From KPAC Lalitha, who acted in his debut film Swayamvaram to Baby Akshara who is essaying a role in his latest film Pinneyum , all were there at the Ganesham open air auditorium on Wednesday to celebrate Adoor Gopalakrishan’s 50 years in making films and 75 years as a human being.
Inaugurating the event, writer Sethu said that Adoor has been able to rediscover himself completely with every passing film, all through his career.
“Over such a long career, many tend to repeat themselves whereas many others tend to copy from others. But even in this 50th year in cinema, he is travelling ahead physically and mentally, in step with the younger generation. He is like a book which you can never finish reading,” said Sethu.
Citing Elipathayam as his favourite film, he said that Adoor did not film stories; rather he brought on screen the human condition of particular time periods.
“Many have said that his cinema does not talk politics. But his films have a clear politics. We also need to study the portrayals of women in his cinema,” said Sethu.
Filmmaker Kamal said that Adoor is a reference textbook for those who came after him. Filmmaker K.R. Mohanan said that Adoor did not try to make a film soon after his studies at FTII, but by creating a film society, he was getting the people ready for his kind of cinema, which would come six years later.
Lyricist Pazhavila Ramesan reminisced humorous stories of a long trip that he undertook with the filmmaker and other friends.
Actors KPAC Lalitha and P.C. Soman from his debut film and Dileep, Kavya Madhavan and Baby Akshara from his latest film joined the filmmaker on stage for the felicitation. Later, they were joined by several other actors and technicians who were part of many of his films.
Sequences from his films will be played at regular intervals. Film bodies including State Chalachitra Academy, Federation of Film Societies of India, Kerala State Film Development Corporation, AMMA, MACTA, FEFKA, Film Chamber and Producer’s Association felicitated Adoor.
Speed cartoonist Jithesh drew caricature based on his life and films. An Adoor photo exhibition by K.R. Vinayan was also held.
