Besides the varying content, there are certain aesthetics, history and technology that moulds a cinema. Analysing these ideological, creative and technical facets of movies while paying ode to a few filmmakers like Sergei Parajanov and Pier Paolo Pasolini, who broke the mould by taking movies into a much higher realm, is P K Surendran’s book Anchu Camerakal Jeevitham Parayunnu (Five Cameras Talk Life), published last month.
While exploring the politics and aesthetics of the works of many directors, the various forms and formats of movies, the feel it gives the viewers and the process involved in it, Surendran’s book also contains detailed interviews with renowned cinematographer K U Mohanan, sound designer P M Sateesh and director Ashish Avikunthak, who made Nirakar Chhaya, a Bengali film based on ‘Pandavapuram’, the award winning novel by Sethu.
Through his book, P K Surendran brings to focus Rithy Panh, a Cambodian director, who used his camera to remind the world about the cruel Pol Pot reign of terror. Through his movie The Missing Picture (Surendran refuses to tag it a documentary), Panh narrates his tale through children whose taut fingers are busy moulding clay; a well-crafted metaphor wherein Panha aims to recreate his parents, family and lost childhood. The author heralds the movie as a rare visual experiment tagging it an intense cinematic experience made acute by effective use of sound.
On Directors
Sergei Parajanov is another director who finds mention here. Paranjanov’s movies are a reflection of the identity crisis he faced. They are bereft of things that define ordinary movies like realistic approach or camera movements. Albeit, they are colourful, controversial and carries the viewer into a world of magical realism.
And not one whose interest thrives in commercial ventures, P K Surendran never misses Italian director and communist intellectual Pasolini. He traces the death of Pasolini, who was murdered in a gruesome way, through the documentary of Philo Bregstein’s Whoever says the truth shall die.
French-Taiwanese film The Journey to the West, directed by Tsai Ming-liang, which gives its viewers a meditative feel, Five Broken Cameras by directors Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi which chronicles the Gaza war and Iranian director Jafar Panahi, Surendran’s works are a tribute to these directors’ struggles to find a creative vent while breaking the shackles of circumstances.
His Aim
“Through Anchu Camerakal Jeevitham Parayunnu I aim to shed light on many great directors who have risen above the mould. Their works go beyond the set stereotypes. Besides, I aim to familiarise people on how the world of movies function. Apart from the content, there are several facets to this craft that people should be aware of,” says Surendran.
Aptly, Surendran has touched upon other aspects of cinema, its duration, the abstract nature and cinematic experiences like Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaaniqatsi, which shatters our perceptions and prejudices by its no-story, no-characters or no-dialogue format.
Equally edifying is the interviews with K U Mohanan, P M Sateesh and director Ashish Avikunthak. “The conversations I had with these stalwarts imply how technology can add to the creative process,” says P K Surendran.
Anchu Camerakal Jeevitham Parayunnu was released last month at the book fest organised by Kerala Library Council.
The book published by Mayflower Books is priced at `120.
