And the journey continues

It is only days after this success, but Murali is not exactly swept off his feet by the honour. 8220;He is just not that type,8221; insist his close friends. He is, in fact, reported to have been 8220;shocked8221; when chosen for the honour.Those who knew Murali as a youngster recall him as someone who thought, ate, drank and slept cinema. But he had little patience with theformal teaching of filmmaking. In the early 8217;90s, Murali just dropped out of a film direction course at the Xavier Institute of Communications in Bombay.In 1991, he joined Pawan Kaul, a commercial filmmaker, and worked as his directorial assistant. Kaul8217;s films were far removed from the cinema of Murali8217;s dreams but the experience did prove to be valuable.

Having gained some experience, Murali launched out on his own. In 1993, he made Tragedy of an Indian Farmer, based on Changampuzha8217;s Vazhakula. Although making films in colour was the accepted practice, Murali decided that his film would be in black-and-white. Close friends hint that his budget may have had something to do with the decision.

The film won the National Award for the best short film of the year. It also introduced M.R. Gopakumar to Malayalam cinema. This was the actor who narrowly missed out on an opportunity to act in a Spielberg movie.

It was then that Murali met Mani Kaul, one man who still swore by alternative cinema. Working as hisassistant in a German production, Clouds, Murali learnt a great deal. 8220;It is one thing to study cinema at an institute and entirely another to learn from a master,8221; Murali often told his friends. He was also to work in Chandrakanta, the mega TV serial.Coronations, his second short film, was about the impact of the military on third world countries and was full of abstract images. Shot in Mumbai, the work travelled to many festivals, even though the Indian Censor Board found the violence in the work a bit too excessive. But film festival audiences were enthusiastic and Murali was suddenly being seen as the bright new hope.Then came Such a Long Journey Oru Neenda Yatra in 1996. All of six minutes, it was still big enough for the discerning to take notice. The association with Cannes had begun. M.J. Radhakrishnan, award-winning cinematographer and a Murali regular, believes that success was only waiting to court his friend. 8220;He obviously knows his job, but what I find fascinating is his urge to create.Adversity fazes most, but Murali gets inspired by it. For example, he shot Oru Neenda Yatra using raw stock acquired from various quarters. This would normally affect quality, as it would be difficult to get the correct tone. But Murali just had to make the film.8221;

Vinu Abraham, a Thiruvananthapuram-based journalist and one who knows Murali better than most, recalls how tough it was in the beginning. 8220;He had his own vision of cinema and it was often frustrating to realise that not many others thought the way he did. His kind of films were not being made any more in Kerala and anyone who was prepared to finance a project set conditions which he could not accept. If Murali finds London a better place to work, he has his reasons,8221; says Abraham.

Marana Simhasanam Throne of Death, a political satire, tells the story of Krishnan, an unemployed seasonal labourer. One rainy season, when there is no work, he goes to his landlord for help. Returning empty-handed, he steals a bunch of coconuts from the master8217;syard. He is caught and ends up getting implicated in a murder case. This happens while the election campaign is on. Krishnan soon becomes a pawn in the hands of political parties. He is awarded the death penalty for his misdeeds and is killed in a US-made electronic chair brought specially for the purpose. The chair, bought with World Bank money, is seen as a symbol of a glorious death.

The shooting took all of 12 days. Shot at Njarakkal in Vypeen island off the Kochi coast, Murali8217;s team comprised of less than 10 people. There was no crew as such and certainly no unit boys as they are called in commercial cinema. What8217;s more, it was made on a shoestring budget of less than Rs 10 lakh.

8220;The film was shot in 16 mm, with Murali bringing his own camera, and was later converted to 32 mm. We used natural light as far as possible. Working with him is always a treat as Murali has very clear ideas and knows exactly how his end product should look like,8221; says Radhakrishnan.

Bharatan, who wrote the script withthe director, adds: 8220;There was not one professional artiste in the cast. Murali does not want his artistes to act, he wants life. It worked to our advantage that the artistes were not trained.8221;

Lakshmi Raman, who plays one of the two important characters in the film, earns her living weaving baskets. Her only experience of films was seeing them 8212; and that rarely. Viswambaran, who plays her husband, is a makeup man in theatre. Both have put in amazing performances.

8220;No one even knew that we were shooting. There is no noise at all while Murali is at work. He does not shout and throw his weight around but knows how to get what he wants,8221; says Rajan Sithara, who assisted Murali in the film. Both go back a long way, having virtually grown up together in Anandapuram, near Irinjalakuda in Thrissur.

Married to Priya, a London-based Punjabi who is also into films, Murali is in for hectic times. Marana Simhasanam is going to be released commercially in Paris in September, with French sub-titles, and it isall set to travel the entire festival circuit as well. Murali is keen to show his film in India as well, but it will have to first be cleared by the Censor Board.As for the future, Murali already has a script. It is based on O.V. Vijayan8217;s Arimpara. So it looks as if he won8217;t get much time to bask in the accolades that are streaming his way.

8212; Arun