THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Seeing Mohan Agashe at the theatre, seated near us with a whole ten minutes left for the film to begin, was actually the best laugh of the day. For, we had been pestering him for a meeting for two days, only to be reminded each time that being a jury member is no easy job and interviews can wait till the last day.
And here he was, right beside, ready for a small chat. We jumped right to the question- which was his first love? Psychiatry or cinema? Like a true psychiatrist, he says everybody is an actor from his birth.
“As a child, we act before the mirror or we act before our parents to get things done, we act before our friends. We are not ourselves when we are out of home. But cinema is a medium where we are paid for not being ourselves for some time,’’ he says.
Agashe is a theatre person, top to bottom. He has been connected to plays all through his life. For an actor, there are few choices, he says. ``Once you have established yourself as an actor, maybe you can choose your works,’’ he gets frank.
So, if we haven’t seen this actor in too many movies, it says a lot about how this man has been setting priorities in his life.
Agashe was the founder director of the Maharashtra Institute of Mental Health, before he moved on to become the Director of FTII.
Agashe played a good role in devising a new policy on mental education in Maharashtra. He had served as Advisor to the Government of Maharashtra on Mental Health Education and Service.
Psychiatry and cinema are complimentary, he says. ``Knowing human mind is psychiatry and that can help you in a big way in cinema,’’ he says and quickly adds, “In psychiatry, the organ we most use is brain and in cinema that is the organ we rarely use,’’ he smiles.
Agashe is busy rehearsing for his new play, which deals with the ‘politics in relationships.’ It will be staged in January first week.
Our chat ends as the comperes start with their jobs. We couldn’t catch up with him after the movie, for he had walked out in between.
An IIT-ian-turned actor
We met Prakash Bare at the cafeteria for lunch, an hour before his debut film ‘Sufi Paranja Katha’ was to be screened. Thampi Antony, his co-actor in the movie, sat across us.
There is something quite mysterious about the film. Like the choice of such a theme and treatment by National award winner Priyanandanan, we begin.
Prakash, who plays the male lead in the female-oriented movie, says it’s no mystery. ``People evolve, they just can’t stand at one place and say I will do only such movies. It’s Priyan’s first film with songs. People experiment as they evolve,’’ he says.
What matters is that the film has been welcomed well, he says. “Some dialogues were applauded by the audience, which we least expected at such a festival,’’ he says.
Prakash is an IIT-ian from Kanpur and was earning his bread in Silicon Valley. That’s probably how his production house with Thampi Antony bears the name Silicon Media.
And probably why the man is too practical and less emotional while dealing with cinema. ``I think we need to package good cinema to the West, instead of just taking in their cinema,’’ he says. We need to ensure quality too, while packaging Indian cinema outside, he adds.
‘Sufi Praranja Katha’ is the adaptation of the novel by K.P. Ramanunni, written years back. The story is set in Malabar, with myth of the land and history of the people blending with spiritual tolerance. The film centres around Karthi, played by Sharbani Mukherji, who transforms from her Hindu self into a Muslim Biwi.
Before we part after lunch, Prakash shares an interesting incident during the making the film. ``We wanted a baby girl, days-old, to picturise a naming ceremony in the film. We searched and searched and finally got a baby. We shot the scene in the morning, during which the family of the girl appeared very nervous. Soon after the shot, they said they were leaving. It was actually the baby girl’s naming ceremony that day. What’s more, after two days, we learned that the baby was named Karthi...’’.
trivandrum@expressbuzz.com
