KOCHI: At the YMCA guesthouse in Thiruvananthapuram, film director Shyamaprasad is overseeing the editing of his short film, ‘Off Season’ starring Suraj Venjaramoodu. Watching him intently is his associate director, Australia-based Bobby Mana.
Dressed in jeans and a white shirt, and frequently running his hands through his hair, it takes Shyamaprasad quite a while to delve into his memories. But eventually, the stories come out.
One day in 1977 Shyamaprasad and his childhood friend Ananthakrishnan went with a group of friends to a hill station called Dhoni in Palakkad.
All the boys jumped into the waterfall. But there was a strong undercurrent, and Shyamaprasad and Ananthakrishnan went down.
Both did not know swimming. “We held on to each other and struggled to stay afloat,” says Shyamaprasad. Somebody reached out with a towel. Shyamaprasad grabbed it and then lost consciousness. He was saved but Ananthakrishnan drowned.
“We were close family friends. I could not face his parents. From that day onwards I became aware of the pain of others,” says Shyamaprasad who became a recluse for a while. He stayed at home, studied hard, and passed his pre-degree exams from Victoria College. He had an urgent desire to leave Palakkad. It was then that Calicut University started the School of Drama at Thrissur, offering a degree in Theatre Arts. Shyamaprasad applied and was selected.
He spent the next three years studying under playwright G Shankara Pillai. “Today whatever choices I make, in terms of content, actors, style and décor, it goes back to what I learned from Pillai sir,” he says. Shyamaprasad joined Doordarshan and in 1985 and won a two-year commonwealth scholarship to do his Masters in Theatre and Media Production from Hull University.
But when he returned, Doordarshan cut his seniority and professional benefits. “It was a demoralising experience. My stay abroad was regarded as a break in service even though the Information and Broadcasting Ministry had approved it.” At this time Shyamaprasad made a film, ‘Uyirthezhunnelpu’ which was based on an Albert Camus play. It won state television awards for best film, director, actress and cameraman.
The Doordarshan station director told Shyamaprasad that he should not accept the award because Doordarshan was a central government organisation, while the award a state one.
Shyamaprasad found the directive illogical and went ahead and attended the award ceremony. He was suspended and Shyamaprasad put in his papers. “It was tough to leave a cushy central government job. I had a wife and two children to support.” But his family stood steadfast behind him. “Looking back it was the right decision, otherwise I would have vegetated creatively,” he says.Shyamaprasad began making movies: ‘Kallu Kondoru Pennu’ (1998), ‘Agnisakshi’ (1999), ‘Bokshu the Myth’ (2002), ‘Akale’ (2004) and ‘Ore Kadal’ (2007). ‘Ore Kadal’ based on a novel by Sunil Gangopadhyay, won over 50 state, national and international awards, including the Audience Prize at ‘Bollywood and Beyond,’ a festival of Indian cinema in Germany, in 2008. Shyamaprasad’s latest film ‘Rithu’ with fresh faces was released a few months ago to critical acclaim and has done well at the box office. The man who has such an impact on audiences was himself impacted by two men. The first was novelist O V Vijayan, a friend of his father, BJP leader O Rajagopal.
“I read ‘Khasakinte Ithihasam’ when I was 12. I grew up in Palakkad where the novel was set. It was a slice of society that Vijayan captured perfectly and I realised this was a genius at work.” But when ‘Dharmapuranam’ was published in 1985, Shyamaprasad was confused. “There were a lot of scatological descriptions in the novel,” he says. He asked Vijayan, “The book has an offensive tone. Is this art?” Vijayan looked at Shyamaprasad silently and understood the reaction.
“He told me that each work needs its own idiom.
It was a lifelong lesson for me.” The next person who influenced Shyamaprasad was architect Laurie Baker whom he met for a documentary. “The reason why Laurie Baker avoided plaster and paint in his buildings was because he felt that the colour, texture and the little imperfections of a brick are beautiful in themselves,” says Shyamaprasad. This has become his artistic philosophy. “If we can bring out the truth through rawness it will create the highest aesthetic experience,” he says. “If a dialogue you write or a scene you make does not reach the level of truth, it is not beautiful. Beauty is not something that is applied afterwards. Beauty is inherent. It is something you discover when you peel off the falsehoods.”
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