Celluloid Page #9

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like an unwanted beggar,

in his last days.

lf that is so,

like l tell her it is little wonder...

...that a nobody like

J C Daniel is steeped in poverty.

Balan is the first movie for

the historians of Malayalam cinema.

They do not know you.

They do not know

Vigathakumaran either.

Shall l make an attempt?

Shouldn't the world know that

there was such a film before Balan?

Where is Vigathakumaran's

reels now?

What is the value of the film reels

of a movie which nobody wants?

lt has all been destroyed.

This is all

l have of Vigathakumaran.

What you say may be true.

He may even have made this movie.

l have also heard

of Mathanda Varma.

But... in government records,

Balan is the first Malayalam movie.

We can recognize a film

as belonging to a language...

only if it is a talkies.

What are you saying l must do...

- because someone has made

half a movie or a piece of it?

You must add the name of

- Vigathakumaran...

in government records.

The world must know that

this is Malayalam's first movie.

Sir, you must take the initiative

to tell the Chief Minister...

and put the records straight.

lt is difficult.

He doesn't have the print

of the movie, does he?

Who will believe you

if you show this photo and notice...

and say there was such a movie?

Sir, he is still alive.

So what?

The camera and

print of the film made by...

Lumiere Brothers are

still carefully kept.

People still see that film.

Phalke's Raja Harischandra is

also in the the Pune Film Archives.

Ask him to bring me such proof.

Then we will see.

Sir, why are you talking

with such lack of interest?

lsn't it a film made by a Malayali?

Why are you so interested

in this film made by a Nadar?

Sir, l have now understood

what your interests are...

Balan happens to be a film

made by a Brahmin, T R Sundaram.

l didn't figure you were

thinking on the lines of caste.

What did Daniel say?

lt is the same condition there...

Do not cry.

We had lived like kings.

The only thing that we did

wrong was that we made cinema.

Father, now weeps at

the slightest provocation.

He started a ration shop

when the film flopped...

...and there was no other way.

Father looked

after it till he became ill.

Now l have taken over.

C K Soman here says that

the old film trunk is in...

- ...the godown of

Kamalalayam Book Depot.

We will go there and see.

Father has no rights to that now.

lt belongs to them.

When the book depot shut down...

my father kept the film

trunk in the store of this lodge.

from time to time,

saying that the print should...

...be sent to Madras for cleaning.

Father sent it for cleaning

once ortwice, at his expense.

Now, no one looks after it.

Soman had written to P K Nair of

the Poona Film Archives...

lf you put a price and sell it,

the Archives would buy it.

lsn't that better than

it being destroyed here?

This is history.

Only time will prove its worth.

The print is

in the Poona Film Archives.

But for a slight damage to

one ortwo reels, the rest is OK...

Good.

Like me, Sundera Rajan also made

that movie suffering much hardship.

At least his suffering

has not been in vain.

Vigathakumaran did not have that luck,

isn't it, Daniel Sir?

Never mind.

l don't have any complaints.

lt's my own fault.

l never thought it should

be preserved carefully.

ls Vayalar Ramavarma in?

Yes...in 101 ...he's writing...

l know. l have told

him l would be coming...

Come in.

Hi, Chelangadan!

What's the latest cinema news?

Will tell you.

Are you in the writing mood?

Never mind. Lyrics

will come, anyway.

Chelangadan will make

his visits in between.

lt isn't a new occurrence now, is it?

Didn't l tell you about J C Daniel?

Yes, the neglected

father of Malayalam cinema.

That is the bad fortune of an artist.

l will also come with

you if l get the time.

l would also like to see him.

He had a stroke meanwhile.

Now he is bedridden.

This is the letter sent by his wife.

Please read this.

Dear Mr Gopalakrishnan...

l got the copy of the book

The History of Cinema. l am glad.

l read it out to my husband,

who is blind now.

He is now in a critical condition.

He cannot do things by himself.

We are living in extreme poverty.

We are hoping that you

will help us... in some way.

Praying to God with tears.

What can we do?

l met both that

reactionary secretary and...

...the Chief Minister

to talk about...Vigathakumaran.

But they drove me out.

They talked as if l had something

to gain out of this.

He is a great man of letters...

...and a lover of art.

But he is not humane.

He could have easily

helped if he had wanted to.

That Cultural Secretary

is your close friend, isn't he?

lf you call him, l will go

once again and lick his boots.

He is good for everything else.

But he has the dirty outlook

of the upper classes sometimes.

Yes, l am Vayalar... need an urgent

trunk call to Thiruvananthapuram...

Number 2134.

That's a song in Sethu's new film,

Achanum Bappayum...

Devarajan is waiting

with the harmonium...

Have to go to Madras today.

Have a look.

''Man created creeds.''

''Creeds created Gods.''

''Man and creeds and Gods

together shared the land...''

'' shared the mind...''

Why don't you say something, sir?

You made Rama Varma call me

because you felt l would yield?

What else can l do?

You didn't listen to me

when l told you that day.

l agree with what you say.

He is bedridden following a stroke...

He is suffering

hardships and poverty.

But on what grounds can the Kerala

Government give him pension?

How can we give him financial aid?

lsn't he a Tamilian living

in Tamil Nadu, in Agastheeswaram.

Tell him to apply to

the Tamil Nadu Government...

He was born and brought

up at the Travancore of yore.

Didn't Kerala extend upto

Kanyakumari in those days?

He studied and made the

movie in Thiruvanthapuram.

Didn't he make the

movie in Malayalam?

Why should the Tamil Nadu

Government give him pension...

for making a picture in Malayalam?

You come with a print of the movie...

just like you found a print

of Mathanda Varma.

Then we will see.

Sir, l have already

told you it doesn't exist.

Then what can l do?

Even if l send it to

the Chief Minister's office...

it will be returned unsigned.

Sir, are you making lame excuses

in order to deny him his due?

Get out!

We will recognize

him after he is dead.

lsn't that our usual practice?

As you lie in this condition,none

of our children is here, Daniel...

lt's not that they don't have love.

They don't have the time

Don't worry.

Even if no one is here,

aren't l by your side?

Do you see, Janet?

lsn't it the Capitol hall?

Do you see what is being

written on the screen?

Vigathakumaran.

Can you see Janet?

J C Daniel suffered the same fate

shared by many talented geniuses.

His is the same old

story of being ignored...

...and rejected in his lifetime.

lt is with the hope that his work

will be recognized one day

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