THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Timeliness is determined by the position of an object on a timeline that stretches to infinity both ways of the point marked ‘zero’. As he prepared 'Yoddha' in the early 90s, Sangeeth Sivan seems to have stationed himself well in the future, on the right of the timeline, and looked towards the present that zero represents!
How else can a film speaking of personal relations prove to be a cult movie, its characters still part of casual family talk and its dialogues parroted by even the born-digitals? To Urvashi, who played a noted part in the 1992 hit, 'Yoddha' encapsulates the entirety of the talent of Sangeeth Sivan.
The eldest of the Sivan siblings, whose directorial and screenwriting ventures in Malayalam and Hindi placed him as a filmmaker with a multi-layered, futuristic vision, passed away in Mumbai on Wednesday.
“Check the frames of his movies, even the rural shots bear rich photographic treatment. The technical side received a lot of impetus in a Sivan movie, probably reflecting his experience in documentary and ad filmmaking as well as the legacy of his father whose grooming turned all three of his sons into talents Indian cinema could be proud of,” says Urvashi.
Sangeeth’s films added to image-based shift that movies were witnessing: Shyamaprasad
The layers in 'Yoddha' stretched beyond the frames and into the plot. Set in different spatial zones, similar plots were woven together to form a unique, amiable whole that even now sparks laughter and snappy talk. The earthiness in the frames was another enchanting highlight. The song ‘Padakali’ revealed the grip of the director in catchy folk tunes with a passionate grasp of local tongues, whereas the ruminative and ritually surreal setting of the movie in Nepal brought out the culture of that land.
“Both joined hands in the film, making it evolutionary and thus timeless,” says film critic Ravi Menon. “Yoddha', which he directed when just 27, is indeed his landmark work,” says Menon.
‘Vyooham’, released in 1990, was his first film, where too he displayed his ‘beyond the box’ thought, casting Raghuvaran — the famed villain of zappy Tamil movies — in the lead.
Director Shyamaprasad says the strong visual sense Sangeeth had -- attributed to his upbringing in an environment of photography -- infused a new cinematic sensibility that added a youthful vigour to filmmaking in the late 80s and 90s.
“That he did this in mainstream cinema is commendable. The new idiom rendered the detailing of all aspects of filmmaking, such as sound, editing and cinematography. Yet he was quite a lone traveller in the cinema milieu of the times, straddling the path between the mainstream and the parallel. His films were visually rich and added to the image-based shift that movies were witnessing,” Shyamaprasad says.
Sangeeth’s shift to Hindi films probably came as a natural transgression of a filmmaker craving for experimental grounds as well as the one who had a knack for the technical grammar of cinema. “He took cinema seriously, regularly following both international and Indian filmmakers and their work. He shaped his vision through such a study, which he used amply in later Malayalam movies like ‘Gandharvam’ and ‘Nirnayam’ as well as the Hindi ones like ‘Zor’, ‘Kya Kool Hai Hum’, ‘Apna Sapna Money Money’ and ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana 2’.
His casting, much like the texture of his films, showed a unique taste in actors such as Riteish Deshmukh and Tusshar Kapoor. The actors thanked Sangeeth for the mentorship as well as for the subtle directorial acumen he displayed, as they mourned the 61-year-old on X.
Bollywood treated him well but his forte was always Malayalam, he claimed. To Malayalam, he always returned to do meaningful cinema. In his own words, “cinema does not exactly need a story.” It needs a thread that could be developed by instincts and premises on which the thread is set in, he had said, while launching his 2019 paranormal thriller ‘E’.
Such threads of ideas had to strike Sangeeth to start a film, for which he allowed himself ample time, unperturbed by the need to prove or to be seen as a director with a busy body of work. His opulence showed itself in his bare needs and the ability to wait till inspiration struck. And to walk ahead of his time, to make movies that knew of the pulse of entertainment of generations to come.
Feel fortunate to have associated with Sangeeth: Actor Jagadish
Actor Jagadish, who expressed sadness over Sangeeth Sivan’s death, said he harboured extremely fond memories with the filmmaker. Jagadish had acted in ‘Nirnayam’ (1995), directed by Sivan.
“I feel very fortunate to have associated with him. I played a doctor in ‘Nirnayam’. It was a wonderful experience. He was a very talented filmmaker,” said Jagadish.
He also recalled working with Sivan during an ad shoot of Craze biscuits in 1984-85.
“I knew his father and got the chance to work in the ad. It was a nice experience. I had my first child at the time. Sivan came to my home and clicked many photos for us. I am disheartened by the news of his passing. It is a huge loss for the film industry,” Jagadish said.