SALMAN Rushdie might have dismissed writing in Indian languages as much too inferior to be included in his anthology, but MT as one of Kerala's most celebrated authors is fondly called couldn't have cared less. In Mumbai to inaugurate the Festival of films Mumbai, writer-director and Jnanpith award winner, M T Vasudevan Nair points to the loyal readership that regional writers have spanned over the years. ``A poetry book going into its 50th edition,'' he exclaims, about the collection of poems by Malyali poet Ramanan, reprinted last year. In an interview with DEEPA A, MT however does not show the same enthusiasm for movies in Indian languages, especially Malayalam, which he feels are degenerating into clones of their jazzy Hindi counterparts.Hindi cinema seems to have an all-pervading effect on the cinemas of other languages.When a movie with 12 songs becomes a success, even a producer in Kerala wants to make something similar. Many producers are timid, which is why they use thesame stars, plots, even titles, of a successful film. In the sixties, there was the New Wave cinema, not pretentious, not intended for critics, like Basu Bhattacharya's movies. Now, such movies don't even make it to the regular circuit. Only commercially successful Hindi movies are shown in theatres throughout the country. And that influences producers.This is true for Malayalam movies as well.The stupid song and dance sequences have become some kind of a ritual in Malayalam films now. It was never there earlier. All of a sudden, you have 50 boys and 50 girls appearing in the screen, their costumes changing.It is the influence of Tamil cinema too.On the other hand, films without cliches are also running. There is a sizeable section of audience in Kerala who are prepared to receive something thought-provoking. But the number of serious films with social messages have gone down. Once in a while, there is a good movie. But I don't find any bold film-making. New film-makers want box-officehits.You have not directed a film in a long time.After Kadavu (1993), I have not directed any movie. Direction takes up a lot of your time, you're fully engaged in films, which I do not want. I have been writing scripts, and will be writing one more in the next few months. But films are secondary, I'm a writer first.How is script-writing different from novel writing?With a script, you have to keep in mind the camera angles, cinematography, other techniques. The entire film runs through my mind when I write a script. With a novel, there is only a theme. Then it is a spontaneously growing process. There are new characters, their importance changes. In films, you've to depend on technology, co-ordinating people, sub-consciously you're worried about whether A or B will put in the money or not. There are no such restrictions in novels.What are you working on now?I'm writing a novel, which I started an year back. The background is Benares, a place where youlive with death. That fascinates me. It is a story about the city where when you walk through the bylanes, you see several dead bodies, and no one is bothered by it. Where a family sells fire for the funeral pyre, a fire that is said to ensure salvation. When I went there with a friend, we visited a ghat by the river. It was around noon. Up some steps, there were five corpses being burnt and nearby, a small boy was flying a kite, completely unmindful of the pyres. That is Benares.There is more hype about Indian writing in English. Is the limited market for writing in Indian languages a handicap?We're not bothered about whether our books are selling outside. I've been writing for 40 years, I'm satisfied with the small readership that I have. Each of my books have gone into 12-13 editions. My readers have trust in me. There are reprints of old Malayalam books in the market even now, classics like Indulekha and Dharmaraja are being brought out by various publishing houses.How importantare translations for authors of Indian languages?They might not be selling much, but it is essential to know what is happening in other languages. Though a little is always lost in translation, but then that is true everywhere. Russians say the translation of Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov is sub-standard.In the book, each of the characters had a different diction, which could not be brought out in the English translation. In the translations of my books, I have seen that small things typically of Kerala, of a rural scene is lost. Such little inadequacies are always there.
