varnachitram

Recently in an interview published in PassionForCinema, Adoor had talked about Bollywood’s misplaced aspirations.

Q: Films like “:Lage Raho Munnabhai” or “Rang De Basanti” are touted in the media as cinematic revolutions. All the time very mediocre work is done in commercial cinema, and even slight variations are billed as revolutions. How do you see this trend?

A: I have not seen these films, but it is a good thing if media embraces something different. See, the Bombay industry never has had this ambition about going abroad or doing different things. They are very happy with their business, with the NRIs watching their films and giving them money from everywhere. Now they have the ambition, but they don’t have the equipment. They try to promote rubbish at international level. You take all the Bombay films to a place like Brussels and from there you have international awards for the Bombay films – that’s a very stupid notion. You congratulate yourself for producing rubbish, and you do it 20 times every year. It is self congratulatory and it is a very pathetic situation. People laugh at you and ridicule you because of that.

More than 2 years back we had written on this topic.

For a while now there has been consistent and concerted push towards projecting Hindi movies as Indian movies, be it in Cannes, or for Oscars or National awards. More and more Hindi movies are trying to identify themselves closer to Hollywood rather than to India while they are just starting to get rid of stories where twin brothers get lost in childhood and meet after 20 years. Even though there are talented actors, directors and technicians in South India, Hindi cinema has always muscled them out, probably due to inferiority complex.

If the IIFA awards are to come anywhere near the league of other International festivals like Cannes/Berlin, the organizers have to take off their bias towards Hindi films and give equal footage to regional language films as well. That might mean less Hindi movies might get selected and the Karan Johar genre might not be showcased, but that is the way to make this festival truly Indian. [Hindi Films = Indian Films?]

And here’s veteran Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee talking about Bollywood’s hegemonism in the National awards:

Awards don’t mean anything to me. They never did. Especially at this point in my life. I am completely disillusioned.I haven’t forgotten that once Jennifer Kapoor in Aparna (Sen)’s 36 Chowringhee Lane lost the National Award to Rekha  (Umrao Jaan ) despite having put in a much better performance than the Bollywood star.

A National Award calls for a lot of lobbyism; it is not an honest appreciation of someone’s skill. [A National award calls for lot of lobbyism]

Popularity: 5% [?]

Sharath has not composed many songs, but most people agree that the few he has composed are difficult to sing.

Welcome to the world of Sharath - the distinguished composer from Kerala, in whose compositions you find the afore-said musical innovations. Mind it, this is not a page providing a biographic or discographic account of Sharath or any other composer but one where I express my admiration for my 7 musical idols and the way I enjoy their music. The reader will also find some non-intrusive references on how I (an amateur composer) allow these masters to influence me in my own compositions as I climb a steep learning curve।

2. Sudha Mantram and the Floating Shadjam (Sa)

My first tryst with Sharath’s composition was way back in 1997 when I was still in CECRI in my undergrad days. I had been an active music troupe leader at CECRI and one of my friends Vivek MakaraBooshanam (Kumba!) who played mrudangam and tabla for the troupe informed me one day that he had an invite from one of the movie companies who had come with their crew to shoot a malayalam movie. The movie was Devadasy and Vivek was asked to pretend playing tabla for a song on screen. I had no idea about the song for which he was inducted for, but on return he told me that it was a very difficult hindustani number.[Sharath - The musical enigma]

Unlike many of his peers, Sharath is a good vocalist as well.

Music composer and vocalist Sharath presented a memorable concert in Kochi. His guru Balamuralikrishna’s varnam ‘Amma Anandadayini’ was sung in two speeds, displaying the vocalist’s vocal prowess in the upper and lower scales.

He enlivened the concert with this composition, which celebrates the grandeur of the Goddess, the essence of ‘Omkara.’ A detailed alapana of Hamsadhwani heralded the arrival of ‘Vathapi Ganapathim.’

The marked influence of his mentor was evident in his tonal variations, swara essays and raga elaborations. ‘Neesari neeve ranga’ in Hindolam was sung after a neat expressive portrayal of the raga. [Neat potrayal of Ragas]

Popularity: 7% [?]

In an interview with Nikhil, Sanjay of Bobby-Sanjay script writer duo describes his script writing process.

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.

Some time back we had talked to Sibi K Thomas and Uday Krishna script writing duo, Here’s what they had to say about their style:

varnachitram.com: Since there are two of you, how do you divide the work. Does one of you write the comedy scenes and the other writes the serious scenes?

SKT/UK: No, No. First when we get a thread we try to see how to expand it and in what all directions it can be taken, how humor can be added and form it into a story. Then we come up with the scene order and a one liner for each scene. We discuss with the director and incorporate his good suggestions. After that we write the dialogue. Sometimes one of does a set of scenes and the other person does the remaining scenes. We review each others dialogue and suggest improvements. Some scenes are written by both of us. The final result is our screenplay.[Interview: Sibi K Thomas , Uday Krishna]

Popularity: 14% [?]

According to Baiju Kottarakkara of MACTA

1. Reliance, Walmart and Tatas have signed up at least three top actors, including Mamooty and Mohanlal, besides 10 reputed film directors, for their coming films
2. This will destroy the industry.
3. Priyardarshan, Fasil, Siddiq, Joshi, Lal Jose, who broke away from the Malayalam Cine Technicians Association (MACTA) should withdraw from any agreement they have reached with the companies.

Even though people have split away from MACTA, Baiju still has the courage to suggest what they should do. Isn’t this the reason why those people split in the initial place?

Coming back to the original issue, what exactly is the problem if Reliance, Walmart and Tatas pay Mammotty and Mohanlal to act in their movies? How will it destroy the industry? In fact due to the arrival of big investors, big budget movies may get made, which in turn requires more technicians and crew. Isn’t this actually good for the film industry.

Actually there is one side effect to these companies landing in Kerala - producers like Baiju Kottarakkara will become irrelevant. What if these companies start paying twice the amount Baiju pays to his crew? Will he able to cope with it? So when he says “This will destroy the industry”, it actually means, it will destroy him.

And, that’s not really a bad thing. It is also entertaining to see the Chairman of Kairali TV, a channel owned by a party which opposes Walmart and Reliance, acting in movies produced by them.

PS: Why would Walmart produce Malayalam movies when they don’t even produce American movies?

Popularity: 18% [?]

Madhu Kaithapram directed Ekantham which won the Indira Gandhi award for the first best film. It is doubtful if such movies will ever get an audience in the midst of Annan Thampi and Innathe Chinthavishayam. In an interview, Madhu explains the problems facing movie makers like him.

Is the film industry supportive towards serious cinema?

There is no doubt that everyone wants to do good films. Individually no one is to be blamed. Cinema is the culmination of the efforts put in by a group of people and this often makes it difficult to go on as per an individual’s opinions. According to me, the main problem is when certain people start making judgments about the tastes of the viewers. There are certain lobbies which are working in this direction.

Who exactly is to be blamed for this plight?

I am not going to name names. Still, the unavailability of theatres is posing a major problem especially for the serious filmmakers. This situation wasn’t there earlier. I think we have become too money minded.[Making an art of serious cinema]

Popularity: 20% [?]

As various organizations are accelerating the demise of Malayalam film industry, we are provided with entertaining sound bites to keep us hooked while we hop theaters showing Sarkar Raj, Kuruvi, Dasavatharam and Indiana Jones Director Ambili (anyone remember him?), in a press conference, said that there is a savarna-avarna problem in the industry.

We were stumped because till now our impression was the problem was with big egos and little egos. Before we started looking for news on such discrimination, Ambili explained the phenomena. According to him, people who earn more money are discriminating against people who earn less wages.

Thus AMMA, which according to him is a rich organization is discriminating against MACTA which consists of poor people. Just one word: Bharath Gopi. Just because superstars are filthy rich does not mean that every actor is. Then everything in the world has to be twisted to fit the savarna-avarna thingy, even if the generalization and metaphor are incorrect.

Next we thought he would blame George W. Bush, but he did not.

C S Venkateshwaran got to this point without Ambili’s lunatic ramblings. He is concerned that superstars are paid a lot of money while light boys are not and this imbalance needs to be corrected.

Let us not forget the fact that these workers are the lowest paid in the country, despite producing 60-plus films every year. And the ratio between the highest and lowest wages in the industry (ie, the money that a super star charges and a light boy gets to work in the same film) is beyond imagination.[The MACTA imbroglio — Who wants solutions?]

This emotional rhetoric does not work because we don’t go to the movie theater to see the light boy, but the superstar. There are many talented actors in Malayalam film industry, but as Maniyanpilla Raju told us, none of them have the initial and this is precisely why they are paid more. Any random person can be a light boy, but a Mammotty and Mohanlal happens once in a while.

There are very talented script writers, camera men and directors in Malayalam industry, but none of them will get paid the same amount that M T Vasudevan Nair, Santosh Sivan and Priyadarshan gets. This is not socialism, but pure market economics. You need to distinguish yourself with talent that your involvement in a project attracts viewers. Without that no one is going to pay you in gold.

There is a fair point that movies cannot be made without the sweat and blood of light boys, drivers and others whom you don’t see on camera. They have to be paid according to the prevailing market conditions for it is the honorable thing to do.

It should also be realized that the salaries of superstars will always be many times over the salary of their drivers.Once a bunch of people met Gandhiji and told him that they could not make a living with the charka and wanted to know what they should do. Gandhiji told them that he did not expect them to spin the charka their entire life. It was a stop gap arrangement till they moved to something better. Being a light boy, similarly is a temporary solution, till a better job is found. In fact the low paying job is a good incentive to try for a better job.

So, the ‘trade unionism’ that the so-called ‘creatives’ allege and point out as ‘the’ hurdle, is something that has been boiling inside for a long time. Obviously the fabulous amounts that are paid to the stars and the ‘creatives’ come out of the sweat and blood of these workers without whom the industry itself wouldn’t exist. The super stars and the fly by night speculators have nothing to lose in this game. This anti-labour attitude has been very much evident in their films also, that religiously idolises the hero (super star) and celebrates market freedom. (For instance, films of Srinivasan and Sathyan Anthikad have consistently depicted any kind of labour union as an impediment to well-being).[The MACTA imbroglio — Who wants solutions?]

Of course, this trade unionism in Kerala has been a hurdle. It has concentrated only on banning people from earning a living - just ask anyone from K S Chitra to Bhagyalakshmi. A major contribution of trade unions in Kerala has been to cleanse the state of all employment opportunities. Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab too have trade unions, but they are all booming economies, but ours is a wasteland. We have to thank Sathyan Anthikkad and Srinivasan for making honest movies.

On the same issue, The Hindu, noted the pathetic state of Malayalam cinema.

Kerala, which earlier used to witness about 150 film releases every year, now has only about 50 new films a year. The sources said easy availability of pirated CDs of new films, rising production cost and high remuneration of actors were all affecting the profitability of Malayalam films. Faced with huge electricity cost, about 200 theatres in the state have closed down in recent years. They were also unable to compete with new-age theatres having the latest sound systems and big parking spaces. [Malayalam films have few takers in Kerala]

Piracy, rising production costs and high remuneration of actors are not unique problems applicable only to Kerala. New theaters with better sound systems and multiplexes are the way of the future and unless the theater owners adapt, they will have to move out of this business. Once upon a time our cameras used to have films inside it with the switch to digital camera, the film studios had to adapt. This sort of change happens all the time and evolution favors only some. Did we see any MACTA leadership on such issues?

We agree with Venkateshwaran when he writes

But one should also take into account the fact that cinema is a peculiar kind of industry unlike manufacturing or other conventional businesses. It has a creative and spontaneous side, and constantly needs new ideas, talents and technologies. If ‘unionism’ stands in the way of such creative freedom and endeavours it will end up as yet another trade union that is unable to look beyond the purse of the financier. There are reports that the MACTA stranglehold over workers make it impossible for an ‘unregistered’ artist to work in a film in Kerala, or plan a film on his/her own terms, as a result of which shoestring often become noose string.

It (Malayalam Cinema) is neither idea-driven nor sensitive to happenings in other industries in the areas of changing market, funding, technology, treatment or themes. Moreover, it has refused to be an organised industry with its proper business plans and management systems. It is being run on an ad hoc and haphazard manner for a long time.[The MACTA imbroglio — Who wants solutions?]

If this trend continues, we will soon be a website on Malayalam Cinema history.

Popularity: 22% [?]

If ISRO asked Malayalam movie industry folks to recommend a volunteer for their moon mission, the unanimous choice would be director Vinayan. Since that did not happen, the next best thing — something which has not happened even in our vibrant political landscape — has happened. MACTA has become Humpty Dumpty.

The funny part? One group has only Vinayan in it. (Yes, we are exaggerating). Even K M Mani, P J Joseph and Balakrishna Pillai will be laughing at this.

18 years back Vinayan made a movie called Superstar. Contrary to the name, it had no superstars. It did not even have asteroids. Since Mohanlal did not give him dates, Vinayan found a look alike and make the movie. With such a Big Bang, Vinayan arrived on the scene and entertained us for two decades with Kunjikuruvi to Athisayan

Still the karma produced by Superstar has been hanging around the ozone layer for more than two decades and thanks to global warming and depletion of the ozone layer, it has landed back on Vinayan himself.

Superstar Mohanlal, fresh from holy city of Kashi, spoke with the soul of Suresh Gopi.

‘’AMMA will never support any one or any organisation which always tried to call bans and prevent film-makers from producing cinema in this crisis-plagued film industry.This is one organization which even created a lot of problems to films like Calcutta News which was shooting in difficult conditions among floods in Calcutta.We are supporting the directors who have come out of MACTA and the producers’ association who has announced its wholesome support to these directors,” Mohanlal revealed. [LINK ]

Vinayan, in polite language, asked Mohanlal to mind his own business. Mohanlal in turn asked Vinayan to create an organization in which everyone is well behaved. Thilakan meanwhile said “teacher, teacher, Nedumudi Venu pinched me”, but no one cared

Mohanlal’s wish for Vinayan has come true. Now Vinayan can do a Dasavatharam in his organization and discuss various issues. The first avataram can ban avataram No 2 and 3 for appearing on stage shows. It will be fun and if it is broadcast as a reality show.

With various organizations blooming in the cinema field, it has reached a stage where the organization has become more important than people and the craft. Instead of producing entertaining movies, their activities themselves have became entertainment. Instead of helping the industry, organizations became dictatorships telling what people should and should not do. They thought Kerala was Cuba.

One of the best things to happen in this asteroid-hitting-planet-malayalam-cinema event are some new guidelines in the new organization. There will no LKG style bans, discriminations or boycotts of human beings. No longer will one man be able to control the lives of other human beings. It is indeed heart warming to read that the organization honchos have realized that every human has the right to earn a living and the only laws that matter are the ones made by an elected government.

Then Vinayan is not going to keep quiet. His next movie is a Tamil one with Sanusha as the heroine. Before you know, he will be directing Vijay or Ajith and those movies will run for 100 days in Kerala knocking out M&M movies. This is what our lord, Suresh Gopi, meant by “Cosmic Law” in Chintamani Kola Case

PS: And as all this thamasha is happening Kamal Haasan’s Dasavatharam, Ram Gopal Varma’s Sarkar Raj and Vijay’s Kuruvi are running to packed houses with tickets being sold in the black market for Rs. 500.

Popularity: 35% [?]