KOCHI: P Krishnamoorth y, who provided the fitting tinge to background sets of period movies and elevated the status of art directors in South Indian cinema, passed away in Chennai on Monday. He was 77. It was not merely aesthetics and precocious talent which set Krishnamoorthy apart from his peers. His thorough grasp of epics as well his familiarity with legends and folklore was also instrumental in making him a go-to man which manifested itself in the evergreen Swathi Thirunal (1987), Vaishali (1988), Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha (1989) and Perumthachan (1991) to name just a few.
Ace filmmaker Hariharan, who helmed the memorable Oru Vadakkkan Veeragadha and Parinayam, reminisced about his long association with Moorthy. “By birth, he was not a Malayali. But Moorthy was our first choice whenever we planned movies based on Kerala’s folklore and myths, mainly because, after narrating the details and telling him of our requirements, he would keep on researching.
Back then, there was no internet. But he did painstaking research using books and reference guides. Moorthy’s genius was such that the sets he used to come up with were in sync with what the director had in mind,” said Hariharan.
A favourite of period filmmakers for his ability to create retro charm
Some of the visual metaphors employed by Krishnamoorthy – a snake crawling through a shell to show the ferocity of the drought of Angarajya in ‘Vaishali’, a stone used by Thachan to prevent the flow of wind in ‘Perumthachan’, the angathattu (arena) in ‘Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha’ – reveal the level of intellectual rapport he had with respective filmmakers as he was able to accurately read what they had conceived in their minds. The result: Frames with the highest degree of perfection.
In the capacity of art director and costume designer, Moorthy associated with nearly 55 movies which include those in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Sanskrit and English. He was chosen for the National Award for art direction thrice and costume design twice, besides the State (Kerala) Film Award five times. Hailing from Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu, Krishnamoorthy had passed out with a gold medal from the Madras School of Arts. He debuted in movies through the Kannada movie Hamsageethe (1975). Anant Nag essayed a major role in that movie.
When, the late Lenin Rajendran planned ‘Swathi Thirunal’ with Nag in the lead, the actor told Lenin about Krishnamoorthy which paved the way for his entry into Mollywood. Krishnamoorthy’s ability to create retro charm made him the automatic choice of filmmakers taking up period themes. In the meantime, he handled the art department for Hariharan’s Oliyampukal (1990) and Lenin Rajendran’s Vachanam (1990) set to contemporary themes.
Rajasilpi (1992), Ghazal (1993) and Parinayam (1994) were the other Malayalam films in the 1990s in which Krishmoorthy left his imprint. His swansong in Malayalam was Kulam (1996) when he had teamed up with Lenin again. “By mid-2000, when I started the pre-production work of ‘Pazhassiraja’, I called up Moorthy asking him to handle the art department. Citing health issues he told me that he will not be able to undertake the job.
I told him to monitor the proceedings at least while others in his team went about the task. I honestly wanted him on the sets because I needed someone like Moorthy for a film we had conceived on such a scale. He was not able to commit himself to the work. When I heard about his demise, memories came flooding back,” said Hariharan.
inimitable talent
Born in Thanjavur inTamil Nadu5-time State(Kerala) Film Award winner.Also chosen for National Award several times
Notable works include ‘Swathi Thirunal’, ‘Vaishali’and ‘Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha