BADAMI HOUSE: Girish Kasaravalli’s film on Adoor Gopalakrishnan, screened here last weekend, talks about the celebrated director’s themes and avoids rigid chronology.
Images/ Reflections, as the film is called, is 88 minutes long and is divided into five parts, each named after a major Adoor film — Kathapurushan (Man of the story), Mukhamukham (Face to face), Swayamvaram (One’s own choice) and Anantharam (Monologue), with bits of the films being inter-woven into the narrative.
Each chapter brings the entry of a character from Adoor’s films. Kasaravalli synchronises these with the life of the Dada Saheb Phalke Award-winning Malayalam director.
The film features critics and directors of the parallel cinema movement, such as Mrinal Sen and Shyam Benegal, talking about Adoor’s art. Sen says in the film, “Adoor Gopalakrishnan excels not only content-wise but also through his artistic skills.”
Kasaravalli has also interspersed the film with interviews with four women Adoor is close to. This documentary offers interesting details for both admirers of Adoor and those waiting to be introduced to his world.
Kasaravalli and Adoor discuss on screen the latter’s political philosophy and the historical relevance of his films. According to Kasaravalli, Adoor’s Gandhian ideals are evident in his works, rooted firmly in the politics of Kerala. Adoor says he connects with himself through the characters he has built in his films.
Images/Reflections is produced by the Films Division, and when the project was proposed last year, the buzz was that Adoor agreed to it only because it was being helmed by Kasaravalli.
The film was screened by the Kochi Biennale Foundation in April and has also been selected for the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, starting on June 26.
