'Priyamanasam' team from at inauguration of Indian Panorama at IFFK 2015. Photo: PIBPanaji: Reaffirming that he chose to make his latest film Priyamanasam in Sanskrit purely owing to his passion for the classical language, Keralite filmmaker Vinod Mankara said that all the campaign against the movie were baseless.
“Just because I made the film in Sanskrit, some people accused me of allegiance to BJP and alleged that I attempted to gain space by supporting the Centre’s policies. All such criticism are baseless. I made the film in Sanskrit merely due to my passion for the language” Vinod told Onmanorama on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the IFFI's Indian Panorama section here on Saturday.
Six years of learning
It took six years for me to understand the nuances of the language. I finished the script first in Malayalam and then consulted several Sanskrit scholars. I approached scholars belonging to several schools of Sanskrit in order to avoid controversies over the grammar.
Director on the sets of the movieAsked about the language turning out to be a barrier to reach out to the general audience, Vinod said he has used a simplified version of the language. “It’s almost like the language we use in daily life. It is digestible to an ordinary viewer. The problem with G.V. Iyer’s Sanskrit movies was that he used tough language. I have tried maximum in order to avoid it.”
Warrier the unsung poet
Despite being the writer of a classic work like ‘Nalacharitham Attakkatha’, Unnayi Warrier does not have any memorial in our state. Even as his contemporaries like Kunchan Nambiar are celebrated figures, there is hardly any information available on the life of Warrier.
I came across the theme while studying “Nalacharitham Attakkatha”, a Kathakali text by Unnayi Warrier based on the story of Nala in Mahabharat. There are some soliloquies in the text which are seldom performed. While reading them over and over I found that it was kind of an autobiography of the author. There is only hearsay about him. So, I thought it is a must to mark his life at least in the format of cinema.
It took six years for me to understand the nuances of the language, says VinodOn being selected as the opening film in the Indian Panorama section, the director said it was indeed an honour. “The film was submitted at the last minute only. Yet, we could make it to the Indian Panorama, which is great,” he said.
The film’s producer Baby Mathew and leading actors Rajesh Hebbar, Pratheeksha Kashi, Meera Sreenarayan and Rachana Narayanakutty were present at the opening ceremony.
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