KERALA-ADOOR'S 'KATHAPURUSHAN' MOVIE

[Dr. P.K. John]

ADOOR'S 'KATHAPURUSHAN' AT TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL
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Dr. P. K. John Toronto, Ontario,
Canada
Toronto
September 11, 1996

Kathapurushan was one of a total of 5 Indian films shown here at the
21st Toronto film festival. Increasingly Toronto is becoming the place
where film makers show their work for the first time. In recent years the
Toronto festival has been giving importance to cinemas of Latin America
and Asia dedicating separate programs for these areas.

This year the films from India were Adoor's 'Katha Purushan' , Meera
Nair's 'Kamasutra' Deepa Metha's, ' Fire', Amol Plekar's 'The Square
Circle' and Nilita Vachani's 'When Mother comes Home for Christmas'.Deepa
Metha's film 'Fire' was shown as a Canadian entry and was accompanied by
a lot of hype.

Kathapurushan had two screening's to nearly houseful viewers. Mr.
Gopalakrishnan attended both showings and was available for questions
from the viewers. A handful of us, Adoor fans went to see the film and
had the opportunity to spend some time with Adoor at a reception we
hosted. Adoor was nursing a viral fever , but was most gracious not to
turn down our invitation. In spite of all the fame and honours Adoor
turned out to be a wonderful guest who gave us quite an education about
the world of internationally acclaimed motion pictures and Katha Purushan
in particular.

As someone who has seen some of Adoor's master pieces like Elipathayam,
Mathilukal, and Vidheyan I found this movie somewhat different from his
usual theme. The movie did have deep personal meaning for those of us who
grew up during the times that Kochunni, Adoor's main character grew up.
Aranmula Ponnamma as grand mother and KPAC Lalitha as servant maid
presented superb acting. I could believe the story that the cameraman
was wiping his tears while filming a certain scene. I bet it was that
scene where Aranmula Ponnamma in her role as grandmother gives her only
precious possession, a gold chain to the departing maid's oldest
daughter as a wedding gift for the future.

Urmila Unni's portrayal of Kochunni's mother is also superb. After we saw
the film she left for days images of the ill woman abandoned by both her
brother and husband. Viswanathan, a relatively newcomer has done a
remarkable job portraying Kunjunni's struggles.

Adoor has skillfully interwoven one family's struggles with those of
Kerala and India during the period immediately preceding independence to
the post-independence events of communism, and naxalite movement.

The contrast with the usual commercial Malayalam films is inescapable
even to the unsophisticated. Adoor wasted few words or footage. Every
look, gesture and word coveys meaning and more meaning as you think about
a scene.

The casting of Mithun in dual roles as young Kujunni and later as
Kunjunni's son was clever . The passage of time was shown with a minimum
of words in the change from 'Balyakalasakhi' which the first boy was
reading to an English book that the second boy was reading.

Lastly, the eternal story teller who appears in the beginning and again
in the end of the movie is a novel idea. We asked Adoor about the story
teller's story. He mentioned that it was inspired by Valmiki's story.
Both the general story and the specific story have one common theme-There
is no assurance that the mighty always win.

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