My IFFK Diary

One whole week Trivandrum was in a festive mood. Everyone used to wake up with the hope of seeing more and more beautiful films, meeting new people, having film chats over a cup of tea etc. Now everything has gone missing as IFFK 16 (International Film Festival of Kerala) came to an end yesterday. Even though the festival was full of controversies and troubles, I really enjoyed as it was my first one. But compared to last years, the movies weren’t of that quality and the organizing was also weak. Fortunately I got the chance to watch some of the better movies in the festival. Among them I was very much impressed by the Syrian film ‘Damascus with Love’. That was a film which really  amused me, I was too happy after watching it. Should say it’s one of the best movies I watched in recent times. Thanks to my friend Anu Mohan for choosing that movie. The other films which I liked were The Painting Lesson, The Cat Vanishes, A Seperation, Lucky, Together etc. My opinion was that ‘The Painting Lesson’ (which got the audience award) should have been awarded the ‘Suvarna Chakoram’. It doesn’t mean that ‘The Colors of the Mountains’ was bad, but I found the other movie better. Among the Indian movies, I got the chance to see ‘Delhi in a Day’ and ‘Akam’ (the only Malayalam movie I saw). Meeting Prashant Nair (director of Delhi) was one of the best experiences of film festival. I really got proud when he said he’s waiting to watch ‘Adaminte Makan Abu’ as he was getting rave reviews about this movie from everyone. Please do understand that people from other parts of the world value Malayalam films a lot, whereas what about our own audience? ‘Akam’ based on Malayattoor’s ‘Yakshi’ was a good attempt from Shalini Usha Nair. But the audiences were showing their class by making all sorts of noises and comments. I still wonder why these people discourage Malayalam movies while they sit with pin drop silence for an offbeat movie from any other language.

Damascus with Love

I should thank my friends Vishnu Raghav, Anu Mohan, Jyotish etc for making this IFFK a memorable one. It was really a stage for me to meet new people from different sectors. Not to forget meeting a beautiful gal after watching Akam movie. The way she waved me a ‘hi’ will remain as one of the unforgettable moments of IFFK. And if you people say to pick a movie, I would definitely go with ‘Damascus with Love’. I can’t explain how beautiful that movie is, you have to watch it and get the visual delight. Do try to watch it soon! I may have missed some of the best movies this time, but I don’t regret as whatever I saw didn’t let me down. Everyday there was protests and fights at the main venue which really made me remember about my college. Hope next year the film festival will be better in every way than this time, being free from all controversies and issues. And we can sincerely hope that the venue won’t be shifted to Calicut, which will definitely create chaos. 

The Painting Lesson

Out of Frustration

I always expected a time where food, water and petrol would cost more than liquor. When I joined college in 2006 the petrol price was around Rs 35/litre. Now in 2011 the price has climbed over Rs 70/litre and it’s obvious that the price will increase only. Even the Kerala High Court urged the people to raise their voice against the frequent petrol price hike. Now it’s heard that the petroleum companies are going to hike again in a few days time! The case is not different with food items too. Already our state is depending on states like Tamil Nadu for many of the food items (like vegetables, fruits etc) which where once abundant in Kerala. And if the price goes up for the food stuffs too, our common people will face a great economic crisis. Don’t be surprised if in future people start consuming beer only which costs around Rs 55 or even less (more economic than petrol and many food items).

Many people joined with Anna Hazare fighting against corruption, but where are these people when price rise is troubling the whole nation? Every week there will be a Harthal or Bharath Bandh protesting against price hike or some government policies. The only benefits of such activities are like students get a day off, exams are postponed, offices are closed etc; you people are again harming our people only, we are not benefiting anything from this. Its better all political parties and organizations stop conducting harthals, we are really fed up of this political showoff. No one will protest or conduct bandhs if price of liquor is hiked; everyone is ready to spend more and more on this (Kerala being first in liquor consumption). Our country being a democratic one, it’s high time where all citizens should unite and protest against all the activities which are against the welfare of common man. In Facebook there was a funny picture asking who will reach 100 first, petrol or Sachin Tendulkar? Don’t be surprised if our master blaster comes second in this!

Now back to Kerala where a psycho is threatening the good name of Malayalam Film Industry. I still wonder why our people are giving such importance to people like Santhosh Pandit! I know even my friends are going to watch his film for a belly laugh, making fun of him or shout all the bad words when his face is displayed on the screen; but by doing this we all are actually encouraging him. What I understood is that he is really a genius; the original fools are we people only. We view, share his videos in social networking sites in order to make fun or insult him. Unfortunately he’s getting paid for the these stuffs and actually he had recovered the production cost of movie even before its release, whatever he’s getting now is just profit which any other Malayalam movie can’t dream off these days! It’s sad that our media and people are giving unwanted hype for such a person who even insulted some eminent directors of our industry. Movies like Kaiyoppu, Palerimanikyam, Melvilasom, Adaminte Makan Abu were some of the exceptional movies made in Malayalam, but these never got the recognition they deserved and our audiences are responsible for it. Everyone say good films are never made, but when they are made our audiences will itself let it down. Please do stop promoting these craps and whoever makes it even if it’s through social networking sites or in theatre. The ultimate loss will be for our film industry only. Our film industry is considered as the best by many in India which got its name through our legendary directors, scriptwriters, actors etc. We can hope that our industry will remain the way it is and never reach a state where it’s identified on such people’s name! 

A photo from Facebook

PS: Whatever written above is just from my viewpoint. Many may have different perspectives on this, please do feel free to express your views.