Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Lohi - A Sudden End

The news of the sudden demise of Malayalam Screenwriter and Director A.K. Lohitadas, on Sunday, 28 th of June came as a wild shock to me. I could not believe the news as I was not aware that he was having some heart problems for the past few months. A few months back, I had seen him waving to me from a distance at a function but we could not meet each other and talk.

I had the opportunity to be associated with him as Script writer for RADHA MADHAVAM (1990 - Dir: Suresh Unnithan) AADHARAM (1992 - Dir: George Kithu ), VENKALAM (1993- Dir: Bharathan) and SALLAPAM ( 1996 - Dir: Sunder Daas) and also in his Directorial ventures KARUNYAM (1997)and KANMADHAM (1998).

Unlike other Scriptwriters, he used to be on the sets on a fulltime basis always coming up with suggestions for improving the film. He was a keen observer and by watching various Directors like Bharathan, Siby Malayil and others from close quarters he gained knowledge in the art and craft of Film Direction. Later on when he worked with new directors like George Kithu in AADHARAM and Sundar Daas in SALLAPAM he guided them with his knowledge in Direction by suggesting how a shot should be taken or camera angle to be placed etc. He also did Second unit direction in SALLAPAM which was like a training ground for him in Direction.


Myself, Lohi and Director Sundar Daas - SALLAPAM

He was a sensitive and sensible human being who hailing from a lower strata of society rose to the heights of glory in Cinema as a Script writer and Director, through sheer hard work and genius. He found themes for his films from the people around him and made them immortal in the horizons of Malayalam Cinema. His first Directorial venture, BHOOTHAKKANADI won many Awards and was appreciated by one and all. The switching on ceremony of the film coincided with the start of Sundar Daas' second film KUDAMATTOM and both the functions were held together at Shoranur Rest House, a favourite haunt of Lohi, where he used pen many of his outstanding scripts.


Twin Switch on ceremony of Lohi's first Directorial venture BHOOTHAKKANADI and Sundar Daas' KUDAMATTOM

(L-R) Sundar Daas' Parents, myself, Sundar Daas, Lohitadas, Directors Siby Malayil, Sathyan Anthikkad and Venu, Cinematographer


Lohi was a very emotional person and a keen observer of people. He had a knack of grooming new actors and bringing out the best performance out of them. I had occassion to observe this, first hand in the films we were associated together. During the filming of SALLAPAM, Manju Warrier, who was a newcomer at that time had difficulty in enacting a shot in which she had to laugh spontaneously on seeing the character Junior Yesudas (Dileep) with a chisel in hand working as a carpenter. After many takes, the laughing shot did not turn out to be natural. Then Lohi suggested that we take that shot after a few days, so that she will get accustomed to the character she was playing and get used to filming routine as well. A few days later, the shot was sucessfully taken without any hassle and Manju later on became one of the finest actresses of Malayalam films.

Similarly in the film KANMADHAM, Lal (Siddique) was uncertain about his ability as an actor. Though well established as a Director and Scripwriter, he had just done one film as actor in Jayaraj's KALIYATTOM. But as a performer he was finding the role in KANMADHAM a difficult proposition altogether and that too pitted against an actor of calibre such as Mohanlal ! Lal even thought of backing out from the film but for Lohi, who came out with encouraging words and gave him confidence about his acting abilities and brought out excellent performance from him. The Kerala State Award for Best Actor in 2008 won by Lal would not have happened if Lal had stopped acting at that time, and concentrated instead on Writing and Film Direction !

Under Lohi's Direction I did two films KARUNYAM and KANMADHAM. The film KARUNYAM was a moving tale of Father and son relationship very emotionally narrated and filmed. KANMADHAM had a very powerful story shot in the height of summer in Palakkad and completed on a hectic schedule of 55 days on the whole. It was simultaneously shot, dubbed , music scored and sound mixed within that short time frame. Even while the re-recording is going on we were shooting portions of the song sequence. As the script was not complete Lohi was under tremendous pressure as he had to write each day's scenes early in the same morning and proceed with the shooting. The dubbing and editing work was simultaneously done at Chennai under the supervision of Sundar Daas. The film had the rare honour of being the only one for which I left for the shooting and returned home with the print of the film in 55 days flat! Yes, I flew back to Trivandrum with 3 Prints for Trivandrum, Attingal and Kollam theatres. Yet the film was very successful and Manju Warrier's superb perfomance was much appreciated and the film had won me the First Asianet Film Award for Cinematography.

After that film in a private chat, he told me and Producer Kireedom Unni that he will never shoot a film without the full script in hand! But he was never able to keep up his decision. The strain and stress took its toll on his health and ultimately resulted in his untimely death. Malayalam Cinema had lost one of its great script writers, and I, a true friend and a fine humanist par excellence.

May his Soul Rest in Peace and may the Almighty give strength to his wife Sindhu and sons HariKrishnan and Vijay Shankar to bear this great Personal Loss!



Memories from the Past





Lohitadas, Bharathan and myself during filming of VENKALAM


Myself and Lohitadas during filming of Kanmadham



Myself, Maju Warrier and Lohitadas : Film -Kanmadham



Tuesday, June 2, 2009

A NIGHTINGALE HAD FLOWN AWAY




Madhavi Kutty, Kamala Das, Kamala Suraiya - noted poet and writer in English and Malayalam passed away into eternity on Sunday, 31 st May.



I have read many of her English Poems published in the Seventies and later on when I learned to read Malayalam her novels and short stories in the language in which they were written. When I myself started writing poems in English, I just happened to send a few of them to the YOUTH TIMES Magazine from the Times of India Group, Bombay. I never expected that it would be published. It so happened that I have a lucky streak in getting my works published in the very first attempt itself. The first photo I had sent was published in the Tamil magazine KALKI. My first Letter to the Editor also found a place in THE HINDU Newspaper.
Likewise four of my maiden Poems were Published in the issue of YOUTH TIMES Weekly, 17-24 November, 1977. They were was selected by none other than the great KAMALA DAS, herself who was the Poetry editor at that time ! I also got a note that a few of my other poems were also selected for publication, but I did not hear any further about them. Though I wrote many more poems, these are the only ones which got through in to the print media. To read more of my Poems, please visit http://www.geocities.com/babukr3/

My Poems in YOUTH TIMES

Selected by KAMALA DAS


Midday Take-off

In the blazing sun I walk blind
My immobile hands follow behind
Time worn planks in the stairs of destiny
Utter a long drawn out cry.

Under a shade less tree, with the ghosts of tomorrow
I await an encounter with fate.
Absolute silence seeps in to the void
Among the transparent shadows of life
Stretching seconds into years and then to ages.
This maddening stillness, this unending agony
Fills me with the suffocating terror of the unseen.
How I wish,
I could just take-off and just vanish
Yeah!
I feel the ground
Suddenly s-l-i-p
UH____


Boredom weeps alone


In moments of silence
Words refuse to appear
Defying the laws of language.
Back-fired thoughts shock frozen
Stand as
Dumb T.V. towers in the desert.
Disrupted communication
Speaks in sign language
To those blind eyes staring at infinity.

Rider less horses trample lawns
Breaking the stillness
Corks pop out, glasses tinkle,
Displayed flesh in streets of desire
Stink with memories of lost innocence.

Morning dawns smelling of stale kisses,
Hangovers from sleepless nights.
Nauseating mists of imported love
Blind the senses.

Under the cold blanket
My hand searches for the missing partner
In the grip of my longing fingers


Sunset Sand Diggers


(Inspired by Kobo Abe's Women of the Dunes )



Under the undulating dunes
Desires lie buried
My soul sleeps imprisoned
Somewhere in a bottomless pit,
To each his own
He himself being one.

Ours might be billion light-years apart
Or just a sand wall away.
Above in the gray sky
Under the blinding sun
Circles a lone vulture.
I dig my agony to unearth lost ecstasy.
In constant work, do I exist
My universe --- this pit.
Destination unknown,
This journey a one-way trip.
Perhaps our tunnels may meet in the sunset
We may then discover
What we have lost
Or what we have not yet.


Of Godmen, Gods And Men

My denial is no conclusive proof of absence
Nor other's approval the evidence of your existence.
They sing of your manifestations,
Many visitations and revelations
Some claim your partial presence in their form
And perform miracles like magicians,
Only garbs are different
Arenas vary.
If at any one at any time
Could feel your presence, even a trifle
It is just possible that
I too might.
Skeptics like me
Can wait till then
Before we start to believe.


During the course of my profession as a Cinematographer I had traveled to many places and happened get in touch with many great Writers and Poets from Kerala. But it so happened that I never met her in real life though I had been in the cities where she had lived for some time. I really miss meeting her in person to thank for selecting my poems for publication and encouraging me.
May Her Soul Rest in Peace

Sunday, March 15, 2009

AFTER THE OSCAR - A few Thoughts

The Oscar award had magically transformed tiny Resul Pookutty into a super mega phenomenon. Everywhere he went he was mobbed by thousands of people from all walks of life. TV Channels and newspapers were vying with each other for interviews and oraganisations are competing with each other to shower him with more awards and gifts. I was the witness for two of the occassions of which one of them was a TV Channel's Film Award night. At the jampacked stadium Resul got the biggest standing ovation and cheers even the so called "Super stars" of the Malayalam film industry could have ever imagined.

Reception at Thiruvananthapuram



Oscar and BAFTA awards


It was a very proud moment for me. I, as a Technician was really moved by the reception he got in Kerala - especially witnessing a fellow technician like Resul who remains on the set in the background as an invisible presence is being treated like a superstar. The spotlight and boquets are always reserved only for those who don the greasepaint. Those poor technicians who mould, make and and embellish them are treated as dirt. There are many Satellite TV Channels giving various Film awards - there are many awards for actors - Best Actor , Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting actress, Villain, Comedian, New comer, Best pair, Overall performance etc but NONE for Sound Recordists!

There was once a move made by some of the TV channels even to stop giving awards to technicians like Cinematographers and Editors etc. Their argument was why waste money on those who are behind the screen and the crowds just are not interested in seeing them! They only come to see the stars, the dances and to hear the songs and nothing else. But, strong opposition from Technician's Unions made them to rethink and some of the technicians managed get in the awards lists. Even when Oscar winner's names are published in the newapapers the technician's names are coveniently left out to save space. The full list never gets published! Sometime back even the Oscar telecast people wanted to trim down the length of the Ceremony but dispensing away with the Technical Awards distribution visuals!

Resul with CAS Award


When Resul got the CAS Award, which is a honour given to the Sound Mixers for the their career achievement in Motion Pictures by The Cinema Audio Society consisting of over 550 Sound Mixers and Associates from the Film and Television Industries. The Society was founded to create a proper channel of communication between the related sound crafts and between those instrumental to the production and distribution of film and television soundtracks. The winner can add “CAS” after their names in the film screen credit. The previous achievers include multiple Oscar winners like Ray Dolby, Robert Altman, Jack Solomon, and Walter Murch etc.

This important news item was conveyed by the Audiographers union to all the Print and TV Media houses, but none of them bothered to publish even a line or mention it in their newscasts! Strangely after the Oscars, the very same people were seen running after Resul for a glimpse of him!

This Oscar Award had changed their mindset. It had opened their eyes and the spot light is turned upon the hard working technicians, the unsung heroes of the film Industry. I hope from the next year onward the TV Channels and others will include an Award for the Sound Recordist too !

Monday, February 23, 2009

THE THIRD ONE

It had happened!

Resul had achieved the rare honour of bringing the THIRD OSCAR to India! His acceptance speech at the Oscar ceremony was truly great and bespoke his humility as well as his large heartedness!


All of us from the "BEYOND THE SOUL " team Congratulate him on this rarest of rare achievement!


Ajay ( Editor), R. Babu, Rajeev Anchal (Director) and Oscar Hero Resul

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Meeting an Old Friend - G.S.Panikkar

While I was in Ottapalam recently for the shooting of the film YUGAPURUSHAN, I rang up an old friend from my Institute days, my Senior, G.Sadasiva Panikkar ( G.S.Panikkar – 1970 – Direction Batch ). For the past few years he had been away from Trivandrum as he had settled at Cheruthruthy on the banks of the picturesque Bharathapuzha river, a popular location for many Malayalam films.

He had graciously come down to my hotel along with his son and we spent a few hours together reminiscing about our friends, films of the past and the present trends in the Film Industry.


I was the cinematographer for his maiden venture as Producer and Director of the Black and White Malayalam film AEKAKINI ( 1978) It was a tiny budgeted film made by a bunch of Film Institute graduates – Ravi Menon ( actor) , Suresh Babu and Raman Nair ( Editors), Panikkar and myself.


It was based on a short story by eminent Malayalam writer M.T.Vasudevan Nair. The film was well appreciated and acclaimed when it was released.





Myself and G.S.Panikkar

An OSCAR for the INSTITUTE ?

The countdown has begun for the Oscar Awards and Millions of Indians are hopefully waiting for the final announcement for the sake of Two Indian Nominees A.R.Rahman and Resul Pookutty who are slated to win the coveted Award! Already they have won the BAFATA Awards - the British equivalant of the Oscar for Danny Boyle's film Slumdog Millionaire.


Our prayers and well wishes are for both of them and especially to Resul who is our own boy - an Institutewallah!

Though he was my junior we met for the first time during the filming of the English film "BEYOND THE SOUL" Directed by Rajeev Anchal. It seems that as Resul is also from the Anchal neighbourhood he was picked up for the job. Any how it was our first meeting and instantly we became friends. I was really amazed at his patience and dedication to his craft as he minutely analyzed the various sounds into its components and recorded them effectively. After a long time I was shooting a Sync sound on location film ( far from the confines of the Studio floors!) and it was really nice to know the intricacies of live recording in such a noisy atmosphere of our country. The trolleys, cranes, HMI ballasts, paper frames, gels, generators all create their own levels of noises.

The first thing he did was to order out the catering unit to a far off place. He had an assortment of sound proofing rugs carpets etc to dampen the noises at source. He used various types of mikes placed at strategic places and also had an expert boom man to follow the actors. After the shot was taken it was his turn to call for silence on the sets and to record the ambience sounds both in mono and stereo. Altogether we had a nice time working at Trivandrum for that film.

We still keep in touch with each other through e-mails and I just missed meeting him last month while he was in Trivandrum for a felicitation function as I was away on a location shooting.

Listening Resul's Recordings at "BEYOND THE SOUL" Location !


I, along with Millions of Indians wish him and Rahman
Good Luck at The OSCARS!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

New Year Celebrations 1969

On this New Year Day 2009, the Flash Back of the New Year Celebrations at the Film Institute runs through my mind once again as a fond memory!

It was really a night to remember- 40 years ago in the cool and misty atmosphere of Poona with all the singing and dancing in the auditorium - it was full of fun and joy.Though during my college days there were New Year Celebrations, it was a mild affair as being conducted under the strict supervision of Catholic Priests at the Madras Loyola college.

Amidst revellers boozed up with the local brew Tarra and other intoxicants I was with my friends abstaining from drinks and enjoying the fun taking place on the stage. Nearing Midnight the count down had started and at the count of Zero all lights were switched off and the arrival of the New year was welcomed with loud cheering. There was a big stampede towards the region where the girl students were standing ( they were only 4 or 5 and from Acting) but they were well protected by the Acting Boys who stood as bodyguards. Still a few managed to breakthrough the cordon and hugged and shook hands with some of the girls!

That was New Year Celebrations - Film Institute 1969

Wish You all A Very Happy and Peaceful 2009!