Panaji: Awards bring more audience to films across the world but unfortunately in India, especially in Kerala, the situation is just the opposite, says seasoned filmmaker Jayaraj.
"Be it the Oscars or Cannes or any such award, people are attracted towards films that have won such recognition. But unfortunately when it comes to India, and especially in Kerala, people choose not to watch a film just because it won an award. I have not understood the reason behind this tendency," Jayaraj told Onmanorama on the sidelines of the 46th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) here.
He also made an appeal to the authorities concerned to give more prominence to the films selected under the Indian Panorama category as it's the only platform for regional filmmakers to get an exposure.
Jayaraj's film Ottal, which won the National Award for the best film on environmental conservation, has been included in the Indian Panorama section of this year's IFFI. He said he dedicates the film to millions of child labourers across the world. Excerpts from a chat with him.
Navarasa series
I started it with the aim of making a few films based on the several emotions manifested through rain. And I wanted to do a film with rain throughout in its background. Thus, the the film Karunam got started. The film featured the agonies of aged people who are dumped by their children. The film had great impacts on several people's minds, for example, after watching the film, one person even cancelled a room he had reserved for his father in an age-old home.
These experiences made me rethink and later, I decided to do films on the 'navrasas' of society instead of rain. The latest among the series, Veeram is to start rolling by mid December.
Veeram
It's a film based on William Shakespeare's play Macbeth. The periodic film will be set in the 16th century in the backdrop of Kalarippayattu, Kerala's own traditional form of martial arts.
The film is in the recording stage and the shoot will start by mid December. The lead characters will be new faces and around 6000 youngsters have applied for the audition.
Why new faces often
In fact, I Iike to work with new faces the most, or even real life people for that matter, because they are so genuine. While it's often a difficult job to make the stars shed their mannerisms, I don't face such issues with newcomers.
I don't think newcomers are a reason for films not faring well in cinemas. In fact, many of the super hits across India were films that had newcomers in the lead.
Adaptation of Shakespeare plays
I go back to Shakespeare plays time and again as I find the emotions manifested in them as relevant at all times. For example, in my latest film, I will be featuring the fall of a person for being overly ambitious as what happened to Macbeth. The theme is still relevant as we come across such incidents frequently. I also find it easy to adapt Shakespearean plays to our social and cultual conditions.
New generation filmmakers
I don't think there is any need for such branding. New generation filmmakers were always there. For instance, P.N. Menon was new generation in 1960s, while people like Bharathan and Padmarajan heralded a period of transition in Malayalam films in the 70's. Interestingly, when we made Desadanam in 1996, we had named the banner 'New generation films'.
The new filmmakers are really talented and I appeal to them to take Malayalam films to new heights, and make films that match up to world films. I find a lack of attempts on the part of the filmmakers towards that end. There is also a lack of life experience and viewpoints in several new films.
Our times have come way forward from a period of scarcity to that of abundance. And the filmmakers have to pay more attention towards gaining more experiences and making worldviews these days.