The tumultuous bus journey that a young couple took in 1972 continues to captivate audiences.┬атАШSwayamvaramтАЩ┬аremains relevant even 50 years after it first hit the screens and auteur Adoor Gopalakrishnan continues to deftly unravel the complexity of human relationships on screen.
In Delhi to attend a rare commemorative retrospective of his select films organised to celebrate 50 years of his creative journey, the much-feted filmmaker spoke to┬аToday News 24┬аon a range of issues and, of course, his art. Edited excerpts:
Q / What has been your experience of engaging with Delhi?
A /
We cannot avoid Delhi, we cannot escape Delhi!┬аEngaging with the government is neither easy nor interesting. Cinema is equated with Bollywood: The bureaucrats are neither aware of nor interested in anything other than what is churned out in Mumbai. Automatically, we get segregated as outsiders.
A /
My argument was that in this country I am known as a regional filmmaker. To become an Indian filmmaker, I have to go abroad.
Q / Have things changed now with OTT platforms screening a number of films in south Indian languages with subtitles so they reach a pan-Indian audience?
A /
I donтАЩt watch the OTT because I donтАЩt believe in releasing my films for cellphone and laptop viewing. A film is made for a viewing experience in theatre. How could you shrink it and show it on a smaller medium? Cinema is a social experience and is meant to be watched by society in a darkened theatre. Even TV was a compromise but we used to show films on Doordarshan after a significant time had elapsed after the theatre run. It was a secondary source of income, not the intention of making the film. Today, people are making films only for TV viewing which will destroy cinema.
Q / It is being presented as a necessity after the pandemic…
A /
For two years, COVID kept us inside and it led to this demand for in-house entertainment. But cinema, for survival, should not depend on the small screen. Today, even Hollywood is worried about the situation.
A /
When I take the journey up north in trains, I come across hawkers selling grams and peanuts on the running train. They call it тАШtimepass.тАЩ I realised they are selling the food item as a way to kill time during the long journey. You cannot think of cinema as a timepass.
Q / What is your take on the idea of ideological censorship and propaganda films?
A /
We are living in the days of Super Censor. First, the films are censored by a government officer and then by an invisible ecosystem on social media. This is ludicrous. Who are these people who sit on a judgment on a film? To me, they are anti-social. When you donтАЩt trust the artist, it is not a very happy situation. Propaganda as a tool is not new to cinema. The Soviet Union did it in a very positive way after the Bolshevik revolution. It was led by the likes of Sergei Eisenstein who devised the grammar of cinema and inspired filmmakers across the world
Q / In┬а Vidheyan┬а(1993) it is apparent that your films often deal with the power equation┬аat different levels…
A /
I was always interested in examining the position of a citizen as the very pivot of the whole thing and his engagement with the layers of family, society, and the state. I kept on working on these relationships. For this reason, my films are faithful documents of a period and living. Nothing is fake.
Q / How do you deal with change in technology?
A /
Technology is much simpler now. There is nothing new that needs to be adjusted to. It has become user-friendly. However, the basic requirement remains the same. If you are making a worthwhile film, you have to think beforehand. Cinema, whatever means of technology you use, is essentially a product of thinking. When people used to take years to finish a film, I could complete it in 30 days.
Q / But you take long breaks in between films.
A /
I take time in settling on a subject. It is not because I could not find the money. I could have easily made several films. I make a film only when there is a real throbbing within me to do it. And, in between, I lead a simple life that has nothing filmy about it.
Q / Why do you provide information to your actors on need to know basis?
A /
I donтАЩt want any other interpretation of what I have written. I donтАЩt allow my actors to make any changes to the dialogue. It is quite possible that I change my mind about a particular scene during the shoot. My script is very organic. It can change, it can grow. My script contains not just a scene-wise description of events. It includes camera movement and the composition of scenes. If it is not written, it is in my mind.
Q / Was it always like this, even when you worked with some of the top stars?
A /
Yes, right from my first film where I worked with Thikkurissi (Sukumaran Nair), who was a big name in the Malayalam film industry. My village people asked will he listen to you? I said more than anybody else.
Q / These days younger filmmakers often talk of cinema being a collaborative effort…
A /
When you are not a master of your craft, it becomes a collaborative endeavour. Nothing wrong with that if it works for them.
The retrospective is on at the India International Centre, New Delhi, till December 21
