BLISS IT IS TO BE ALIVE IN THAT DAWN

My clan is that of verbal poetry. Everything around inspires me to slip into a world of words, I wrap myself in its warmth and breathe more and more of it. To me, words are a sign of my own existence. Words keep me alive. But very recently, after getting into college, the cinematic experiences began to thrill me. I started to take notice of things closely. That’s how I began to explore a world of visual poetry. 

During the second year in college, I had to use my friend’s laptop for an immediate presentation preparation. In hostel, we were not allowed to use laptops in our own rooms or to charge after an allotted time. But one night, after finishing my work I just peeped into the movie collection in his laptop and ended up seeing Kapila  (https://youtu.be/934wrYOHJ-U). My friend was after Kapila for a very long time and he was literally dying to see it. All I knew about Kapila was that it was a documentary on the life of the eminent Koodiyattom practitioner Kapila Venu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapila_Venu). Usually, documentaries do not interest me like films but I decided to take a look at it. The laptop was about to die and I could see the documentary only in fractions, from here and there.

But what happened next was miracle. I fell in love with 'Kapila' and my admiration towards it was totally unconstrained and impetuous ! The frames in Kapila spoke in volumes. The light from the big nilavilakku which illuminated the artists, the fierceness of the Narasimhavatharam, the pond in Thirunelli temple, the merging of the redness of the attire with the black background, the silence, the chanting and even the rain had too much of soul in it. Thus, for someone like me who never saw a Koodiyattom performance in real and who could never patiently finish watching a documentary, Kapila was a magical experience. Kapila is a very best visual poetry and it brimmed with Indian aesthetics. When Kapila bagged National award in 2015 for the best art film, I believe it was indeed an honor to the legacy of national awards itself. Still, I could not see the entire documentary, because my friend refused to share it with me. But some denials take us to new possibilities and realities.


Last year, one fine day in the month of May, when I was interning at World Music Festival foundation (wmffoundation.com/) , I happened to meet Sanju Surendran. That was such a surprise because he was the director of Kapila! (Trust me, Coelho was absolutely right.) He visited the office another day and this time we spoke in detail about Kapila – the documentary and the artist. I said him that those frames and its silence enticed me. That meeting almost a year back has then led to even more conversations and enlightening interactions. Finally, it was the director himself, who gave the documentary to me!


 This February, I worked in World Music Festival foundation’s  third project 'Charulata' as an associate. I chose to be a part of Charulata out of my love for visual poetry and again the universe was conspiring to gift me another fabulous experience. On the very first day of the shoot I came to know that the DOP was none other than “the Manesh Madhavan”! The joy was boundless because I admire Kapila and here is the father of its frames! It was a fan girl moment but till this very moment, I have not thanked him for his magic on the screen. I was inexperienced and was the youngest in the team but he was an absolute no non-sense person and very professional. Hence, I never even dared to stand close to him. Being in the team, watching him, I learned two valuable lessons- of perfection and of the way the subordinates are to be treated. I will forever be grateful to him and I still look up-to him with a sense of awe than of familiarity. 

 Two days ago, when the 2017 state awards were announced, the film Aedan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxryWOg6h6w) bagged four awards for best second film, best adapted screenplay, best cinematography and best sound mixing. None of these surprise me because Aedan deserves it but the news was nothing but sheer happiness, for two obvious reasons - it is a Sanju Surendran (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanju_Surendran)  film and the best cinematographer is none other than Manesh Madhavan (maneshmadhavan.com/) !  Aedan also received the Rajathachakoram for the best debut director and FIPRESCI award for best Malayalam film in the 22nd IFFK. 
 
Yes, dreams do come true. Deep desires sometimes push us into totally alien experiences but those are always worth it. Yes, bliss is it in this dawn to be alive.

Cheers to every person I met, cheers to every moment shared and cheers to life!



Unapologetically, a forgetful tintinnabulation in an explosive world.

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