06-22-2010, 02:03 PM
|
#151 (permalink)
|
|
Active User
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 2,107
Rep Power: 3110
|
Lohitadas Interview by Tamil writer JeyamohanShare
Translation of an Interview with Lohitadas by Tamil writer Jeyamohan ... A lohitadas film festival is running in Asianet Plus.
Original Tamil interview is at jeyamohan.in ஏ.கே.லோகிததாஸ்:நீண ட உரையாடல்-1
Jeyamohan (JM): Why did you choose cinema as your medium? What kindled
your interest?
A.K.Lohithadas (AKL): Cinema became my medium much later. My first
medium was literature. My first introduction to the written word was
at a young age. To be honest, I think writing came to me well before
reading.
Every child looks to express itself, to justify its existence. It
finds an outlet based on its own character, talents and surroundings.
Music, sports, studies etc Writing was something that reached me in
this manner. From a very young age, I found indescribable strength in
giving my worries and tears words. I felt untouchable as if I was
beating my worries
JM: Your youth was quite sorrow-filled.
AKL: Yes. My father abandoned us when I was young. I grew up a hungry
orphan. Lived in many of m relatives homes. The written word was my
greatest companion. I am a littrateur at heart. Cinema is the medium
for my literature.
At the same time, words were insufficient. I needed acting as well. I
would always act out what I wrote in my mind. I started writing in a
manner that engendered acting and these became suitable for theatre.
By 22 I was a recognized theatre writer, my first play The Sindhu
flows peacefully.
In 1985 my first movie ThaniyAvarthanam was released, directed by
Sibi Malayil. That was a play I had originally conceived. I believe
theatre is a basic art form. Acting is older than literature, maybe
even language
JM: Yes. In The Gods must be crazy the Bushmen act out their hunting
experiences. Their language is still a very basic sound
AKL: Everyone is an actor. Every second that we speak with our mouth,
we speak with our body as well. As we grow older we grow extremely
conscious of our bodies. That self-consciousness becomes a barrier to
ac. It is harder to make an intelligent person act than it is a
slightly developmentally challenged person. Youngsters are usually
very willing actors. Teenagers are especially melodramatic
JM: What is the relationship between theatre and literature?
AKL: Literature that can be acted out is theatre. At some point in
history they should have been one and the same.
JM: In Meera Kathiravans thamizh translation of P.Padmarajans
screenplay of Peruvazhiyambalam, Balu Mahendra insists that
screenplay is not literature, it cannot be read. It is just a note
for a director (Translators Note: He said as much at the workshop on
the last day)
AKL: That is a perspective. I do not want to argue. My perspective is
a reflection of my reading and influences. A screenplay is definitely
literature. If screenplay is not literature neither is playwriting.
Shakespeare did not write to be read, he wrote to be acted.
Keerthanais were written to be sung, yet they are literature too
JM: Ingmar Bergman is a favorite director of mine. His Seventh Seal is
unrelated to language. It is a scenic description, but reading it felt
like reading literature. In our the reality of our imaginations is a
greater cinema than he intended
AKL: Theatre is considered literature only because the reader is able
to visualize and act within oneself. People enter and exit our
viewfinders. Screenplay is the same
JM: But a screenplay will always be restricted by the requirements of
film. Is that not a handicap?
AKL: Does theatre not have space constraints? Does it not need to fit
in a cube? But the great playwrights turned this into the strength of
the medium (Translators note: I remember reading how Sujatha created a
play rehearsal as a play because his actors did not have time to learn
the lines. This way they could carry their dialogs on stage). They
make all of lifes inequities and conflicts meet at a central point.
There is a phrase called Nadakaantham kaviththuvam.
A screenplay is similar to that. It has to SHOW everything. It cannot
meditate or think. It has to SHOW. That is its strength. Screenwriters
have SHOWED lifes greatest tragedies, questions and happiness. That
is how a screenplay becomes literature. Because when we read it
everything comes to life in our imagination.
JM: Since the beginning in Malayalam writers have written
screenplays.. Uruf wrote for Neelakkuyil, Thakazhi Sivasankarap
Pillai, Vaikkom Muhammad Basheer, S.K.Petracott, Paarappuraththu
Maththai, S.Suseendran so on and so forth. Malayalam cinema was shaped
by great writers
AKL: Pay attention though... these writers did not bring towards
language (Translators note:I believe this might be a point against
what happened in Thamizh where the sing-song nature gave way to
verbosity, which was novel for its time, but does not seem relevant
now). They built it as a visual art. Thoppil Bhasi, S.L.Puram
Sadanandan, M.T.Vasudevan Nair (writer of the upcoming historical
Pazhassi Raja), P.Padmarajan the list goes on. They all wrote visual
screenplays. Vice-versa todays literature has been significantly
affected by cinema.
JM: What is the beginning of a story?
AKL: The same way a short story or novel or painting begins. It is
never planned. It is a lightning urge. That is all I can say as that
is my experience. It is like full cloud waiting to burst in rain. It
looks like it will happen now. But it might never deliver. One can
never say when, where and why. It starts instantaneously. First as
drops then as a downpour.
JM: I have heard that a character is the start of a screenplay.
AKL: Yes that is certainly important. A drama or a screenplay is a
portion of life. Whose life? The question springs immediately. Hence a
character is an important starting point. But a conflict or a basic
question can serve as the start. My Padheyam and EzhuthAppurangaL
were begun with the central conflict. ThaniyAvarthanam and
Kireedam (Translators Note: My personal favorites in his work) were
begun with a central character.
JM: Has a philosophy or idea been a starting point?
AKL: Rarely. Of my screenplays only Jathagam (Translators note:
another lovely small movie) was started this way. It is an observation
of the belief in astrology. A screenplays seed is planted in the
recesses of our mind well before it begins to be written. The unrest
or lack of peace in you is the beginning.
For example my first directorial venture BhoothakkaNNAdi, came from
a story of sexual exploitation of underage girls. It created great
unrest within me, particularly a photograph of the schoolbag of one
such girl. I could only view that through the eyes of a father!
VidhyAdharan was born from that unrest. He is very nervous about
everyday life in the current social scenario. But he doesnt say or do
anything because he is a middle-class coward. And so his mind slips. I
viewed my problem through his eyes.
JM: When I write a novel I write with a head full of steam. Then I
discuss it with my editors. But here screenplays are discussed at the
concept stage.
AKL: My screenplays are written like your novels. I never discuss the
idea. Only after writing it completely do I discuss it with the
director or actor. Discussing the central conceit will make the story
seem contrived.
JM: Have you ever discussed?
AKL: Once. A story called VisAraNai got stuck and did not gain
momentum. That is the problem with a story discussion. Each person has
a perspective and the central idea gets pulled in different
directions. It is like fighting blindfolded. I can only make my point
if I let it unfold completely as a screenplay. I can only debate
certain technical aspects of screenplay writing with others.
JM: But in thamizh the norm is still to discuss.
AKL: Here cinema is a form of entertainment that tries to bring
together multiple other forms of entertainment. That can always be
discussed and brought into existence. A certain format or template has
even been reached for this. But the soul of a story cannot be arrived
at through discussion. There will be no unity in a discussed story.
__________________
It is never a fight between Right & Wrong.....It is always your Right V/S their Right
|
|
|