Unwatched, the garden bough shall sway,
The tender blossom flutter down,
Unloved, that beech will gather brown,
This maple burn itself away
These lines from Alfred Tennyson’s 1849 poem In Memoriam A.H.H describe in great agony the passing away of a dear friend and the whittling down of beauty surrounding the departed’s memory. In the lap of rustic Valavanur in the district, the parents of Kishore Te find resonance in these lines at their house.
Kishore Te, who bagged his second National Award for editing in Visaranai, would perhaps never know about the yet another feather in his cap, for he passed away last year after a clot in his brain turned fatal. Just as his rise was meteoric, his passing away resembled the short passage of a bright shooting star in the firmament of the Tinsel Town.
Had Kishore been alive, says his father Thiyagarajan, he would have been in the Seventh Heaven. When the news of his first National Award trickled in, in 2011, the entire household had erupted in joy. However, on Monday, an eerie silence pervaded the house, where the inmates are yet to come to terms with Kishore’s death.
“I remember scolding him for failing in the Class X exam. His aunt, mother of film director Mutham Sivakumar, asked me to send Kishore over to her place, so that he could work in the industry. That’s how he entered the film industry at the age of 16,” says Thiyagarajan.
Though the family used to watch movies, they had no idea what Kishore’s work was and how good he was at it. His first big break came when he joined as an assistant to the famous film editor duo Lancy-Mohan and worked in Kaadhal Kottai with them.
Later, he joined Lenin-V T Vijayan duo and worked with them as an assistant.
In 2009, he worked as an editor for a Tamil horror movie Eeram, which fetched him name for his extraordinary editing, following which offers began trickling in.
He entered 2011 with great anticipation and his hopes were not unfounded as he bagged his first National Award for Aadukalm that year.
The award opened the floodgates of offers, which began coming in dozens, recalls Kishore’s father.
Kishore later set up his own editing studio at Dhanalatchumi Garden at Vadapalani in Chennai. Caught in his hectic work schedule and busy life at his studio, he visits grew rare, says his mother Bharaneshwari.
“I never understood his work or the awards he got. Once he told me that my grandchildren would speak proudly about the awards he had won,” says Bharaneshwari, tears welling up in her eyes.
Recalling her final meeting with Kishore, she said, “He had come home for Pongal last year and we had a good time together. I talked to him a day before he was hospitalised. He had fainted while working on Visaranai.”
Stress, she claims, killed her son. “He had no other health issue. His eating became irregular and sleep timings got disturbed,” she said, barely able to contain the tears.
“He wanted to achieve many things in film editing, and get international fame. But God snatched him from us,” says Thiyagarajan.
“He was very passionate about the work he did. However, once he told an engineering student, who wanted to join him, that film editing was a very difficult job and keep away from it,” he adds.
Recalling a funny incident, Thiyagarajan said, “Once when I visited Kishore at AVM Studio in Chennai, nobody seemed to know him. Everybody was at a loss who Kishore was. Finally, someone directed me to Mr Clean, which was how his close friends addressed him for passion for work and addiction to cleanliness.”
When Kishore had died, the then artistes’ association president, R Sarathkumar, had given the family `1 lakh ex gratia.
Kishore biography
Born - 24/3/1978
Death - 6/3/2015
First film as assistant
Kadhal Kottai
First film as editor - Eeram
Last film - Visaranai
National Awards - 2
Aadukalam, Visaranai
Other Notable awards - 5 including two Vikatan awards and one Vijay award
Languages he worked
Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, and Kannada