When two tribal actors Ramdas and Kotayya Vekateswarulu as Raman and Lakshman, walked through the Godavari planes of Andhra in filmmaker Aravindan’s second film Kanchana Sita in 1978, we saw them through the stunning close up of the river bed shot by Shaji Neelakantan Karun akin to a painting. The colour film close up and slow zoom out shot accompanied by slow beats of mridangam, with titles of the film heralded a new visual language combining the creativity of filmmaker Aravindan and FTII(1974) trained Shaji N Karun, putting both of them in the array of meaningful global films. No wonder Prof. Tadavo Satto, of Moving Images of Japan described yet another combination of creativity of Aravindan and Shaji as seen in Kummatty, as the best film ever made internationally. Shaji passed away at the age of 73 at his home town Thiruvananthapuram, following a bout of cancer.
Till the advent of Swayamvaram (1972) shot by Mankada Ravi Varma for Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Kachana Sita in Malayalam, cameramen were just technicians photographing what the director wanted, with different angles. They were not assigned any creative credits, other than ensuring the lights, angles and good looks of the characters in the films. No one could imagine a creative person behind the camera could alter the visual vocabulary of the films, giving the films a new dimension and a different layer of meaning. Mankada Ravi Verma was honoured for his work in Swayamvaram as the best cinematographer of the year, followed by Shaji N Karun for his black and white film with Aravindan Thampu in 1978. Together the duo changed the visual landscape of the Malayalam films combining their technical skills and visual vocabulary in films. Both of them were institutionally trained camera people, Mankada in Institute of Film Technology (FTIT) in Chennai and Shaji at the Film and Television Institute of India. Indeed cinematographers like Ramachandra Babu(FTII-1971) and Madhu Ambat( FTII- 1973) Shaji’s seniors had already initiated the trend of a creative cinematographer in Malayalam films.
Shaji was known in 70s and 80s as the cinematographer of Aravindan and the duo was identified for their unique visual and narrative sense in films, which kept them bagging national, State and international honours. The stunning visuals of Godavari planes and forest as seen in Kanchana Sita, that too in colour, and magic of cinematography as seen in Thampu, made Shaji a visualiser of international standards. In Kanchana Sita, where humans and nature are in pains of separation, just as Raman and Sita, his visual language through the river bank and forest gave a new dimension to the narrative.
In Thampu, the circus tent and the reactions of the villagers to circus artists in a dim lit ambience gave the film a lively and curious presence. A senior film writer like late Chidananda Dasgupta wondered where the documentary ends and feature begins in the film. May be an angle the filmmaker never imagined, but was possible only through the light and shade images of Shaji. “Worldless observation is also the forte of G Aravindan”s Thampu (The Tent 1978) by pushing the realism to its logical , unstructured, conclusion, the director makes his fascinating style somewhat untenable for a full length feature”, the words of Dasgupta ( Film Quarterly- UCLA –Fall 1980) are a tribute to both Aravindan and master of his visuals Shaji. The film continues to elicit a profound sense of astonishment among contemporary audiences, much akin to the cinematic works cherished by Aravindan, of directors like Mani Kaul and Andrei Tarkovsky. This is truly remarkable due to its visionary approach, exceptional visual quality, well-developed characterisation, and its deliberate utilisation of a slow-paced, innovative, and contemplative style.If the content and narrative is that of Aravindan, the visuals are given by Shaji for the film, together giving a unique experience of a great film.
Just as Kachana Sita visuals were enriched by Godavari planes, in Kummatty, the visuals of the picturistic terrain of Kasaragod villages in North Kerala, gave it a magical ambience which excited the professor of films in Japan. Tadao Satto, the president of the Japanese Institute of the Moving Image was totally drawn to the film, describing it one of the best internationally, forcing him to curate a festival of Aravindan films in Japan. “The characters in his movie are very emotional and mature. At the same time the characters do not get into a teaching mode, passing on messages to the viewers. Aravindan’s characters are sketched brilliantly. They are innocent, down to earth and affectionate. And these aspects are expressed beautifully in the movie”, Prof. Satto said in the video interview( yout-tube). The statement “expressed beautifully” can directly be attributed to the magical visuals of the film photographed by Shaji.Both Thampu and Kummatty were recently restored from celluloid and mastered in digital format with the collaboration of Shaji and Film Heritage Foundation of India.
Shaji went on to direct five feature films, giving his own interpretation to the new Malayalam films. Piravi, made in 1988, his first film was honoured both nationally and internationally in the Cannes film festival. His entry to Cannes, the Olympics of global films (as described by him once), though not was celebrated by media and the country just as his junior Payal Kapadia from FTII last year. “Piravi is inspired by the Rajan case( a student arrested by Police during the emergency of 75 disappeared-killed, making it a big political issue in Kerala). The narrative of the film removes all political content and places it in an alien, remote landscape that reinforces old values and beliefs. It starts with the Kaushitaki Upanishad, about the bequest of the dying father to the son. The wind and the omen of the black cat before the title itself reinforce old values, as the sound of Raghu argues that the old is better than the new systems of architecture.”, wrote Chandradasan, eminent theater person recently in a facebook post on the film. One may differ with the conclusions in any film, be it Piravi or any other, but no one can dismiss the visual and aesthetic narrative of the film which ensured its entry to Cannes. No wonder the cinematographer of the film Sunny Joseph got into the network of celebrated Polish Filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi through the “philosophical visualization “of the film. That visual vocabulary and aesthetic narrative is the hallmark of Shaji’s all the five films, which make him the most important filmmaker of Kerala, emerging as the worthy successor of the A-Team of Malayalam films renaissance in the 1970s masters including Adoor, Aravindan and John Abraham.
Shaji , having been trained as a cinematographer from FTII, is also among the few like Ramachandra Babu, Madhu Ambat and their juniors Venu, Sunny Joseph, changed the visual narrative of Malayalam films in general, giving them a national and international acceptance. If Keralite technicians are a hot property across Indian filmmakers, it is due to the pioneering works in giving a new visual idiom by few like “Shaji sir”, as he is fondly called.
Shaji was also the first Chairman of the Kerala Chalachitra Academy formed in 1998. The academy was mandated to conduct the International film festival of Kerala every year from 1998. He was also the President of Federation of Film Societies of India-Keralam- a few years. He passed away on 25 April 25, while he was chairing the Kerala Film Development Corporation (KSFDC). He had started his official career as a Manager setting up the Chitranjali studios in the 1980s by KSFDC. His contribution to Malayalam films is not just in changing the visual vocabulary and giving it an international acceptance, but raising the film culture and taste of average Malayalam cine goers to that of a connoisseur of films.
