From seamlessly blending Othello, Desdemona and Iago from Shakespeare’s Othello into Kaliyattam, a movie that revolves around a Theyyam artiste, to narrating the impact of World War II on a small village in Kuttanad through Bhayanakam, which narrates the story of a postman who becomes an omen of death as he starts delivering telegrams with death news of the soldiers, Jayaraj’s impeccable use of imagery makes him one of the most fine-tuned and phenomenal directors of all times. Hailed as the best movies of their times, both Bhayanakam and Kaliyattam that were made almost 20 years made him eligible for National Awards for Best Director. Humbled by the accolades and recognitions that Bhayanakam, the sixth one in his navarasa series, had brought to him and the Indian cinema at large, Jayaraj is all set to release his next, Raudram 2018, the seventh movie in the series. The other movies in the series are: Shantham, Karunam, Bheebhats (which was made in Hindi and stars Seema Biswas and Atul Kulkarni), Adhbhutham and Veeram.
The moment one asks the director about his movies, he delves into that one reason that sparks an idea in his mind. Explaining that in the context of Raudram 2018, Jayaraj says that it was never a conscious effort on his part to select navarasa as the theme and then search for plots that would match the theme. “I am sure that the floods that hit our state in 2018 was one of the greatest natural disasters that we have witnessed till date. And it is actually good to see how people united just in time to help each other rebuild their life and the state at the same time.But it does not change the fact that nothing would be enough to console those who had to encounter the worst days of their lives without food, water and cut off the rest of the world in the fear of being washed away in the gushing water any moment. Nothing could stop the anger of Mother Nature and when I decided to make a movie based on it, the connection with navarasa automatically emerged.”
I heard from my sister that her daughter’s friend’s parents, who lived in Chengannur, one of the most affected areas, were stuck in their home without any help or rescue team even being able to reach them.
Though we were trying our best to do the needful and send in a rescue team, the aged couple had to live on the loft of their home for almost 10 days. The old man was a dementia patient and the lady too had many age-related issues. The surprising part is that many aged couples who got trapped in their homes in Chengannur are well settled with children living abroad. However, the nature’s havoc didn’t spare anyone. I have never seen them, but could clearly imagine what they were going through. Through Raudram 2018, I hope to convey that emotion unadulterated to the audiences as well.”
Jayaraj clarifies that he has not attempted to make a documentary, but tried to showcase the emotional journey of two people during the days of distress. For the movie, the director has once again teamed up with his close friend, writer, director and actor Renji Panicker, who has received many applauds for his role of a postman in Bhayanakam. The actor recently received the Best Actor Award at Imagine India International Film Festival held in Madrid, Spain. Jayaraj says that he wished if Renji had received the National Award as well. “He is an actor who really deserves it,” says the director, adding that despite being friends for many years, he was unaware of Renji’s acting skills and that even when he started acting in movies, he could see Renji the person in his characters until he appeared as the postman in Bhayanakam. “Before I started shooting the movie, I had couple of things on my mind that I thought I would convey to Renji so that he could execute his part in the way I wanted him to do. However, once he started doing the movie, I could only see the postman and not Renji. Thus, I could not think about any other actor other than Renji when I thought of making Raudram 2018. His name has been recommended for the State Awards this year and I really wish he bags it for the actor he is,” the director observes.
KPAC leela and Renji Panicker in a still from Raudram 2018
The movie also has KPAC Leela in the lead role. Jayaraj adds that it was after a sabbatical that he met the actor and finally decided to cast her. “Raudram 2018 narrates the story of an ailing old couple who get trapped in their house during the flood helplessly watching the water level rise and struggling to stay alive,” he says. Nikhil S. Praveen, who won the National Award for Best Cinematographer for Bhayanakam, has handled the camera for Raudram 2018 as well. The cast also includes Binu Pappan, son of actor Kuthiravatam Pappu and the director’s wife Sabitha Jayaraj who play pivatol roles in the movie.
Asked how he selects various plots that suit the navarasa theme, Jayaraj says, “I genuinely believe that there are many people out there who would have many thoughts and ideas regarding various things going around us. However, what they might not be good at would be story-telling or giving a shape to that idea. As a movie maker, I have been blessed with that talent and therefore feel that everyone out there who comes to the cinemas to watch a quality product must be provided with ethnic and real content that they can relate with.
The emotions enacted by the actor onscreen must be the same as the one seeing it must have felt in the same situation. I feel this is true for every emotion – be it anger, agony or comedy. Therefore, when I try to find various subjects that can be made into a movie that would entertain people, I am automatically portraying one or the other expression of the society, which comes under the classification of navarasa.”
Raudram 2018 is expected to release this July and the director, who also has many commercial hits to his credit, says that he is working on a big-budget commercial movie. If things fall in place, he will be announcing the details soon. Though the director has excelled in his experiments with parallel cinema, his commercial blockbusters like Johnnie Walker and Thilakkam have wooed the audiences and entertained the public.
