THIRUVANATAHPURAM: The harmlesslooking Shaji N Karun's victories conjure up the incongruous image of an avenging hero. The filmmaker's biggest triumphs, in 1989 and now in 2010, have come after the mild-mannered filmmaker had been subjected to mythical injustices.
In 1989, his debut film Piravi was given just a consolation prize at the State Film Awards. Piravi had then lost to Ore Thooval Pakshikal, a film directed by Ravindran. There were even those who sympathetically commented that Shaji should stick to cinematography, for which he had by then won a spate of national and state awards. A few months later, Piravi stormed the National Film Awards. It won the best film award and Shaji was adjudged the best director. Piravi then went on to endear the Cannes jury like no other Malayalam film had ever done.
The year 2010, to begin with, was even harder on Shaji. When the state awards 2009 was announced early in January, 'Kutty Srank' was made to look an untouchable. It was not found worthy of even a single award, except for a mention among the films which won Mammootty the best actor.
Jury chairperson Sai Paranjpe, in an act without precedent, publicly aired her suspicions about the Shaji N Karun film. "We did not go by the reputation of the director, we just looked for quality films,'' she had then said. The film, in spite of Mammootty's presence, did not fare well at the box office either. The film was not even screened at the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) 2009. Shaji was painted as a modernday Faustus who had sold his soul to capitalism' biggest devil, the Reliance Group. Anil Ambani's Reliance Big Entertainment produced Kutty Srank. This seemed a bit too much for the Chalachitra Academy run by Marxist hawks. The state awards, organised by the very same Chalachithra Academy, seemed to reflect the resentment of the comrades.
Now, when Ramesh Sippy announced the awards for 2009, Shaji N Karun has had the last laugh. Kutty Srank won the biggest prize, the Best Feature Film award. It won three more biggies: best script (P F Mathews and Harikrishnan), Best Cinematography (Anjali Shukla) and best costume design (Jayakumar).
In yet another manner Shaji N Karun has behaved like a true mainstream hero. A year ago, while announcing the National Awards 2008 as jury chairperson, Shaji N Karun lamented the sorry state of Malayalam cinema.
