The Celebrated Storyteller
With a glittering career spanning more than 50 years and about 100 films, Padmashri Dr Kailasam Balachander still has an insatiable appetite for movies. “I enjoy watching the latest films, both as a technician and as a film maker”, he says.
Credited for having an eye for spotting talent, he has introduced some of the biggest names in Tamil cinema: , Kamal Hassan, Rajinikanth, Vivek, Chiranjavee etc. “I always made sure that I gave opportunities to new talent. When I spot a new talent, something intuitive tells me ‘This person will become a star or an actor.’ I cannot define it,” says the director. Known for being a hard taskmaster, he has the ability to bring out the best from the artistes that he works with. “1Sri Balachander was like a potter. He can mould any actor,” said Kamal Hassan1. The high work ethics demanded by K.Balachander and the benchmarks that are invariably set by him are the stuff of legend.
Perhaps moulding young talent was something Balachander gained experience in, during his one year stint as a school teacher in Muthupet in Tanjore district. “I was fresh out of my B.Sc degree when I started teaching. It was a huge challenge for a 20-year-old, but with help and encouragement from the Headmaster, I started enjoying it. I spent a lot of time training students to put up skits and plays, and was actively involved in extra-curricular activities,” he reminisces.
Born on July 9, 1930 into a Tamil Brahmin family in Nannilam in Tanjore, Balachander or KB, as he is fondly known, was constantly reminded of the importance of being a good student. A self-confessed first-bencher, he was regular with his lessons, but was always lured by the promise of stories. He loved writing small sketches and skits. Pursuing his B.Sc in Life Sciences at Annamalai University in the temple town of Chidambaram gave him opportunities to script and even perform in stage productions. “It was a politically vibrant period, as we were about to get independence and the regional political scene, too, was interestingly poised, as the Dravidian parties had just come into the political fold of Tamil Nadu,” says the star director, who himself was not directly involved in any student political activities.
“I was never interested in politics, and was only keen on concentrating on my studies. However the incidents of the time had a profound influence on me, as a mute spectator,” says KB. He remembers fondly the time when Mahatma Gandhi was traveling around the country, and paid a visit to Annamalai University. “Gandhi ji had come personally to collect donations from people for the cause of independence and there was an air of excitement in the campus. Female students gave away the jewels they were wearing, and huge crowds had gathered. It was a poignant moment for me - to see such a big man in person.” Stalwarts such as Anna Durai and other political bigwigs at the time also visited the politically charged university campus.
After his one year stint in teaching, the 21-year-old Balachander moved to Madras to work as an upper division clerk in the Accountant General’s office. But even a desk job and working with numbers couldn’t keep him away from his first and biggest love - theatre. He watched as many plays as he could. “The exposure that I got from watching plays was tremendous; the theatre scene in Madras was full of promising amateur clubs that gave very entertaining performances” he says. For the Annual Day celebrations in the Accountant General’s office, he scripted and directed a play, along with some colleagues. The play was extremely well received, and the sense of satisfaction in entertaining a large group of people stayed with Balachander for a long time. He was so flattered by the adulation from the audience that one thing led to another, and along with a few friends, he started an amateur theatre group called “Raagini Recreations”.
The urge to do something creative was fulfilled by the amateur theatre group, which produced many plays. Major Chandrakanth, Server Sundaram, Mezhuguvarthi, and Navagrahamwere some of the plays that “Raagini Recreations” produced with resounding success and which garnered it immense popularity. With no intention of entering the film industry, KB wondered if he should quit his job at the Accountant General’s office and concentrate on doing plays full time.
Soon, AVM Chettiar approached him, offering to produce Server Sundaram, to be remade into a film. Starring famous comedian Nagesh, the movie was a huge hit and increased Balachander’s popularity in the film fraternity. Soon another juicy opportunity knocked - this time to write MGR’s dialogues for his movie Deivathaai produced by R.M.Veerapan. KB says of the experience, “It was a great learning experience, as writing dialogues for a superstar is extremely challenging. So far I had written dialogues for plays, and then chosen the artist, but now I had to write for the sake of an artist!”
Getting busy with his next project, a play called Neerkumazhi,A.K.Velan, a successful film maker at the time approached him saying that he’d like to produce KB’s next film. He advised Balachander to make Neerkumazhi into a film, asking him to simultaneously plan its theatre production as well. “I was a bit hesitant about the offer”, confesses KB, “as films were completely foreign to me, and it took me about a week to finally make the decision - egged on by friends and well-wishers, who thought that this was a perfect opportunity for me! And finally, of course, I decided to take the plunge.” The film was taken on a small budget, but was a runaway success and was praised by the who’s who of the film industry. After a couple more films, there was no looking back.
Balachander had been on unpaid leave for the past four years, and he finally made the decision to quit his job. The writing was on the wall, and Tamil cinema gained one of its pillars, someone who revolutionized its very nature. “My style of film making made people sit up and realize that the medium of cinema was much more than just the artists on screen, it made people realize the effort that goes into the making of the art. I’m proud to say that I was one of the first directors who got a standing ovation when my name appeared in the end credits”, says the legend. Clever use of symbolism, carefully scripted characters, powerful story lines and great attention to detail make his movies an intense experience. They are known for their social reformative nature, and draw subjects and characters from middle class settings that make it easy for the audience to identify with.
At a time when hero-oriented films were the norm in the then-male chauvinistic society, KB defied current trends and brought about fresh changes. The fact that he got one of the biggest comedians of those times to play the hero - Nagesh in Server Sundaram - is in itself testimony that K.Balachander is one of the biggest experimenters of his generation. “I never wanted to make films with big, established stars. I knew that the subjects that interested me wouldn’t interest any other hero. I took it up as a challenge,” he explains.
KB is also known to have addressed several women-related issues in his movies - his female protagonists are strong willed and radical. Sindhu Bhairavi (1985), for instance, while centered around the “women as a temptress” theme, had a twist to it. In many ways, he may have redefined the happily-ever-after ending. “A happy ending may not necessarily mean marriage. Marriage is not the be-all and end-all. Many of these movies were way ahead of their times.”
As he grew in stature and made enormous strides in the industry - both quantitatively and qualitatively - the Tamil audience began to talk of a phenomenon that they called ‘The Balachander Touch’. “When I came into films, I thought of new ways to present things. I wouldn’t call it gimmickry, but it was something like that. This became very popular and the audience gave this a name. They began to expect these touches in my films” elaborates KB. A classic example of ‘The Touch’ can be seen in the movie, Achchamillai Achchamillai, which has a character called Sudhanthiram, whose stunted growth is a metaphor for the state of our freedom.
He made films in several languages, including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi. His telugu films Akali Rajyam and Rudraveena are seen as one of the best Telugu movies ever made , Rudraveenaran for 700 days in Madras. One of his Hindi movies, Ek Duje Ke Liye, received two filmfare nominations, for best story and for direction. He remains one of the few directors in India to make films in different languages. “Making a hindi movie was a daunting task, you have to cater to the taste of the Bollywood audience, which is quite different from Tamil and Telugu audiences,” he says.
In the 90s, when satellite television became popular in India, Balachander wrote, produced and directed many television serials . A lot of these became household names and were an instant hit with the audience. In his characteristic style, KB fused societal concerns into the half-hour programmes. “When it first came about, I liked the pristine nature of the medium, it allowed for a lot of trial and experimentation, but now even TV has become stale and staid,” he says.
K. Balanchandar is a recipient of several awards, most notably the Padmashri in 1985, for his contribution to arts, and the prestigious Kalaimamani Award, given by the Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nataka Manram (Sangeeth Natak Academy) for excellence in the field of art and literature. He has alsos received several state awards. Four of his films won the “Best Regional Film” title at the annual Indian National Film Awards. “Awards give me a sense of satisfaction and the adulation drives me to better my work. They’re a huge source of motivation,” he affirms.
Why is it that directors today are not able to find the perfect formula that balances intellectual cinema and commercial requirements, one wonders. “The economics of the film industry today doesn’t allow the kind of creative freedom one needs to make that kind of a film,” he says.
He has words of encouragement for young and upcoming directors: “the exposure a young director can get today is enormous. Accessibility to international movies is greater these days and awareness levels are reassuring. We’re on par with international standards with respect to technology; however we still have a long way to go.” Balachander praises the upcoming crop of women directors, who bring in a new perspective, according to him.
“Any profession needs more than a formal degree, it requires intensive hands-on exposure to the field. Cinema is no different; if you want to make good cinema, it’s imperative to have the passion and conviction for it!” he concludes.
Footnotes:
1. Set to score a perfect ten: http://www.hindu.com/mp/2005/08/25/stories/2005082501070100.htm
Photo Courtesy: jessica @ flickr
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Nice interview! It’s great that you got to meet such an accomplished director
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