“Madurai was not so hot a decade ago, but now, the city is a burning cauldron,” says M. Kirubaharan, whose musical video Nijam Enge? emphasising environment protection, is creating ripples in the short-and-documentary film festivals.
The video is about a man’s journey in search of greener pastures in a land that is rendered barren because of lack of awareness. “Even now, I remember how I played cricket with my friends on the grasslands. We never felt the heat then. The sorry state of affairs today is the result of mindless tree felling and failure to green the surroundings,” he says.
Produced by M. Christopher of Rise Productions, the video stresses the immediate need to save the planet from global warming. The video was launched on Youtube. It reached the final rounds in an online competition titled ‘Song for Peace’ conducted in the US. Recently, the video has been selected for screening at the 7th International documentary and short film festival of Kerala.
“Climate change is really scary. Still people are ignorant and indifferent about environment protection. As an ad filmmaker, it was natural for me to venture into commercial filmmaking. But, I wanted to do something for my society and that resulted in this video,” says Kirubaharan.
But why a musical video when documentary would have been a more natural choice to feature this issue? “There is a general perception among people that documentaries are dull and boring narratives. But it is not the case with musical videos. It is like a sugar coated pill. The truth may be bitter but we have to coat it with the music. It easily captures audience attention and the reach is more. Moreover, it is easy for me to screen the video on local television channels,” he says. Even as a visual communications student, Kirubaharan’s concern for the society resulted in a series of projects on several issues such as waste disposal, circulation of counterfeit notes and modern day education that overburdens children. “Initially, my focus was on the harmful effects of plastic use but while gathering information I discovered that damage caused to environment is a broader and more serious an issue,” he says.
The video was shot in the dry locales of Madurai such as Naganakulam tank, Chathirapatti channel and Samanar Malai. Indoor shots were done at a church in Arappalayam. “My college mates helped me in completing this project. We shot the whole video with Canon 5D Mark III camera. Vinoth Chan, who was my classmate, is the photographer. We have also used Jimmy Jib (crane) for aerial shots. It was tough to shoot atop the Samanar hills on hot afternoons,” he recollects.
Kirubaharan is also a painter and sculptor and enjoys making artistic films. He has worked under popular documentary filmmaker R.P. Amudhan for four years. The experience of being a festival coordinator in the short film and documentary film festivals in Madurai and Chennai helped him gain knowledge about presentation skills.
He thanks his friend and music composer Jose Franklin for playing an important part in his project. “Jose gave a musical form to my idea and I sang the track with dummy lyrics. To my surprise everyone was satisfied with my singing and wanted to me to sing the song, and I obliged,” he says. The lyrics for this video were by Christopher, a popular stand up comedian. He came up with beautiful lines such as Alaigal Meendum Kolaigal Seyyuma?.. . According to Christopher, “The music was very impressive and I had tough time writing lyrics for the serious subject, as I am more used to writing funny dialogues.”
Says Kirubharan: “I still remember Swami Vivekananda’s popular lines ‘Awake, arise and stop not till the goal is reached’. I wanted to convey the same to my fellow beings in connection with environment protection. It is high time we correct our mistakes.” Kirubaharan’s next mission is to make a full-fledged feature film on this subject.
