Theodore Baskaran தியோடோர் பாஸ்கரன், renowned film critic, and author of a history of Tamil cinema,
Em Tamizhar Seytha Padam (The Films Made
by our Tamils) எம் தமிழர் செய்த படம் lectured on the topic “From Print to Screen : Literature and
Tamil Cinema” at the Madras Literary Society, on 21 April, 2018.
The lecture
was preceded by the opening of a Tamil Books section, at the MLS, thanks to a
generous contribution of Rs.25000/- from Smt Padmapriya and her husband Sri
Baskaran (no relation to the speaker). via their foundation Aalayam Kanden Trust. They donated the full receipts of
Padmapriya’s book “The Gods of the
Holy Koovam”, which was released in Feb 2017 at the MLS. On that occasion, I
had the privilege of lecturing on the History of the MLS, based on the then recently
rediscovered book by N Ramaswami. Several books have also been donated by
various people and patrons. The library is eager to expand both its collection and
its membership.
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| Padmapriya and Baskaran and friends Tamil Books Section MLS |
Nivedita Louis, who compered the program, invited me to say a few words about the Tamil section. I said that it was an extraordinary and generous contribution by Padmapriya. I added that such a section was long overdue, given the historical association of the MLS with the Tamil language, its discovery of the Dravidian and Munda families of languages by Francis Whyte Ellis and his collaborators, and the significance of their contributions to several aspects of Tamil society in general.
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| Theodore Baskaran lecture at MLS |
These
are my notes from Theodore Baskaran’s lecture.
He had
prepared a PowerPoint presentation in Tamil, but he said that, based on a quick
glance at the audience, he felt it best that he speak in English.
Tamil
film had a long association with books and notable authors. The film Malai
Kallan மலை கள்ளன், starring
MGR, was written by Namakkal Kavingar, a famous Tamil poet. Classical Tamil literature
like Silappadikaaram சிலப்பதிகாரம் and Kundalakesi குண்டலகேசி had inspired such films as Kannagi கண்ணகி and Manthiri Kumari மந்திரிக்குமாரி, adapted as screenplays by M
Karunanidhi. Both MGR எம்.ஜி.ஆர் and
Karunanidhi கருணாநிதி later
became Chief Minsters of Tamilnadu as did their mentor, CN Annadurai அண்ணாதுரை, a popular playwright, novelist and
screenwriter.
But
these famous names came later. Anaathai
Penn (Orphan Girl) அனாதை பெண்,
a book by Vai.Mu. Kothainayagi, வை.மு.கோதைநாயகி a path-breaking feminist, freedom
fighter and author of the early twentieth century was filmed by Raja Sandow. It
was the first Tamil book to be made into a movie. Serialized novels in
magazines were popularized by SS Vasan, the founder and head of Gemini Studio.
He published stories like the famous Thyaga
Bhoomi தியாக பூமி, written by Kalki கல்கி and Thillana
Mohanambal தில்லானா மோகனாம்பாள் by Kothamangalam Subbu கொத்தமங்கலம் சுப்பு. Such novels were the source for
several of his movies.
Unfortunately, most Tamil films are merely photographed drama, the speaker lamented. Most film directors, even the popular ones, like AP Nagarajan and K Balachandar came from the stage. Cinema has its own grammar, different from print and the stage. Few filmmakers understood this. Also, Tamil country had a very popular era of stage plays before the advent of film, full of songs and dance, and narrations of mythological stories. When the era of silent movies ended, and talkies came along, the first generation of actors were all from the stage, far better at singing than acting. The tradition of songs in the film, often utterly unrelated to the story, is till date a major flaw of Tamil cinema, the speaker said. They only retard the narrative.
Unfortunately, most Tamil films are merely photographed drama, the speaker lamented. Most film directors, even the popular ones, like AP Nagarajan and K Balachandar came from the stage. Cinema has its own grammar, different from print and the stage. Few filmmakers understood this. Also, Tamil country had a very popular era of stage plays before the advent of film, full of songs and dance, and narrations of mythological stories. When the era of silent movies ended, and talkies came along, the first generation of actors were all from the stage, far better at singing than acting. The tradition of songs in the film, often utterly unrelated to the story, is till date a major flaw of Tamil cinema, the speaker said. They only retard the narrative.
The
era of mythologicals gave way to social themes during the 1950s, primarily fueled
by the politics of the Dravidian movement. This merely replaced innumerable
songs with interminable monologues. Even Dravidian film makers who brought on
social themes like caste discrimination and social justice, had actors talking
like they were on political podium rather than exploiting the grammar film.
Not many of us know Rajaji ராஜாஜி was an excellent writer in Tamil, Mr Baskaran continued. His novel Thikkarra Parvathi திக்கற்ற பார்வதி was filmed by Singeetham Narasinga Rao. The major flaw in the story is that the protagonist gets addicted by drinking toddy. You can't get addicted to toddy, only arrack. I have drunk toddy, nothing happens, he quipped. Rajaji didn't know the difference because he was not a drinker.
Not many of us know Rajaji ராஜாஜி was an excellent writer in Tamil, Mr Baskaran continued. His novel Thikkarra Parvathi திக்கற்ற பார்வதி was filmed by Singeetham Narasinga Rao. The major flaw in the story is that the protagonist gets addicted by drinking toddy. You can't get addicted to toddy, only arrack. I have drunk toddy, nothing happens, he quipped. Rajaji didn't know the difference because he was not a drinker.
Literary
writers also contributed their mite to the screen. Ucchi Veyil (High Noon) உச்சி
வெயில் a novel by Indira
Parthasarathy இந்திரா பார்த்தசாரதி was turned into a film called மறுபக்கம் which won a National Best Film award,
but was totally ignored by Tamil population, because it was not a commercial
hit. Tamil audiences and even the film world had a mental division of films as
either commercial or art, and the latter label was an omen of commercial failure.
In this dark world of Tamil cinema, there were a few flashes of lightning like Jayakanthan ஜெயகாந்தன் who filmed two of his own novels. Yarukkaaka Azhuthaan (For whom did he cry) யாருக்காக அழுதான் one of Jayakanthan’s films is one of my favorite films, he said. Nimoy Ghosh, who settled in Madras, and was a contemporary of the legendary Bengali film maker Satyajit Ray, shot this film and used very imaginative lighting.
In this dark world of Tamil cinema, there were a few flashes of lightning like Jayakanthan ஜெயகாந்தன் who filmed two of his own novels. Yarukkaaka Azhuthaan (For whom did he cry) யாருக்காக அழுதான் one of Jayakanthan’s films is one of my favorite films, he said. Nimoy Ghosh, who settled in Madras, and was a contemporary of the legendary Bengali film maker Satyajit Ray, shot this film and used very imaginative lighting.
Great films
like Mullum Malarum (The Thorn and
the Flower) முள்ளும் மலரும்
were made from mediocre novels. This is often true of Hollywood films like Godfather
and Psycho. Anuradha Ramanan’s அனுராதா ரமணன் novel Chirai(Prison) சிறை was made into a film – a rare
example of a female author’s book, after VaiMuKo.
Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal (Some People in Some Moments) சில
நேரங்களில் சில மனிதர்கள் was another classic Jayakanthan novel, filmed
by a director who showed people talking all the time - it wasn’t very visual. Most
authors feel unhappy that directors have misunderstood their novel and made a
mess of the movie, but often the authors themselves had a very poor sense of
filmmaking. They also indulged in long dialogs and poor pacing.
Alfred
Hitchcock said, “Never use words to describe what you can simply show.”A
filmmaker should think visually first, but most Tamil filmmakers think
verbally. This led to absurd scenes. For example, there are scenes where a
character walks into a room and says
things like, “There is nobody here” or “Ah, there is a glass of water.” The
audience can see this, why this superfluous dialogue?
A
brilliant example of visual filmmaking is from the Hollywood film Gandhi. In a scene, Gandhi washes his
face in the river, when he notices a desperately poor woman, washing half her
saree. She is so poor she has only one saree and she can only wash one half of
it while wearing the other. Not even looking at her, and not wantingto overtly
walk over and give her a shawl, Gandhi lets slip his shawl into the river, and
it gently floats to the lady. She gratefully grabs it. Without one word being
spoken, the filmmaker Richard Attenborough shows the compassion of Gandhi...
Often
a film can be inspired by a short story, not a novel. Such was Baskar Shakti’s
short story, made into a wonderful film Azhagar Saamiyin Kuthirai (Azhagar
Saami’s horse) அழகர் சாமியின் குதிரை.
The
Malayalam film Madhilukkal (Walls) மதிலுக்கள் has a scene of the line where the
protagonist in the novel, a prisoner, says, “I could smell women, on the
other side of the wall”. Because a womens prison was on the other side. Adoor
Gopalakrishnan the director, could not show the character smelling the walls.
So he introduces a peal of a woman's laughter. This is creative interpretation,
and evokes the same emotion the author intended.
Overall,
Tamil unfortunately doesn't have a good relationship between literature and
film. Several novelists' books have not been made into films.
Cinema
is not for entertainment, he concluded.
Gopu’s Comments
While I
whole heartedly agree with Theodore Baskaran in his criticism of Tamil cinema as
being too verbal, photographed drama, and not often visual, I think he is
totally off the mark on two issues.
1.
Songs – Indian audiences love them. In fact cinema music is the most succesful and
popular music industry and genre in India. The bulk of the audience simply doesn’t
care that the narrative is broken or retarded, or irrelevant to the film. Often
the songs are far more popular than the movies.
2. “Cinema
is not for entertainment.” I think what Theodore Baskaran means, is that cinema
is a powerful medium that can be used to educate and mould public opinion,
improve society etc. Personally I prefer
entertaining cinema to any advice and propaganda.
3. Literature
versus Cinema. I think good literature (itself a very subjective estimation,
usually by a segment of the population that reads a lot of books, and has an
innate sense of superiority) rarely makes for good cinema (another subjective
estimation). In contrast, often so called mediocre novels, make for excellent and
successful cinema, because they appeal to more than snobs and nabobs. John
Grisham and Chetan Bhagat’s novels are the most popular proof. Often the “mediocrity”
of one generation is the classic of its succeeding generations.
Related Links
Theodore
Baskaran’s essay in Madras Musings How Old is Tamil Cinema
Pradeep Chakravarthy essay in Madras Musings on Gods of the Holy Koovam
Indian
Literature – Four hundred Shakespeares, zero Jules Vernes
Vai Mu.Kothainayagi – A Biographical Lecture by Dr Va Ve Subramaniam
Rajaji –A Biographical Lecture by Dr Va Ve Subramaniam
Francis Whyte Ellis - by Thomas Trautmann
தமிழ்
இலக்கியம் – ஒரு கால அட்டவணை
Books
எம் தமிழர் செய்த படம் (The Films Made by our Tamils) by Theodore Baskaran
Mu. Ka –A biography of M Karunanidhi by Ramki. J
Gods of the Holy Koovam by Padmapriya Baskaran
