Memorable honour for a living legend: T V Chandran Retrospective

Like a brook set in motion, a breeze blowing across the people laden with a smell, sometimes pungent, sometimes fragrant. This is all that you can say about T.V Chandran’sfilms which are going to be screened in the retrospective section of15th edition of IFFK.
Some of the acclaimed works of this brilliant director will feed to the appetite of film lovers this time. The list of films includes Ponthanmada,Susanna,OrmakalUndayirikanam,Mankamma,Kathavaseshan,Danny and Aadumkoothu.His films are politically directional and emotionally enthralling.

Ponthanmada made in 1993 was his work based on two short stories of C.V Sreeraman.The film had mammotty and Naseeruddin Shah playing the role of Ponthan and SheemaThampuran respectively.Film was atrue cross section of the agrarian based community that existed in kerala.It also portrayed the warm relationship between the lower cast Pontha and the aristocrat Thampuran.The film had won numerous accolades including national award for the best director.

OrmakalUndayirikkanam throws light in to the political sceneries of 1957 when the centre dissolved the communist state regime.The political inclination of human mind and the impact it had on the individual and the society was well narrated in the film.It had won the best Malayalam film national award in 1995.

Mankammafilmed in 1997 revealed the hazardous era of emergency. The film is aclear example of T.V Chandran’s political frame work. The film won national award for Malayalam film in 1997.Susanna ,the film which told the story of a woman who had to travel through the rough patches of life was an indicator of his assessment of feminine nature.
Kathavaseshan is the story of a young man who chose an abrupt end to his life.The story goes through the life and memoirs of people who were close to him. Danny tells the story of love, the declined love and the love reclaimed by an old man Danny who was languishing in the care home. The character of Danny was played by Mammootty.
Aadumkoothu was his debutorial Tamil film. It deals with the life of a village girl who miraculously had the vision of a dalit girl reeling under extreme oppression and humiliation. The Tamil initiative directly attacked the cruelty and inhuman approach of aristocrats against the lower strata.
The films of MrChandran depict the spot-on reality of the country voiced in an emphatic manner. Along with Rassbinder’sfilms, T V Chandran’s films will add striking power to the retrospective section.