Two couples plan a Sunday rendezvous outside their marriage. And the camera follows them as the day unspools with all its twists and turns. Oru Njayarazhcha (A Sunday), which won auteur Shyamaprasad his fifth Kerala State Film Award for the Best Director, is about their story.
“It is about love, lust, longing and living, an intimate story that delves into the warp and weft of relationships, the complications within any relationship. Inspired by two Bengali stories by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay and Dibyendu Palit respectively, I wrote a script that combined the tales and came up with an organic narrative,” says the director.
A still from Shyamaprasad’s Oru Njayarazhcha, which won him his fifth Kerala State Film Award for Best Director
Initially planned as a mini TV series based on love and its complications, the narrative got tweaked and it evolved into a feature film.
Oru Njayarazhcha begins at 6 am on a Sunday morning and goes on till midnight when the protagonists probe into their feelings for each other and try to understand what love, commitment, lust and loyalty is all about.
“I have adapted a stark, no-frills approach. Since I wanted a slice of life effect, I chose four raw newcomers for the lead roles. Moreover, there were some intimate scenes and many of our actors would not have been able to do that level of physical acting. So the main characters are played by new actors — Dr. Sathish, Sally Varma, Murali Chand and Megha Thomas,” says the director.
Although there was a plan to make the film in Hindi or English, logistical problems persuaded Shyamaprasad to make it in Malayalam as he was keen on shooting it in sync sound.
Shot in and around Thiruvananthapuram district and Kanyakumari district, the film parallelly explores the transformation in the feelings of the four main characters.
The director’s forte has always been the sensitive portrayals of man-woman equations, of love and its many manifestations and transgressions.
“Yes, it is a theme I keep returning to,” he says with a laugh. But unlike many filmmakers, Shyamaprasad refuses to sit on judgement on any of his characters and empathetically essays their choices and dilemmas in life. Oru Njayarazhcha is no different. In fact, the director points out that although the movie will reach cinemas on December 13, he feels it is a work that is meant for intimate watching too as it examines the dynamics of what love and romance are all about.
A still from Shyamaprasad’s Oru Njayarazhcha, which won him his fifth Kerala State Film Award for Best Director
Although it is a theme that the director excels in, Shyamaprasad says he never expected the award as every award depends on “the composition of the jury and even the nature of so-called art house cinema has completely changed.”
Welcoming the changes transforming Malayalam cinema over the past decade, he says that “on one hand the grammar and tenor of so-called award films have changed and that old trope of award films will not be accepted any more. A socially relevant theme or a noble idea alone will not make a film great. On the other hand, mainstream films have begun adopting many of the elements of ‘parallel cinema’ such as realistic characters, discarding of a star-based approach, moving away from clichéd roles and looking at offbeat themes. However, one must recognise that many of the commercially successful films have had humour or entertainment as the main mode of communication.”
He wonders if the new audience would be keen on watching a film that may not always have a thread of humour or entertainment in its theme. “What if the mood was sombre, soulful, meditative or intellectually engaging. Would they be as welcoming of such films too?” He also adds that many of the movies being made may have an interesting idea or a story but that does not necessarily make it a good film.
“Filmmaking is in its narrative and making. One has to see how compelling a film you can make, how effectively can you use the tools of cinema. It is in that, that a filmmaker like Lijo Jose Pellissery excels in. He transcends both the mainstream and art house films. However, there are many filmmakers today who cannot transcend an idea into cinema,” he elaborates.
And what motivates him to make a movie? “A story that moves me, reflects my thoughts, reflects what society at large is going through, at least sublimely touch upon what society is concerned about and strikes a chord with reader and viewer. I find out how best I can recreate that spirit through cinema,” he says.
- Shooting of Shyamaprasad’s take of Anees Salim’s award-winning work Small Town Sea is in progress in Varkala. Cinematographer Shyam Dutt’s son, Tashi, is acting as the lead protagonist, Kasim. “The unseasonal rain has interrupted the shooting. We plan to wrap up the film once we finish those portions,” says Shyamaprasad.
Before concluding the interview, Shyamaprasad springs a surprise when he says proudly that he had also composed the background score of Oru Njayarazhcha ! A keen music aficionado, Shyamaprasad’s films have always scored high in the music department and it is evident that this is a director who knows his notes well.
“I have worked closely with my music directors and conveyed what I wanted in my films. I have also learnt from them. Over time, I have realised that a director’s sound decisions impacted a film and influenced its narrative as much framing a scene or composing a narrative. So I have been learning from YouTube all about digital music, learnt to play it and composed it all by myself, note by note. My daughter Shivakhami, a trained singer, makes her début as a playback singer in the film with a song composed by Neha Nair and Yakzan Gary Pereira,” says the filmmaker.
Oru Njayarazhcha will be screened at the International Film Festival of Kerala at Kairali theatre on December 7 at 6 pm
