THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: 10 10-year-old boy used to draw pictures based on Ramayana on 2x2-inch paper and stitch it like a film role and exhibit it before his family who thronged the inner courtyard of his ancestral naalukettu during the month of Karkidakam. Every day the ritualistic Ramayana recital happened, he gave a running commentary on the arrival of each character.
Though destiny did not see him maturing into a great filmmaker, the artist in him was unrelenting. His perseverance has made him a documentary filmmaker of over 80 films.
Today, A V Thampan, 57, from Chavara Thekkumbhagam in Kollam, can proudly say that filmmaking was his calling. His friendship with Padmarajan, P A Lathief and writer Perumpadavom has helped him mould into one. Thampan also had a stint in mainstream cinema directing a film ‘Manasinte Theerthayathra’ in 1981.
However, what makes his memories greener was his close association with legendary filmmaker K G George while working in a few of latter’s films including ‘Ulkadal’.
George may not have received the recognition he deserved yet, but as a tribute to his contributions to the Malayalam cinema, Thampan has made a documentary ‘KG George, the Master’.
In the documentary made for Doordarshan, that traverses the life and works of George, Thampan has focused on the evolution of K G George as a master craftsman. However, Thampan has chosen to step out of the trodden path of using interviews and sound bites to unravel the central character. George’s family members or friends do not speak about him in the film as George is physically present throughout the documentary.
Thampan, instead of presenting George’s journey in a chronological order, has preferred to present his work ‘Yavanika’ at the end of the documentary as if he rated ‘Yavanika’ as George’s masterpiece. Justifiable, since George himself have resorted an unique manner in presenting the protagonist tabalist Ayyapan in ‘Yavanika’. Thampan juxtaposes the frames from George’s film like ‘Yavanika’, ‘Ulkkadal’ and ‘Lekhayaude maranam oru flash back‘ to underline the fact that George had an array of filmic moments to place him in the league of great craftsmen.
“The last scene from the ‘Lekhayude Maranam oru flash back’ and the introduction to tabalist Ayyappan are enough to convince the viewers,” he says. The work was screened at ‘Focus’ section of the International Short Film Documentary Film Festival (ISDFF).
Thampan’s documentary on C J Thomas, the legendary playwright, was also noted. As CJ had died over 51 years back, he had to depend on the photographs to feature him . “I want people to watch the film unlike the kind of film division documentaries. I had used only the bites of CJ’s wife and children to avoid the boredom of interviews,” he says.
He had also made a notable work for I and PRD featuring Idukki district. Another noted work was ‘Malayala Bhashayum Sahithyavum Part 2’ also made for the PRD. The majorities of his documentaries were made for Doordarshan and PRD. However, Thampan is worried that his works, including that on George, had not been widely screened. “Of course, Doordarshan may show it more than once. But it will not reach the main stream,” he says.