Jnanapith Award for ONV

At last our poet par excellence ONV was yesterday conferred with the 2007 Jnanapith Award for his contribution to Literature.This award had been long overdue to ONV and comes to a Malayalam poet for the second time after G.Sankara Kurup had been honoured in 1965. This has come as a great honour to the Malayalam language itself.

I had personally come in to contact with him many years back when he had written the lyrics of the films I have been associated with. Since then I had maintained personal relationship with him on many occasions, the last on being at the marriage function of playback singer Aparna Rajeev, his grand daughter.

Given below is a photo taken at the Pooja Ceremony of the film MIZHIGAL SAAKSHI directed by Ashok R Nath, The occasion was the confluence three great personalities singer K.J.Yesudas, Music Composer Mastero Dakshinamoorthy Swami and eminent lyricist ONV.

Producer Das, Yesudas, Dakshinamoorthy Swami, ONV and me

During the shooting of the Krishanattam sequence at the Mugathala Murari Temple , he visited our sets to witness the picturising of the song written by him and sung by his grand daughter Aparna Rajeev.

Anil Mughathala, Ramu Mangalapally, Kochu Preman, ONV, Ashok R Nath, Vineeth, Sukumari and me

I wish him a very long and fruitful life with many more honours being showered upon our own Poet Laureate ONV.

For old times sake .....

Yesterday on the occasion of a mutual friend's daughter's marriage a unique meeting of old time associates from SWAPNADANAM days took place took place. Mohammed Bappu (Parsi) who was based in Bombay wanted to produce films in Malayalam and had contacted K.G.George to Direct it. All he wanted was a good film and never interfered in the project and gave full freedom to go ahead. P.A.Latheef was in charge of the production and the film SWAPNADANAM became a reality and the rest is history. It won many Awards in the State and National level and had become a landmark in Malayalam films. Mohammed Bappu wanted his friend, Jitin Shyam, a Malayali but working in the Hindi film industry as Music Director to compose songs for the film. But ultimately there were no songs in SWAPNADANAM and he could not be accommodated in the film. Kabeer Raothar's first film LUBNA (Hindi) was also produced by Mohammed Bappu. While we were doing the film SWAPNADANAM, Sankaran Kutty the all-in-all person in Malayalam film Industry was working in the Vijaya Laboratory at Madras .

Though we used to meet each other individually, this was the first occasion that we all were together and it was recorded for posterity in the photo given below!

Producer Mohammed Bapu, myself, Sankaran Kutty, K.G.George,
Kabeer Raothar & Jitin Shyam

Yet another loss - VENU NAGAVALLI

I had just finished posting my memoirs about Tamil Actor Murali, this morning and picked up the newspaper only to find the headline that my friend Malayalam Actor, Writer & Director Venu Nagavalli passed away around 1.30 AM ! What a tragedy of losing friends one after another and to write about them in continuation! But only by sharing your grief, letting it out you can unburden yourself and remain sane. I just returned from the VJT Hall where his mortal remains were kept for people to pay their respects and last farewell.

Ever since he had acted in K.G.George's film ULKADAL, I had known him but he had acted in my three films only, that too all Directed by K.G.George and outstanding ones : KOLANGAL, YAVANIKA and ADAMINTE VARIYELLU. Because of his image as forsaken lover image in his first film ULKADAL, people think he is a sad person. Though he is soft spoken and calm by nature he opens up his humorous side in the company of friends. Even though we haven't worked together for a long time we used to meet on several occasions and renewed our friendship. In 1983 , he attended my marriage at Kollam along with P.A.Latheef ( who is also no more, now) and given below is a photo taken on that occasion.

Myself, Venu and P.A.Latheef

In the end scene of KOLANGAL, the character played by Venu sets fire to his hut and departs the village. The hut was erected in the Chitraleka Film Co-operative studio complex and the scene was planned to be shot late in the evening so that the fire will be dramatic against a darkening sky. Being the end shot of the film, the camera was set for a long shot to show thw whole hut and the scenery behind. The hut made of palm leaves and straw had to be sprinkled with petrol so that it will catch fire when lighted, immediately without any time lag. The art department guys in their enthusiasm sprinkled a whole can of petrol all over the hut.

With camera rolling, Venu put a lighted torch on to the hut and there was a fire ball and the hut exploded in flames! Fortunately Venu backed off in time, otherwise he would have been badly burnt by the fire. What had happened was the petrol was sprinkled much in advance and had vapourised in to an inflammable mixture and the moment it was lighted it turned into a fireball. We then re-erected the set the next day and re-shot the scene with care!

Thus he had a miraculous escape many years back and managed to give us many memorable Malayalam films. But now death had caught up and snatched him away.

I very much miss him and his films.

I pray for his Soul to rest In Peace along with his family and friends

Murali , Tamil actor Passed Away

It came as a big shock to me that Murali, the leading hero of yesteryear passed away at a young age of 46, due to heart attack on the morning of 8 th September 2010. Only recently he had launched his son Atharv as hero in the Tamil film BAANA KATHTHADI and did not live to see his son’s career flourish! What a sad and sudden end!

Murali and I have worked together in only one film “PAGAL NILAVU” Director Mani Rathnam’s maiden Tamil film way back in 1985. We had a nice jolly relationship even though he was a just at the beginning of his career and I was a well known cinematographer. He was always polite and was a gentleman. At 21 years, he was quite enthusiastic and energetic performing well in both dance and stunt sequences. His jovial nature and friendliness made work in hot outdoor locations less strenuous.During the outdoor shooting at Kuttalam, after pack up the whole crew and artistes used to go the Five falls for a refreshing bath and have fun.

I never had an opportunity to do any other film with him nor meet him afterward. Still the memories of happy days linger long on the mind's screen.

I express my heartfelt condolences to his grieving family members and friends.

My CINEKU Films

I created a new Genre of Short Film - CINEKU in 2006 which was Premiered at the Trivandram International Film Festival 2006. It was also shown in the International Film Festival of Kerala, Suchitra International Film Festival, Bangalore and was selected in the competition of Short Shorts Film Festival Tokyo, Japan. More details about CINEKU can be found HERE.

What is CINEKU ?

CINEMA + HAIKU = CINEKU

Cineku is the Haiku Version of Cinema.

Like Japanese Haiku poems Cineku ( Pronounced Cine – Koo ) is a unique new form of Cinema consisting of a very short film of 3 shots each, conveying a central idea in the briefest possible use of shots.

RULES :

1. The film should consist of only Three shots

2. Shot length shouldn’t be more than 40 Seconds and the Maximum length of the film should be
One Minute

3. There should not be any Optical or Computer-graphic modification of images. In Camera effects are allowed.

Here is one CINEKU - FIRE

More CINEKU Films are available online for viewing in YouTube :

CINEKU - FIRE - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4qHdjyAw1Q

CINEKU - LEADING HANDS - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxsM_UQx12o

CINEKU - DOCTORS - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy1DHdiFS7g

CINEKU - SUICIDE - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA3QpKp203Y

CINEKU - KNIVES - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2udlx7Te0k

CINEKU - KISS OF LIFE - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K43O77wA77k

Watch it and make your own CINEKU.
It is so easy, you can do it even with your Mobile Phone!

1982 FIFA World Cup

WORLD CUP 2010

On 11 th July 2010, I was watching the World Cup Final between Netherlands and Spain at midnight. Everyone in the family had gone to sleep and I sat fighting my drowsiness hoping to witness a great match between two European teams clashing at the final. As the game progressed, there were more yellow cards shown to the players and instead of Goals there were plenty of Fouls! Somehow I sat through till the first half of the unintersting game and sleep forced me to retire. Any how the next morning there will be the retelecast of the entire play and also the highlights shown in case you are in a hurry. Ultimately it was the solitary goal by Iniesta at extra time tht sealed the fate of the Germans and for the first time in history Spain won the World Cup!

Iniesta holding the Gold Cup

My memories goes back to the times when India's love affair with the World Cup football tournament started in 1982, when for the first time the semi finals and final were telecast live on Doordarshan . There was also deferred telecast of some of the earlier round matches. At that time I was living at Chennai in my bachelor flat thrilled at the prospect of watching the live telecast of a World Cup!

The 1982 Semi final between West Germany and France took the lead and were pegged back. Then after sixty-six minutes Battiston of France collected a beautifully precise ball from Platini and raced on, there was only Schumacher in goal for West Germany to beat, the German ‘keeper rushed out to meet the Frenchman; Battiston’s effort, unfortunately, hit the post and went out. It was what happened next that enraged the neutral and the French alike. Schumacher made no effort to slow down and smashed his forearm into Battiston’s face. The Frenchman went down, the blow was so severe that he had to be given oxygen to breathe; as if this was not enough he had lost three teeth and had neck and shoulder injuries. Battiston had to be carried off on a stretcher. Incredibly the referee did not penalise Schumacher for the worst foul in World Cup history. France twice came desperately close to winning, but the match ended three-three.

The match was extened as both teams were level at 3 - 3 after extra time and a thrilling penalty shoot out started. To watch it live even on the small 14 inches B&W television was incredible!

The lucky West Germany won 5-4 on penalties (semi-finals)

I was so thrilled at having witnessed a historical telecast, I rang up my friend film Director K.G.George at 2-15 AM to talk about the match. He also kept awake and had watched the match live and we shared our happiness together at that odd early morning!

But this time I called K.G.George after the finals of the 2010 FIFA Cup match. Like me he had also did not sit through the match and had seen the highlights telecast in the nextday.

The 1982 world cup in Spain was a demonstration of power of European teams: all four semi-finalists were European, and the final saw the Italian team in its first world cup final since 1970 against the defending European champions of West Germany.Italy were in the final against the odds given to them in the first round, where they had in fact not won a single match, becoming the first team ever to qualify to the second round without a victory. In spite of the good results that had put them in the final, Italy were not favourites to win the tournament; West Germany were considered the stronger team, although they had become very unpopular in Spain.

The score was only 0-0 at half-time in a match that had been quite disappointing and overly tactical. I was young and fired with the thrill of watching a World Cup Final Live for the first time, so I sat through. In the second half the West German game reared its ugly head in the form of several rash challenges, some near the German penalty area.West Germany kept attacking, with Rummenigge being at his most dangerous. Zoff only just managed to stave the ball off thanks to an assist from Collovati. Twelve minutes after the first goal, Italy scored again, the West Germans having been unable to prevent Tardelli from loosing off a left-footer. The Italians now tried to play a possession game. with the crowd deliriously shouting “olé” every time a West German attempted an unsuccessful tackle.

Briegel did nothing to endear himself to the crowd with a transparent dive the desperation of the West German players was such that they ludicrously tried to argue the issue with the referee who had waved play on. While this non-argument was going on Conti swept forwards sixty yards, pulling it in for Altobelli to put Italy three up. There was widespread cheering. Breitner did pull one back for West Germany shortly afterwards, but it was too late. Never has there been a final in which nearly all the neutral supporters wanted one side to win, but West Germany had brought this on themselves by their lack of sportsmanship.

Italy's Marco Tardelli kisses the
1982 World Cup trophy after the match

While watching the victorious Spanish team arrived at the Barajas airport in Madrid for a grand reception, I remembered the time when myself and Sunny Joseph arrived at the same airport 2004 for the 1st International Congress on Authorship Rights of Cinematographers in Huelva, Spain. Only thing is we lost our baggage in transit from Rome and luckily got it back the next day! I still remember the hospitality shown to us by the Spanish Society of Cinematographers

Spanish team which had also won the Fairplay Award as well as the Golden Glove Award surely deserve their World Cup!

VIDYARAMBHAM at Chetana Media Institute

The Chetana Media Institute at Thrissur recently had the VIDYARAMBHAM of their 9 th batch of Diploma in Digital film making courses on 9 June 2010. I was the Chief guest at the function held there which was presided by Fr. John Neelankavil CMI , S.G.Raman (Head of the Department, Cinematography) and Fr. Benny Benedict CMI, Director of Chetana Media Institute.

The function was well attended with the student and staff had a lively interaction of several hours about films, film making and cinematography.

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