This is an art film and not just because it is cerebral. Eashwar Mime Co,directed by Shyamanand Jalan,a Kolkata-based lawyer and a Sangeet Natak Akademi award-winning theater actor,is also a meeting ground for various art forms besides,as the name suggests,mime. The script is by Vijay Tendulkar,the late theatre stalwart,late Kathakali exponent Guru Govindan Kutty had trained the dancers,and artist Rameshwar Broota painted the faces of the actors. The film which was 14 years in the making and spent a further six years in the cans because the film-maker couldnt find a distributor will have its India premier in Delhi this week. I play Eashwar,a man who plays God to everybody around him. He starts out as a benefactor to an impoverished group of people before he turns into a predator. It makes one remember that even the most hated dictator starts out as a much-loved leader, says Mumbai-based actor Ashish Vidyarthi about his role as the manipulative,hard-drinking but passionate and charming Kathakali dancer Eashwar. The main narrative of the film was taken from a two-page story by Bengali writer Dibyendu Palit. Tendulkar,while scripting it for the film,put in his signature touches,highlighting the themes of oppression and social hierarchy as well as man-man and man-woman relationships. Mallika Jalan,producer of the film,reveals that Eashwar Mime Co unfolds in the depths of rural India where Eashwar,a talented Kathakali dancer,heads a group of mime performers. He subjects his employees to brutal psychological and sexual violence. The mime players,however,bear everything in silence and with a resilience that is in itself disturbing, she says. Into this milieu enters Chitrarth,a scriptwriter played by Pawan Malhotra,who soon realises that one must forget all the customs of the known,civilized world in order to survive with the Eashwar Mime Company. For four to six hours everyday,I would paint the faces of the mime actors,using abstract motifs and designs on their faces to hide any sign of emotion. These players were like statues,short of human feelings. It was laborious but,with human faces as a living canvas before me,it was also enjoyable, recalls Broota,adding that a series of his paintings some of which were in Shyamanands collection revolved around figures with expressionless faces. The film has traveled the festival circuit and was shown at the Durban International Film Festival and the Festival of Three Continents recently. But Shyamanandji,who passed away in May,wanted his only film to be seen in India. The Delhi show fulfills that dream, says Mallika.
