It is not always that one gets to write about friends, and so, if anyone feels that objectivity has been compromised, so be it.
Last Friday, one of the first things I did was to check Forum Kerala, that informal online discussion board where Malayalis around the world discuss endlessly about anything under the sun with typical relish taking those proverbial two sides.
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| Murali Gopy in ‘Ee Adutha Kaalathu’ |
Forum Kerala has a wonderful group of film reviewers, people who watch the newest releases, first-day, first-show, and who I firmly believe make, break and seal the fate of any movie.
They are not reviewers by profession. They are the opinion makers. They are the people who can wake up at 4 am, take their place ahead of the queue and rush into the movie halls for that inimitable and exhilarating thrill that only cinema gives.
Trust me, I have been there, done that, and washed the face with soda.
These guys dissect movies with clinical precision, positives, negatives and what not. They might not be always objective but most often than not, when these guys have loved a movie, it is invariably a hit. Ask the Confident Group chaps for the flip side of the story.
I was curious to know the audience reaction to ‘Ee Adutha Kalathu’ written by Murali Gopy, who also acts in it, his second outing as a writer, after Rasikan; and fourth as an actor after Rasikan, Bhramaram and Gaddama.
The reports were overwhelming; people it seems loved the movie. As is fashionable now, they have also been calling the movie, multilinear, non-linear, hyperlink and what not, empty words that smartass critics throw at you to prove their intellectual brilliance.
If you still want to know what the fuss is all about, click here for more on hyperlink cinema.
Murali, however, laughs aside all these. He says he the film isn’t non-linear or hyperlink or whatever. It is just a script, said in the way the story demanded. He had written the thread for the film some four years back, and when director Arun Kumar of ‘Cocktail-fame’ (hope that changes to ‘Ee Adutha Kaalathu –fame; sad to be remembered for a rip-off) met him for a potential acting role, he heard the story and fell in love with it.
As for the making of the film itself, and what Arun and Murali feel about it all, more later.
This is a personal piece, and I write this only to share the joy of Murali in his own vindication as a writer.
As associations go, I can say that he could have been the neighbour I never had; we share the same city/village/town of origin. All I knew of him was that of The Hindu journalist who wrote that brilliant story in Mathrubhumi, which was the seed of Rasikan, the story of a movie-fanatic.
He was in Dubai for some three years; I met him once, one December night, and the meeting must have lasted five minutes (though incidentally, the event where we met turned out to be a turning point in my career). He returned to India, is now editor with an entertainment portal, and used to assign me some odd writing jobs.
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| Indrajith and Mythili in the movie |
I would call him up after reading some of his amazing writing (the Dev Anand obit and Liz Taylor piece being classics and must-read for any feature writer), and when I blogged on Anna Hazarika, he called to passionately defend the old man, and why India needs him. He also wrote a compelling piece on why he would rather die with Anna.
I guess we hit it off finally one evening at Mascot Hotel with a long booze session culminating with chapatti and chicken fry at Azad (I might be wrong on the name; this is the one near Palayam market – not the one by East Fort that I intensely dislike). Murali is a regular at the Palayam one, apparently.
During the long winding conversation, we spoke of Rasikan, and how Murali said the film’s failure threw him into an abyss. The film, according to him, was meant to be a spoof. It went on to become a slapstick, and lost the soul and spark.
He almost gave up writing. He had resigned his job thinking naively that films were his calling, and the cold response from whom he valued to the script (it did make decent money at the box office), called for an exit.
His entry visa to Dubai, he said, was like an exit visa to a new beginning. Thankfully, he didn’t stay in a city that is essentially for soul-deprived, dream-dead survivors (I salute the exceptions; for me, I am content with what Pessoa described as the ‘profound, superlative, superlative, superlative weariness’).
And because he chose to return, we got ‘Ee Adutha Kaalathu…’ (okay, okay, even Murali wouldn’t call it a classic; but at least we get a well-accepted movie for a change) and another coming from the same team of Arun and Murali.
Murali says watching the film with the audience he felt that wave of vindication. “I have seen failure and I even had a strong sense of guilt (of having let down).”
Guess he can now purge that off his system.
ENDS
(You can follow Murali Gopy on Twitter at: @muraligopy)
