In 1970 when the film Cross Belt was released, it was something of a path breaker. Without the mandatory romantic angle, it told the story of a brother and a sister. It spoke of a corrupt system. And it became a box office hit. This year the film completes 45 years. Inspired by thespian N.N. Pillai’s eponymous play, the film was a bold move for the director, Velayudhan Nair. From then on Velayudhan Nair came to be known as Crossbelt Mani.
A popular play of the time, ‘Cross Belt’ inspired Mani to think about how it could be wrought into a film. He approached Pillai to script the film, “I told him he would have to treat it differently since the medium was different – a film would require elements a play didn’t or couldn’t have. I managed to convince him.” Pillai also wrote the dialogues.
Of the play Mani says, “The subject was outstanding. There was no romance, no duet, no running around trees. It spoke about corruption much before it became a topic of discussion it is today.” He collaborated with N.N. Pillai when Pillai wanted his play ‘Kaapalika’ to be made into a film. Cross Belt had Sathyan and Sarada essaying the siblings and the supporting cast included Adoor Bhasi, Kaviyoor Ponnamma and Bahadur besides others. Lyrics were by Sreekumaran Thampi and music by M.S. Baburaj.
At the film’s preview, Mani says, the distributor did not share his enthusiasm. Once it was released, the film ran to full houses for the first two to three weeks. “I came to be known by that film’s name. It was a rare occurrence those days,” Mani reminisces. It proved Mani’s confidence was not misplaced.
“The entire film with 12 prints was done in Rs. 3 to 4 lakh.” The media at the time called him the “uncrowned king of masala action quickies.” “There was a certain richness to the stunts in those days, that was the quality of the masters (stunt). One of my films had an underwater scene shot in a drain…imagine in those days when there wasn’t so much technology and most of the films were shot indoors!”
“I made money-spinning entertainers for the front rows – whistling and clapping were the highlights. People enjoyed those films. I never looked at the audience in the balcony. My films did well at B and C centres; they were commercial successes. I can say with conviction that no producer has suffered financial losses because of me.” But it was not just the front row he catered to. Some of his films did well with the so-called ‘balcony’ audiences too; films such as Putrakameshti, Manushyabandhangal, Neetipeedham, Naadan Premam and Chottanikkara Amma .
A photographer with dreams of making a name for himself in films, Mani entered the film industry as an assistant cinematographer with Merryland Studios in 1956. Being a director was not as simple as it appears to be today. Those days, he says, one had to work one’s way up the hierarchy. Till 1961 he was part of Merryland projects. He was part of K.S. Antony’s Kaalppaadukal , “A playback singer called K.J. Yesudas was introduced in this film; I was fortunate enough to witness it – from the rehearsal to the recording of his first song I was there.”
After years of waiting, he finally made his directorial debut with Midumidukki in 1968. The film had Sathyan and Sarada in the lead along with Kottarakkara Sreedharan Nair and others. Neetipeedham (1973) was his adaptation of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables . His other films, from close to the 40 films he directed, include Revenge, Blackmail, Kaapalika, Penpuli, Velicham Akale, Thimingalam, Eettapuli, Bullet, and Naradan Keralathil . For some of these he wielded the camera as well.
Not content with directing films, he produced and distributed films too. Although he did not do Tamil films, he did give Telugu cinema a shot, “I collaborated with Silk Smitha on a Rs. 40 lakh project in 1986 for her production company, SR Productions, to make Tamil and Telugu films. I directed a Telugu film for her, Veeravihaar,” he says.
Close to 80, memory fails him as one tries to mine the stories he’d have to tell. He says of the late Sathyan, “You just had to tell him once and he’d do the scene. God forbid if anyone tried to ‘teach’ him what to do! He would just tell you off.” Similarly Prem Nazir, he says, had no hang-ups; he worked in some of Mani’s films such as Thamarathoni and Manushyabandhangal .
He has worked and collaborated with the who’s who in Malayalam cinema, literature and theatre. The list includes Sathyan, Prem Nazir, Madhu, Thikkurissi Sukumaran Nair, Kottarakkara Sreedharan Nair, Bahadur, Sankaradi, Adoor Bhasi, Sheela, Sarada, V. Dakshinamoorthy, Yesudas, S.K. Pottekkad, N.N. Pillai, Kakkanadan, and R.S. Nagavalli, to name a few.
When it all became about stardom and personalities, he took a bow and retired from the glitz of Chennai to the calm of Thiruvananthapuram. “Everything is about stardom. When I was a director, all it took was a phone call to an actor for his/her dates. Today I’d have to go to the actor’s place several times. The ‘stars’ have started dictating terms. Everything has changed today…those days a director was supreme, today it is the artiste.”
