In a bid to study and honour the contributions of filmmaker K G George to Malayalam cinema, the documentary ‘Cinemayile Mattoral’ is under production in Kochi. “His ingenious craft is thoroughly underrated and the effort is to introduce him to the new generation,” said writer and poet Shahina Rafiq who is directing the documentary along with Lijin Jose.
“No other Malayalam director has captured his era so well in films. Also, his approach to life was unique,” said Lijin on the inspiration behind the venture.
“His contributions are many. George’s ‘Adaminte Variyelu’ put forward a strong feminist point of view which was unusual in Malayalam cinema. The film also experimented with a surreal ending. ‘Panchavadipalam’ re-invented the genre of political satire. ‘Mattoral’ is not your typical matinee movie which compartmentalises woman into good or bad. ‘Yavanika’ is a text book film, in script and in mise-en-scene,” said Shahina.She also pointed out that unlike other directors K G George was consistently innovative in selecting themes and has never repeated any. “He was also instrumental in pepping up the career of actors such as Mammootty and Venu Nagavali,” she said.
“We tend to end our film discussions with Bharatan or Padmarajan,” said Lijin.
“K G George’s films deserve an in-depth study and discussion and the documentary aims to ensure that,” Lijin said.
The documentary is shot in three locations — Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai. Neil D Cunha handles the camera and Ajith Kumar is the editor.
This is Shahina’s debut venture. She won the Commonwealth prize for short story recently. Lijin’s debut flick ‘Friday’, released recently, was well received by critics and in the box office.