Bala’s singularly original Pithamagan was one of the better Tamil movies last year. It is about a young man brought up by an undertaker. He lives all his life in a cemetery, becoming an undertaker himself when his foster dad dies. He lives his life in isolation, with almost no contact with civilized society, ‘cept when burning their corpses. He is unfeeling and callous, his demeanour the same whether he is burying a child or watering a plant. His vocabulary is limited: all that he does is bray a weird song loudly when burning corpses. What happens when this “child of God” tries to enter civilized society in the company of an assortment of fringe characters?
Pithamagan is also an illustration of how one great artist can inspire another. Bala is a confessed Jayakanthan fan, and it is no surprise that the lead character in Pithamagan draws some inspiration from a Jayakanthan short story: ‘Nandavanathi Oru Aandi’ — which is about an undertaker living in isolation, considered “mad” by society because of his quirks, who is unfeeling and callous and happens to sing a song every time he buries a body. The similarities end there, but the source of the character is unmistakable.
Bala is quite possibly the best young director in India today. On second thoughts, I think I’ll get rid of the qualification and state simply: Bala is the best young film maker in India today. I say young, because he is only three movies old. All three of his movies are morose and inward-looking. Almost all the scenes fill you with a strange foreboding, even the funny ones. When I watched Mystic River, I was reminded of Nanda — not because the two movies were similar, but because they both made you feel the same way.
Bala is commercially successful without making what lesser directors refer to euphemistically as “compromises.” He dares to pick unconventional subjects and works hard on them. He chooses his actors after he has written the move — an unbelievably hard thing to do in Indian films. His films don’t preach — Bala understands that the role of art is to reflect life, not to change it. I hope he goes far.
PS : Bala wrote a wonderful series of autobiographical articles in Vikatan (paid registration required) that go some way in explaining what makes him tick: he writes candidly about being an academic failure and doing drugs; how his life changed after coming across works by people like Jayakanthan and Balu Mahendra among others. Here was a wastrel who used his love of art to rescue himself from obscurity. A filmmaker who reads. Another reason to hope he goes very far.
3 Responses to “Inspired Filmmaking”
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Pithamagan was a good effort, but I thought Vikram’s characterization and his performance was a little over-the-top at times, as if he had a rabies attack
The ending was conventional and it became an usual revenge story with the only difference being that the protagonist was not your usual hero. Surya, on the other hand wascool and fun to watch.
Yeah, but what I liked the most about it was that Bala was able to take just the hint of a character from a short story and develop it into a full blown movie.
The ending was unsatisfactory like you say. I would rate Nanda as his best effort so far.
[…] Rumor has it that SilverScreen photo-op favorite, Ajithkumar was coerced into parting with his advance after he decided to step out of his next project — director Bala’s Naan Kadavul. Reports in the vernacular press have been suggesting that Ajith was grilled by some henchmen reportedly sent by Bala after the actor refused to be part of Naan Kadavul. […]