WHEN THE BIRD BECAME A WAVE It feels good to take some pixs, especially if it is my dear friend Rajan Raghavans special film screening on the renowned filmmaker and thinker Kumar Shahani, at the Asian College of Journalism. Both Rajan and Kumar were present, along with Sadanand Menon and Venkatesh Chakravarthy for discussion. The film WHEN THE BIRD BECAME A WAVE is Rajans and some of his friends journey with Kumar Shahani across Kerala, spanning randomly for about 4 years. This was around the time, Kumar was actively involved in setting up an Institution called Space, an International Centre for Performing Arts and Life Sciences, in Thrissur, Kerala, with many like minded people. It was supposed to be a Pvt-Government partnership and some 360 acres of land was alloted to it by the then Left Government. This centre was to offer workshops and higher studies, in various disciplines connected to performing arts, life sciences, including cinema and digital technology and function as a centre for both Indian and international artists to come and learn. But the government in Kerala changed and the idea unfortunately took a back stage. In a phone conversation today, Rajan mentioned to me, it was Kumars dream project and he is still dreaming about it. He wanted to shift to Kerala and wanted to dedicate himself completely for this Center. Kumar saw the possibility of making Thrissur the capital of the cultural world, by establishing this Center in Thrissur, which is already famous for its oldest performing arts tradition Koodiyattam. Moreover, Kalamandalam too was set up in this district to train Kathakali artists and is doing extremely well. SashiKumar who spoke at the screening gave a ray of hope and said the project might be revived soon by the Kerala government. The film itself was made rather casually by Rajan, a kind of celebrating the presence of Kumar Shahani in Kerala, Rajan and his friends traveling with Kumar, in a very warm and friendly atmosphere. The shot taking, form and structure attempting for a certain innocence. When I asked Rajan why he has chosen not to weave in the context of this Institution into the narrative of the film, he says, what he showed in ACJ is 70 minutes trailer. The longer version is 150 minutes. :). I am sharing some pixs I took at the discussion, also adding 2 pixs of the film from Rajans collection.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 05:57:28 +0000
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