The blessed director, whose debut film ‘Melvilasam’ is nominated for the Busan International film festival, South Korea, is here, sharing his thoughts with the readers.
- Your film nominated for The Busan International Film Festival, a truly magnificent achievement. Being a debutant how do you remark this?
“I am really happy. I will say its God’s grace. Moreover, getting recognition among the delicates from over 60 countries is a great thing for me. I was just after one thing that, the outcome of our effort must make the audience enjoy it as a true cinema. And I am glad that it did.”
- ‘Melvilasam’- a commercial film or an art film?
“I never like to categorize films into various categories like serious, commercial, popular, art, and what else. Each film must be made enjoyable to the common man and I stand for that. The Mohanlal Fans association members called me once, and that’s a proof for that.”
- There are many things special about your film, like it is completely filmed inside a room. What else are there, unique to ‘Melvilasam’?
“Really and truly, the whole film was shot inside a room. The entire shooting process was completed in 10 days. The film is a real time movie, as the procedures of a court martial of 2 hours is caught on the camera as it is. The film casts no female characters, except a small girl appearing once. There are no songs, no dances, no stunts… I was just experimenting by breaking all the traditional formulas of the Malayalam films. There are 12 characters in the film that represents various states of India, and this creates a ‘miniature India’ inside the room. The characters even though they belong to different states, speak Malayalam. ‘Melvilasam’ is a 100% dialogue oriented film.”
- How do you evaluate the role of the actors, as well as the other elements, in making the film the best?
“Obviously, the actors have done a great contribution towards bringing up the film. Dialogue delivery was such a crucial factor in this film. Art direction was the most important part, as the location was always the same and to avoid the audience getting bored it was a huge task. Camera, music, costumes, makeup, editing, sound mixing, all have made their valuable contributions.”
- How closer the film does stands to the reality, regarding the procedures of a Court Martial?
“Well, it is not a 100% realistic court martial that is shown in the movie. It is slightly dramatized that a girl is entering the scene at a particular time, where actually it is prohibited.
I always believe that life has something more than cinema. The reality is really more surprising than the fiction. Real life is unpredictable, whereas a drama goes on along with the script. There are incidents which happen beyond the code of law. So the entry of the child can be justified.”
- Speaking about ‘Melvilasam’, the powerful script of Soorya Krishna Moorthy cannot be ignored. What would you like to share about the script and the scriptwriter? Was the script altered for the film?
“The script, of course, is powerful. Swadesh Deepak’s drama, the ‘Court Martial’, and the real life experiences of an ex-military Gopi Poojapura, who was the Guru of Soorya Krishna Moorthy, helped him to draft the drama ‘Melvilasam’. The drama which was written five years ago had played in over 500 stages and all these audiences have welcomed it. This itself, is a testimony for the strength of the script.”
- Tell us something about the story?
“Sawar Ramachandran, a Dalit soldier, who finds ‘Humanity’ as a prominent feeling of the mankind, shoots two army men at a particular situation, but one of them survives. The defense council provides an advocate to the accused, while the witnesses have a government pleader. Their arguments for and against the accused takes the story forth. The story reveals the reason behind the accused shooting the army men.”
- The truth that is revealed in the climax creates numbness in the viewers mind. Thus you have become successful in giving a message to the wrongful society. Would you like to share that message here?
“Even after years the truth will come out for sure. No one can hide the truth forever. The world today is focused on to the 20% of the creamy layered people. No one is bothered about the majority of 80%, which comprises of the common people. The facilities that must be made available to the latter is being looted and misused by the creamy layer. The law and orders never apply for them and the sufferers are the common man. The film raises voice against this discrimination.”
- What have been the challenges you have faced in making your dream film come true?
“To convince a producer, it was a hard task. There was nothing in this film to assure the producer. What I could do was making it done and saying ‘This is it’. The absence of songs, dances, stunts and other crucial factors of a conventional style film, added up to the doubts that the film may fail. But it was done somehow, and here I am.”
- In your view, what are the five plus points about this film?
“1) A ‘power’ guided us in our way forward at a point where we thought everything would end up; may be because of the prayers and wishes of our parents, teachers, friends and well wishers.
2) As a beginner, I was able to bring out a creation with such legendary writers in the background.
3) No one has given me a wrong impression about the film and I find it as one of the plus points.
4) I tried to express some social evils, like cast-religion based issues, bureaucracy, harassments, etc through the movie, along with the problems within the army.
5) To debut a film with such a brilliant star cast was really a great blessing.”
- It becomes incomplete without you saying something to the readers of ‘Kerala9.com’
“Everyone who have watched this movie and supported, thank you very much. Others, who haven’t yet, please do watch it and judge whether it’s just an art film or what.”
Interview by : Vimal
Indian Webcasting Media
September 13th, 2011