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The Hindu
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
How Shaji N Karun captured the realities of life through his lens
A pall of gloom hangs over 'Piravi', Shaji N Karun's residence in Thiruvananthapuram. This was where the auteur and ace cinematographer met admirers from all walks of life. This is where he had conceptualised all his works, including documentaries and short films. This is where I met Shaji more than three decades ago as a student of journalism as part of my course. He had shared that it was his wife Anusuya Warrier's idea to name their house 'Piravi'. Shaji spent considerable time speaking to a rookie reporter, discussing his maiden film Piravi (1988), his second film Swaham (1994) and his student days in Pune. Piravi , a huge success, was about the story of a father's futile search for his son, who has been picked up by the police. The film brought alive the excesses during the Emergency, in a poignant way. It won Shaji the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1989 and the National award for best director along with several other honours from across the world. Swaham (1994) was also screened at Cannes. It was Shaji's fascination for the images painted by light that made him take to cinematography. After his graduating in Physics from University College, he chose to join the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune. He passed out with a gold medal in cinematography. Shaji always spoke passionately about the magic and moods of the tropical sun. He would excitedly capture its constantly changing hues and direction. His attention to detail was amazing. His simplicity was in stark contrast to the world he saw through the lens. Since he lived in the neighbourhood of my mother's house, I have often seen him walk quietly along the road. He was then the chairman of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy. He was also the executive chairman of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK). He was able to get the best of filmmakers and technicians to these festivals because of his personal equation with them. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to speak to him several times. Each time, I was left with a sense of wonder at the filmmaker's ability to delve into varied themes set in different periods of times. Shaji was not a prolific director. He took time to shape a story or a theme and then spent some more time visualising it in a language and idiom that was all his. Among the many awards that Shaji had won, he particularly treasured the Sir Charlie Chaplin Award instituted to commemorate the birth centenary of the legendary comic actor (1989) at the Edinburgh Film Festival. 'After I boarded my flight to India, the flight attendants announced that I had won this prestigious award and the passengers gave me a standing ovation,' he had recounted during an interview to The Hindu. Shaji's deep affinity for music and painting was evident in all his films. His bond with artist Namboothiri resulted in the documentary Neruvara on the latter's life. Moving Focus – A Voyage captured the artist KG Subramanyam's journey. The free-flowing lines and strokes were beautifully translated onto the screen by Shaji. He had stepped into the world of cinema by cranking the camera for KP Kumaran's Lakshmi Vijayam (1976). But it was his long association with G. Aravindan that marked his cinematographic oeuvre. Kanchana Sita (1977), Thampu (1978), Kummatty (1979), Esthappan (1979), Pokkuveyil (1981), Chidambaram, Oridathu and Unni were all filmed by him. He had an uncanny ability to understand what Aravindan had in mind. Shaji was able to transform Aravindan's abstract ideas into perfectly composed frames. 'Aravindan's screenplay was often very brief. Thampu, for instance, had only four pages,' he had recalled during the screening of the film's restored version in Cannes. He had also worked with other great directors such as P. Padmarajan, M.T. Vasudevan Nair, K.G. George and Lenin Rajendran. He was the cinematographer of writer-director Padmarajan's Koodevide, which marked actor Suhasini's debut in Malayalam films. Paying tribute to Shaji, Suhasini had shared on Instagram: 'Remembering Shaji Karun. Some people we meet are evergreen and eternal. He was the cinematographer for my debut film Koodevide. I was his Subhadra in Vanaprastham. A true artiste and a great human. People like him made our industry safe and marvellous for newcomers. Will miss him…' In Vanaprastham (1999), Shaji's third feature film, Mohanlal came up with an award-winning performance as a poverty-stricken Kathakali performer and his inner struggle as an artiste and man. Kutty Srank (2010) remains one of the most complex films of Shaji. It traced the past life of a dead Chavittunatakan artiste and the different memories he left behind in the places he had lived. Blurring reality and fiction, Shaji's story in a sense was also the story of certain regions of the State and the arrival of different faiths and belief systems. Mammotty effortlessly played the three avatars of Kutty Srank and his relationship with three women. Shaji had once said that Mohanlal's large expressive eyes was his biggest advantage while Mammootty was so handsome that it was difficult to mask his good looks. 'Even if one were to smear his face with soil, it would difficult to hide his features.' After Swaapanam and Olu, Shaji's heartfelt desire was to direct a musical. He had said how disappointed he was when a top actor, who had received several awards for his work in Shaji's films, had come up with all kinds of excuses to not work in the musical. It was to have been a mega Indo-European project. With Shaji's passing, Malayalam cinema has lost a director and technician who elevated it to global standards. I recently watched Vanaprastham on television and experienced the meditative pace at which Shaji's camera captured every nuance of emotion. It reflected Shaji's approach to life — observing and enjoying every moment in quietude.
Gulf Today
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Gulf Today
A gentle auteur
Shaji N. Karun's standing as a Malayalam cinema doyen does not rest upon a huge body of work. Quality over quantity was what he strove for and achieved. The handful of narrative features that Shaji directed had a profound impact on cinema in Kerala. His films, marked by a unique sensibility and elevated by a delicate and distinctive visual palette, were not only rooted in specific cultural ethos but were also driven by a deeply humanist vision. Shaji also influenced cinema and its dissemination in his home state as the founder chairman of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy. He was among those who were instrumental in giving shape to the International Film Festival of Kerala, which quickly evolved into the country's most-loved event of its kind. Later in his life, Shaji served as the Kerala State Film Development Corporation. His passing at the age of 73 at his home in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday has left a void that will be hard to fill. Shaji made only seven feature films in a career that began in the mid-1970s. His first three features – Piravi (1988), Swaham (1994) and Vanaprastham (1999), made over a period of a decade and a bit – were all selected for the Cannes Film Festival, a rare feat for an emerging filmmaker. In 1989, his debut film, Piravi (The Birth), about an aged father who waits in vain for his missing son to return home, won the Camera d'Or – Mention d'honneur at the Cannes Film Festival, besides a large number of other awards at festivals across the world. A still from the movie 'Piravi' by Shaji N Karun. In 1994, Swaham (My Own), about a boy who seeks an job to help his mother and sister tide over the family's financial troubles but loses his life in an incident at the military camp, competed for the Cannes Palme d'Or. Vanaprastham (The Last Dance), which revolves around a lower-caste Kathakali dancer who has an affair with an upper-caste woman, made it to the festival's Un Certain Regard section. Shaji's subsequent films may not have flown as high on the global stage, but every cinematic essay that he crafted, notably Kutty Srank, starring Mammootty, and Olu, his last feature, bore testimony to his exceptional technical and storytelling skills. His filmmaking style and artistic credo were firmly rooted in the land of his birth and the idiom he employed sprang from a creative space entirely his own. It is understandable why the soft-spoken, self-effacing Shaji would often lament the derivative methods that some of Kerala's younger filmmakers adopted. Shaji (right) with G Aravindan during a shoot. Shaji's own roots lay in the cinema of the iconic G. Aravindan, with whom he collaborated over a long period. Before he became a director, the Film and Television Institute of India alum worked as the cinematographer for eight of Aravindan's films, including Kanchana Sita (Golden Sita, 1977), Thampu (The Circus Tent, 1978), Esthappan (1980) and the absolutely exquisite Chidambaram (1985). One of the most remarkable collaborations between Aravindan and Shaji was Pokkuveyil (Twilight, 1982). Aravindan recorded the film's background score first with Hariprasad Chaurasia on the flute and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan disciple Rajeev Taranath on the sarod. He and Shaji then composed the visuals on the basis of the musical notations. A consummate master of his craft, Shaji also cranked the camera for films helmed by other noted Malayali filmmakers like K.G. George (Lekhayude Maranam Oru Flashback and Panchavadi Palam), MT Vasudevan Nair (Manju) and P. Padmarajan (Koodevide? and Arappatta Kettiya Gramathil), starring Mammootty and Suhasini in her Malayalam debut, and Lenin Rajendran (Meenamasathile Sooryan). Shaji went on to work with both actors after he turned director, with Mammootty heading the cast of Kutty Srank and Suhasini playing a key role in Vanaprastham, which starred Mohanlal as the male lead. Shaji also shot a couple of Hindi films, Ek Chadar Maili Si (1986) and Antim Nyay (1993), both directed by Sukhwant Dhadda, who subsequently produced the only Hindi film that Shaji directed, Nishad, starring Rajit Kapur and Archana. One of the most ambitious films of Shaji's career never got made due to budget constraints — Gaadha, an international co-production based on a T. Padmanabhan short story. The film was to star Mohanlal. In his director's statement for still-born Gaadha, Shaji wrote: 'Music is a miracle, where enchantments attain silence. Such mystery is also an important sensation to understand the beauty of human life. We miss such kind films in our time.' He added: 'For the first time in Indian film history, this film will explore Indian classical music intermingling with western opera and symphony.' Gaadha was in the works for several years before it was abandoned. It would have been his magnum opus, the crowning glory of an illustrious career that deserved another global breakthrough to round it off. That was not to be, but even if Shaji had not made anything after Vanaprastham, the benchmark he set with his first three films would have assured him immortality. The writer is an award-winning Indian film critic.
Indian Express
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Opinion Shaji N Karun, Malayalam cinema's master of shadows and silences
In 1988, when Shaji N Karun debuted as a director, Malayalam cinema was lush with talent. Even as K G George, Bharathan and Padmarajan breathed a new storytelling confidence into the mainstream, the distinctive sensibilities of filmmakers like G Aravindan, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and John Abraham carved out a space for a parallel cinema. In what is now celebrated as the golden age of Malayalam films, Karun, who died this week at the age of 73, made a mark with films like Piravi (1988), Swaham (1994) and Vanaprastham (1999). His unique visual language — textured with shadows and silences — made him one of the most prominent representatives of Indian cinema. Before he became a celebrated director, Karun was already a highly regarded cinematographer, collaborating with eminent filmmakers — his work with Aravindan shaping his sensibilities and teaching him, as he would say later, the expressiveness of silence. This is on full display in, for example, M T Vasudevan Nair's Manju (1983), and in Aravindan's Chidambaram (1985), the natural beauty of whose setting amplifies the desire, forbidden and fatal, that drives the plot. By the time Karun made Piravi — an Emergency-era tale of a father's wait for his missing son — he was in command of his gifts. Piravi won Best Film and Best Director at the National Film Awards that year and the Camera d'Or (Special Mention) at Cannes in 1989.
The Hindu
29-04-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
Letters to The Editor — April 30, 2025
Continue immunisation The warning sounded by the World Health Organization, UNICEF and Gavi (the Vaccine Alliance), in the context of World Immunization Week, April 24-30, of 'increases in vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks threatening years of progress', is one that should not be ignored under any circumstances. Neglecting this could be catastrophic for the world. All children and adults (especially women) should be immunised according to the latest national immunisation schedule sanctioned by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and ICMR. The Government of India must ensure that there is no slowing down of immunisation coverage. Dr. Sunil Chopra, Ludhiana, Punjab Stray dog issue As an octogenarian veterinarian, I have been keenly following the narratives on the stray dog problem. Unfortunately, implementation of vaccination and sterilisation has not been as robust as it should have been, with concerns about inadequate outreach and sterilisation rates. A significant proportion of dogs remain reproductively active. As human health and life are important, this is an issue that has to be tackled through a more stringent and practical approach. Dog shelters can be set up in each corporation zone, roping in even corporates under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. In many countries even pets are not allowed loose on a street. Dr. T.N. Varadarajan, Chennai Shaji N. Karun Shaji N. Karun, one among the pantheon of great film-makers, has become a glowing chapter in Kerala's rich film history. As a director and cinematographer, he excelled in both worlds. With his classic films such as Swaham, Piravi and Vanaprastham, he made an indelible mark in world cinema. And, while at the Kerala State Chalachithra Academy and Kerala State Film Development Corporation, he proved to be an institution builder. Ayyasseri Raveendranath, Aranmula, Kerala
New Indian Express
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Painful frames linger on, as master auteur Shaji N Karun bids adieu
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An array of frames that capture the poignancy of pain, be it the pathos of an unending wait, eternal search for the unknown, heartfelt silence, a deep sense of solitude or an intense interior yearning. Master auteur Shaji N Karun, who chose to tread his own path in Indian cinema, often defying norms of not just popular but parallel cinema too, is no more. The 73-year-old, who was battling cancer breathed his last at his Vazhuthacaud residence in the state capital on Monday. The funeral will be held at Santhikavadam on Tuesday. A cinematographer-turned-filmmaker who brought global acclaim to Malayalam cinema with a brilliant kaleidoscope of films spanning over a five-decade-long career, bid adieu hardly two weeks after receiving the JC Daniel award. Shaji has the rare achievement of three back-to-back films making it to Cannes - Piravi, Swaham and Vanaprastham. Pain was ever the leitmotif - the pain of the unspoken, solitude and yearning that lingers on. He chose to portray them through a brilliant interplay of silence and the cinematic medium. "Politics has its base in pain. See, my movies document pain and its mytiad portrayals. That's how political my movies are," he once said. Often he chose a narrative interpersed with long silences and pauses that conveyed so much better than loud frames and ponderous dialogues. His stories were subtle yet tinged with prophetic vision. In his directorial debut, Piravi, which tracks the gruelling pain of a father's wait, the compelling narrative left the audience speechless and overcome with an ache that defied description. The movie serves to be a caustic pointer to the disturbing saga of custodial deaths. Swaham too depicts waiting, but of a different kind. Vanaprastham, which elicited one of the career-best performaces from Mohanlal, too was another sketch of yearning - this time that of a Kathakali artist, who goes through the myriad hues of love, life, isolation amidst a complex societal structure. Shaji was an extremely selective filmmaker when it came to his cinematic creations. He was immune to the glitter of the industry. Even the well-established norms of arthouse movies failed to woo him. He was someone who refused to remain stagnant. "I tend to forget a film, once it's done. If not, I would have to carry its baggage," was his motto. Beginning his career as a cinematographer, Shaji quickly established himself as a master of visual story-telling. He blossomed well in thr company of masters with whom he joined hands - be it G Aravindan, KG George or MT Vasudevan Nair, with whom he worked for films like Manju. That he successfully wielded the camera for the widely-popular, yet artisically brilliant KG George movies too, showed his multiple talents. Yet it was the Aravindan- Shaji combo that presented Malayalam some of the evergreen classics of the 70s. Right from Kanchana Seetha, to Thamp and Kummatty, each silently conversed with the audience through well-lit frames that captured the magic of a black-and-white era. "Aravindettan used to share just four-five pages. Thamb had no screenplay at all. So, I turned the camera into a common man's perspective. That's where it got its form," Shaji once shared with TNIE on the making of Thamp, and the peculiar bond that he shared with the master auteur. They used to understand each other so well. His contributions to Malayalam cinema are not limited to his movies alone. Shaji played a significant role in the setting up of the State Chalachithra Academy. Similarly, the filmmaker played an undeniable part in establishing the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK). Ironically, Shaji N Karun was seldom mentioned among the top league of art-house filmmakers in Malayalam, despite being a filmmmaker who unleashed visual magic through his wide panoramic canvasses. He's known for his almost-meditative black and white frames. The lights fade, yet the shadow lingers on!
