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Director who dared to experiment
He was the dark horse, but one that galloped in style to the finishing line! A confident one, no doubt, for he showed no surprise at the award, sure of the cinematic worth of his first feature film, "Sayahnam" (Twilight).
This small movie, made in 10 days, by R. Sarath, with smaller than a shoe-string budget of Rs.14 lakhs, won the best movie award from the Kerala Government this year, No, that's not all. It won six other awards. And the budget of the entire movie was less than half the remuneration usually given to a superstar!
A cause celebre all right, Sayahnam's deglamourised protagonist pushed aside the superstars and walked away with the best actor award. "I just had to behave," (O. Madhavan remarked later. Al unexpected, as far as the public goes. The fresh air let in by the award committee had people stunned and pleasantly surprised, for they were sick of the merry-go-round of the Mammooty-Mohanlal-Jayaram trio taking turns to display the trophy.
But they are unfortunately in no position to praise or criticize the movie, for it isa yet, unreleased. It is high time this practice is done away with.
Nevertheless, as someone who saw the movie at a private screening, Sarath has to be congratulated for getting so much done with a mere Rs.14 lakhs. Everything is topical about the picture, the theme, the people, the political picture, and the cultural milieu into which it is thrust.
Kumar Sahni, the chairman of the Lux-Asianet film awards had earlier plumped for Sarath's "Sayahnam" for the special jury award. "It is a small, well-made film," he had said, and commented that the lack of resources showed, and good film-makers were bound by financial constraints.
 "Sayahnam" opens in a family ambience. The contemporary nature of the movie is spelled out clearly - kids watching TV, playing and working at the computer, with their mother yearning to join her nuclear-scientist husband in Mumbai. While the second and third generation folks in the house t6hink of the future and plan accordingly, giving materialism top slot, the political animal called the grandpa is fed on idealism still.
A man who keeps his political thinking active through articles in the media, KK, the protagonist, enacted by veteran stage artiste O. Madhavan, finds himself a loner. His brilliant son Siddharth is bushy doing nuclear experiments and is looking forward to the imminent nuclear test planned by the country. (But Pokharan was a compete surprise).
KK writes aggressively against the nuclear test and as he is respected by ruling party cadres, it has an effect on the Government, which delaysthe test, much to the chagrin of the people in the party, his immediate family and several others.
KK is virtually forced to do a rethink on his nuclear ideology, both by his family's attitude and his party. Respecting those sentiments, he gives in, but his conscience is defiant, and it has a disastrous physical result.
The story, script and dialogue are by director Sarath himself. Tht there are no ugly diversions, like sub-plots thrust in to lengthen the film, is a plus point. The canvas is small but the subject is vast. The 90 - minute movie moves in a film direction, the off-beat treatment is pacy and viewers can identify themselves with the characters. They are people whom you see all around you, ordinary people.
Realism is given a new dimension in that there is nothing that is purely cinematic, yet raw reality does not put you off. The quick succession of scenes see to it that the average viewer is never bored. There is nothing arty about it, definitely. Yet, you would not find a single scene that is not out of someone's life.
Even the small scenes involving the family members have a direct bearing on the delineation of the tale. For instanc e, when the two klids fight, a small Buddha falls down and is broken. The grandfather is crestfallen and says, "That Buddha was given to me during my visit to China." But the kids, unmoved and relieved that it is the only rebuke, run away. It means nothing to them while to KK, it is the very symbol of all that he believed in. And it is a symbolic precursor to what is in store for KK.
The entire movie has been shot in one house and the camer never moves away from the compound of this house, even as lofty things and places like the nuclear test, U.S., Mumbai, and political and cultural upheavals are discussed.
KK's younger son and wife exploit the arts to gain entry into Greenback country and his elder daughter-in-law and family dream of life in Mumbai. Nobody at home shares either his political belief or ideals. All these points are driven home in just a few scenes which jell with the main theme and direction of the movie, which leads us to the tight script Sarath had to finalise, to fill just 90 minutes.
Mammooty's brother, Ibrahim Kutty, dons the role of Siddarth, the nuclear scientist. Jomol and perhaps Sari are the only 'glamourous' actresses in the cast which includes Anand, Remya Nambeesan, Gomathi Mahadevan and Vishnu.
A controversial decision that Sarath took, of getting O. Madhavan's voice DUBBED, PROVED TO BE RIGHT WHEN s. Gopalakrishnan received the award for best dubbing. That O.Madhavan, a veteran on stage had to have his voice dubbed, did not please many, but the cinematic medium demanded it, felt Sarath.
Sarath surely has picked up the finer nuances of movie-making, of recognizing the purely cinematic from the dramatic, and treating the subject in its entirety. He stuck to these rules in "Sayahnam", resource crunch notwithstanding. |
