Delving deep into history of
Malayalam film, in the light of the award-winning film 'Celluloid', will helps
us discover some bitter truths that have long been swept under carpet. The life
of J .C Daniel and his tragic end after an arduous struggle to make the first
Malayalam celluloid was being neglected by the
corrupt politics of the privileged classes in society for a long
time. The then government's apathy in accepting him as the Father of Malayalam
cinema coupled with its disinterest in extending a helping hand to his family
at the time of distress will for ever leave a deep scar in the sensibilities of
Malayalam film fraternity. More so when we remember the fact
that the unsung hero was pushed from prosperity
into penury only for the sake of realizing the dream of making
the first Malayalam cinema.
The saga of the pioneer of Malayalam cinema was brilliantly reproduced in
‘Celluloid’, the biopic which has bagged seven State Awards for 2012, including
the best film. The film on J. C Daniel, who was the producer-
director of the first Malayalam movie Vigathakumaran (The Lost Child) released
in 1930, was directed by the well-known film maker, Kamal. It tells
the story of J.C.Daniel's turbulent life, the making of Vigathakumaran and the
excommunication of its heroine P.K. Rosy, the first Malayalam actress. Being a
Pulaya girl, who was considered untouchable by upper caste Hindu community in
those days, Rosy had to run for life to an unknown
village in Tamil Nadu. But the film stops short of naming two persons in
particular, who were behind all the injustice done unto J.C Daniel and his
struggling family. They were the persons who were instrumental in denying J.C.
Daniel the rightful place he deserved in history , and the title of the Father
of Malayalam cinema for a long period.
The two well-known figures are: Malayatoor Ramakrishnan and K. Karunakaran. The duo schemed to bury the well documented historic files supporting J.C Daniel's claim of making the first Malayalam film and instead favoured T.R Sundaram , a Salem-based Modern Studio owner and producer of the film ‘Balan’ ( 1938) to be the official father of Malayalam cinema. In early seventies, K. Karunakaran , the Home Minister in C . Achutha Menon Governement was also the Minister-in-charge of Cultural Affairs. Malayatoor Ramakrishnan was the then Cultural Secretary in the Government of Kerala. It is now open and clear that the two in power conspired to deny J.C Daniel his due – the title of Father of Malayalam cinema . It is an irony that Malayatoor, the very person who wrote the novel ‘ Yanthram’ (machine), which tells the story of chilling juggernaut of bureaucracy, delaying or denying justice to the needy, had done this to J.C Daniel.
The biopic on J.C Daniel is based on two books - The Life of J.C Daniel , a biography written by film journalist Chelangat Gopalakrishnan and ‘ Nashta Nayika’ (The Lost Heroine ) , a novel by Vinu Abraham in Malayalam. Kamal says that the script is based on these two books. He said he has done justice to the lives of both J.C.Daniel and P.K.Rosy in the film. To a question put to him by Manorama Online as to why the two named were not revealed, Kamal justified his stand by calling it as his artistic freedom.
He explained further: “It is true that K.Karunakaran and Malayatoor Ramakrishnan had played their roles in denying justice to J.C Daniel. But people like Chelangat Gopalakrishnan tried their best to get J.C Daniel declared by Kerala government as Father of Malayalam Cinema. In my film , actor Siddique essays Malayatoor's character as Ramakrishna Ayer. It is his (Malyatoor's) real name and people closely watching my film can figure out Malyatoor in Siddique. As an artist and director I took my liberty to avoid popular names like Malyatoor and K.Karunakaran in the film. We may expand the canvass or reduce or even discard certain elements of original story for the sake of the creativity. Besides, I didn’t want a hullabaloo by raising those names in my film. Take it as my freedom as an artist.''
“In fact , the privileged class in our society had always tried to deny creative people from the lower strata their due. And in Malayalam cinema, from J.C Daniel to Thilakan, this practice of victimaisation has always been there. Thilakan had to fight it out in the last stage of his eventful life. A person from Christian Nadar community making the first Malayalam cinema with an ‘ untouchable’ Pulaya girl in the lead was something beyond the comprehension of the upper caste Hindus in erstwhile Travancore. So they resorted to violence to stop the screening of the film in Thiruvananthapuram. The ‘ untouchable’ heroine had to run for cover when her house was attacked. This is history and history repeats itself in different forms as in the case of Thilakan,” Kamal added.
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The two well-known figures are: Malayatoor Ramakrishnan and K. Karunakaran. The duo schemed to bury the well documented historic files supporting J.C Daniel's claim of making the first Malayalam film and instead favoured T.R Sundaram , a Salem-based Modern Studio owner and producer of the film ‘Balan’ ( 1938) to be the official father of Malayalam cinema. In early seventies, K. Karunakaran , the Home Minister in C . Achutha Menon Governement was also the Minister-in-charge of Cultural Affairs. Malayatoor Ramakrishnan was the then Cultural Secretary in the Government of Kerala. It is now open and clear that the two in power conspired to deny J.C Daniel his due – the title of Father of Malayalam cinema . It is an irony that Malayatoor, the very person who wrote the novel ‘ Yanthram’ (machine), which tells the story of chilling juggernaut of bureaucracy, delaying or denying justice to the needy, had done this to J.C Daniel.
The biopic on J.C Daniel is based on two books - The Life of J.C Daniel , a biography written by film journalist Chelangat Gopalakrishnan and ‘ Nashta Nayika’ (The Lost Heroine ) , a novel by Vinu Abraham in Malayalam. Kamal says that the script is based on these two books. He said he has done justice to the lives of both J.C.Daniel and P.K.Rosy in the film. To a question put to him by Manorama Online as to why the two named were not revealed, Kamal justified his stand by calling it as his artistic freedom.
He explained further: “It is true that K.Karunakaran and Malayatoor Ramakrishnan had played their roles in denying justice to J.C Daniel. But people like Chelangat Gopalakrishnan tried their best to get J.C Daniel declared by Kerala government as Father of Malayalam Cinema. In my film , actor Siddique essays Malayatoor's character as Ramakrishna Ayer. It is his (Malyatoor's) real name and people closely watching my film can figure out Malyatoor in Siddique. As an artist and director I took my liberty to avoid popular names like Malyatoor and K.Karunakaran in the film. We may expand the canvass or reduce or even discard certain elements of original story for the sake of the creativity. Besides, I didn’t want a hullabaloo by raising those names in my film. Take it as my freedom as an artist.''
“In fact , the privileged class in our society had always tried to deny creative people from the lower strata their due. And in Malayalam cinema, from J.C Daniel to Thilakan, this practice of victimaisation has always been there. Thilakan had to fight it out in the last stage of his eventful life. A person from Christian Nadar community making the first Malayalam cinema with an ‘ untouchable’ Pulaya girl in the lead was something beyond the comprehension of the upper caste Hindus in erstwhile Travancore. So they resorted to violence to stop the screening of the film in Thiruvananthapuram. The ‘ untouchable’ heroine had to run for cover when her house was attacked. This is history and history repeats itself in different forms as in the case of Thilakan,” Kamal added.
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