Celluloid Page #10

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that l went on with my

mission even after his death.

ln the end,

it is with the formation

of the Kerala State

Film Development Corporation

that the Kerala Government

recognized J C Daniel

as the father of

Malayalam cinema,

and Vigathakumaran as

the first film in Malayalam.

Even when hundreds of

films were produced each year

and Malayalam cinema

was recognized by the world...

winning several national

and international awards...

we failed to realize that

the father of Malayalam cinema...

and its first heroine lived

somewhere among us in anonymity.

On this occasion,

when the documentary directed by

Sri R Gopalakrishnan

is to be screened,

l would like to introduce you...

to a special individual,

who has come on the invitation

of Sri Gopalakrishnan...

- the youngest son of J C

Daniel,Sri Harris Daniel.

l invite Harris Daniel to talk to us.

When you applaud

me in the name of my Papa

l do not know what to say.

l am J C Daniel's youngest son.

l hadn't been born when

Papa made Vigathakumaran.

l only rememberthe J C

Daniel who brooded in a corner...

having lost everything,

aftertrying to make a film in Madras,

- and after giving up dentistry.

l don't know why, but l always

preferred to stay aloof from Papa.

l have never tried

to understand Papa.

As Chelangad Sir said, had a piece

of the film Papa made remained...

he would have been

recognized in his own lifetime.

lf that had been so,

l too would have known...

...his greatness while he lived.

ln my childhood, l failed to recognize

the greatness of that movie...

That is why it has

happened this way.

The ignorance of a six-year-old.

The person responsible for the

non-existence of a single piece...

- of that movie is not

Papa... not anyone else...

l am responsible for it.

lt was l who burnt those reels.

l did not know then that the childhood

mischief of a six-year-old...

- would turn out to be

such a cruel entertainment.

lt may have been the aversion

Papa felt towards the world...

- and towards cinema

that made him gaze

- at my mischief like a bystander.

l apologize to Papa...

- and to Malayalam cinema...

for my childhood mischief.

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