There are a few works that stand out in each artist’s oeuvre. The idiosyncratic vision imbued in these works helps us recognize the demon that inspires the artist to take a particular path.
Of the 19 films KG George made over two decades, in at least four critically acclaimed films, we can feel George’s vision, even though thematically they may turn out to be different films. These films were pioneers and, in many ways, have become a source of inspiration for today’s young filmmakers.
George wrote and directed films whose characters were drawn into the vortex of a particular plot, rather than larger-than-life characters directing the plots using their own free will. George’s protagonists, for the most part, were reduced to ordinary men and women, devolving into serendipitous degeneration and, in turn, dragging others into the vicious cycle of doomed circumstances. The man does indeed arrive on stage, but a little too late, or perhaps the magic wand is too weak to manage the tumultuous flow of violence that unfolds.
It begins with the credits of a film, say Yavanika, where the name of Mammooty – who plays the role of a police inspector – comes below Bharat Gopi and Nedumudi Venu, both drama artists.
Tabalist Ayyappan, brilliantly played by Gopi, is a ruthless womanizer, who is ultimately killed by his partner, Jalaja, who is subjected to his torture repeatedly. Although Mammootty, the police inspector, solves the murder mystery, he is not given a larger than life role and plays a normal role in the film. And as the story progresses, Yavanika, the mysterious curtain of intrigue, beauty and blood, slowly rises before the viewer.
George cleverly uses the proven literary tool of telling the story through the staging of a play to enhance the drama of the cinematic plot. Men of very varied characters come and go: lustful, friendly, drunkards and disciplined. No one is spared. Not even the good man, Venu Nagavally, who gets drawn into the criminal act in order to save the victim from possible arrest. The theme of illusory love and alienation recurs in many of George’s films, beginning with his first directorial project, Swapnadanam, released in 1976, and culminating in Mattoral, a largely underrated work released a decade later.
In the award-winning film Swapnadanam, he explored the theme of pure love versus pragmatic love. The main character of the film is haunted by memories of a love affair and leads a miserable married life, while his neighbor, brilliantly played by Soman, has multiple affairs, leads a happy and seemingly fulfilled life. The tormented protagonist, an introverted doctor, cannot conceive of this unbearable lightness of being, which consists of accepting the ups and downs of life as one wishes, and ends up finding himself in a psychiatric asylum.
In Mattoral, a scenario perhaps inspired by Albert Camus’s famous short story, The Adultere, a housewife (Seema) from the upper bourgeoisie leaves her husband and children for a mechanic’s workshop. Her quest for ideal love soon collapses. Although she tries to return to the family, her husband (Karamana), who is a high-ranking government official, fails to accept her and commits suicide.
In Irakal, the theme of lack of love is taken up by telling the story of a successful but dysfunctional Christian family. The film begins with the youngest heir (Ganesh Kumar) returning home after brutally tearing apart and nearly killing a student, indicating that he already has psychopathic tendencies. When his mother takes him to the local priest (Gopi) for possible reformation, the priest asks him if he loves his parents. The young man replies with an impassive look: No. The film ends with the father (Thilakan) shooting dead Ganesh, when the youth starts a gunfight inside the house.
Two years later, in Adaminte Vaariyellu, George sketches the stories of three women from different strata of society, who were tortured by men. The film ends with the women at a shelter escaping in a symbolic spectacle of liberation to end the patriarchy, even jostling the director and cameraman who were capturing their sad stories. Although George was influenced by the craftsmanship of filmmakers like Alfred Hitchcock and Federico Fellini, he was deeply concerned about the message he conveyed to audiences.
In an interview with TOI in 2016, he said how impressed he was by the works of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, in which the writer used internal violence of the mind and lack of love to depict debauched characters.
With the exception of a few films like Ulkadal, the majority of George’s films have a dark, realistic resonance to contemporary social issues. Even a political satire like Panchavadi Palam ends on a sad note, when the bridge collapses due to faulty construction and everyone plunges into the river. Although they manage to swim to shore, a disabled person (Sreenivasan) dies.
The George canon, apart from spawning several imitators, has influenced the current generation of filmmakers like Rajiv Ravi and Lijo Jose Pellissery, who root their characters in a particular geographical terrain, while exploring universal emotions.
No wonder in the film Maheshinte Prathikaram, the Dileesh Pothan-Shyam Pushkaran team named Fahadh’s Faasil studio, Bhavana studio, after Yavanika’s Bhavana theater and, of course, their beloved master.
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed above are those of the author.
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