THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The chairman of the 45th Kerala State Film Awards Jury, the noted scenarist John Paul, made a scathing, also unprecedented, observation at the presser called to declare the awards.
“The lack of quality of more than 75 percent of the films that came before us was shocking.” In other words, less than 20 of the 70 films that came for judgement made the cut, while over 50 of them were sub-standard.
The chairman’s irritation with the standard of the films also erupted as Freudian slips. “The films we had to see...” he paused mid-sentence. It was as if he became suddenly aware that the phrase actually meant “the films we were forced to see”. He soon made amends. “The films we saw...” he continued.
Filmmaker K R Manoj (Kanyaka Talkies) said that there was nothing to be shocked. John Paul’s was an over-reaction. “It was always like this. Except for a handful, all the other films in the competition will be bad,” he said.
But what was truly shocking, Manoj said, were the jury’s choices. “It is unbelievable that films like Kari (a film by debutant Shanavas Naranippuzha) or Njan Steve Lopez (by Rajeev Ravi) were not even mentioned,” he said and added: “What moral right has a jury to speak about low quality when it thought nothing about ignoring thematically brilliant indie films?”
Award juries should engage in a process of discovery, said documentary filmmaker Shaji Joseph. “The best juries don’t confirm popular opinion but discover hidden gems,” he said. Masters like Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Shaji N Karun were found thus. “Google ‘Kari’ and instead of Shanavas’s film, you will get the lyrics of ‘ethu kari raavilum...’, a song from Bangalore Days. I am afraid the fate of Shanavas Naranippuzha is to remain hidden forever,” Mr Joseph said.
Film society activist Madhu Janardhanan rates Rajeev Ravi's indie effort ‘Njan Steve Lopez’ highly. “I am not in a position to judge the jury as I have not seen many of the films that have been awarded,” Mr Janardhanan said. “But going by the awards for best male and female actors, I don’t think the jury headed by John Paul has really applied its mind,” he said.
He also felt that John Paul’s observation was unkind. “Even commercial films during the last few years have not shied away from experimenting. These attempts have to be lauded and not looked down upon,” he said.
Film academician Louis Mathew said that the crowd of bad films was not a new beast. “Over the years, the overwhelming majority of films that came for consideration were bad. It was like this, even during the eighties, a period touted as the golden era of Malayalam cinema,” Mr Mathew said.
The approach to cinema has perhaps changed, he reasoned. “Nowadays filmmakers do not make the kind of movies made by Aravindan or Bakker or T V Chandran. The new filmmakers it seems are not burdened by social upheavals. But they have stylistic flamboyance,” Mr Mathew said.
He cited Jude Anthony Joseph’s ‘Om Shanthi Osana’ as an example. “The story is trite, the kind found in cheap magazine fiction. But the filmmaker has a distinct voice and form. As long as there is form, I am fine with the film,” he said.
