Reading the following about Resul Pookutty made me watch Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s “Elipathayam” yesterday.
If Resul’s sound design captures the muddle of the crowded Mumbai city without getting overbearing, he recalls the moment in the Adoor Goplakrishnan’s film, ‘Elipathayam’, when the protagonist bites stone while having a meal of rice.
I have always heard about Elypathayam, and for some strange reason had this imagery of a mallu comedy in my mind and never had a chance or reason to watch it up until I read about it yesterday, after Resul Pookutty won the Oscar for sound mixing in Slumdog Millionaire.
This is a masterpiece movie, and an excellent example of movie as an art form. It’s slow but brilliantly crafted, and provides a fascinating insight into the older feudal system of Kerala. And, yes I did look out for that scene where the protagonist bites a stone in his rice, a scene which otherwise would have gone unnoticed.
“I wrote the script of ELIPPATHAYAM when I was going through a very painful period. I had to leave Chitralekha, which I had founded and built up over a long period of my youth. There were a lot of misunderstandings between friends and parting of ways. It was in 1979. I made ELIPPATHAYAM in 1981, the intervening period was a tormenting one in my life. It prompted me to look at myself incisively.”
- Adoor Gopalakrishnan (Read Rest of Interview – WARNING: SPOILER ALERT, read only after seeing the movie)
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