my elder brother. He is married and settled in Bangalore. I have a younger sister too. She is also married and in Singapore. I am settled here with my wife(Kowdiyar, Trivandrum). She is working in Radio Mirchi. Actually my parent family is in Kottayam.

Nik: Thanks a lot sir, for sharing your views and points and allowing an interview for a non-professional like me. Best wishes for your future projects.