The High Noon of Malayalam Cinema was the topic of discussion on the second day of Open Forum, organised as a part of the 15th International Film festival of Kerala, here on Sunday.
Chalachitra Academy chairperson K. R. Mohanan, Film maker T. V. Chandran, Technician Ramachandra Babu and P. K. Nair, shared their thoughts and related their experiences in film making during the seventies. It was mainly about the hardships and insults they faced as filmmakers in the 1970s, the concept of Noon Films (Uccha Padam), and the possibilities of making a film like in the seventies.
K. R. Mohanan said that everyone had to look back and understand that films like Yaro Oral and Aswadhamav . That was a reason for including the High Noon package at the festival.
The directors who dared to make parallel films (which were called Noon Films) were insulted by the public in the 70s, recalled T. V. Chandran. He also made a special mention of personalities like John Abraham, P. A. Backer and Pavithran.
Ramachandra Babu discussed the prejudices that existed against the people who entered the field through film institutes. It was said that they lacked practical knowledge. “Yet, major personalities of the seventies who we revere today are from the film institute.”
P. K. Nair said that credit should be given to the distributors and exhibitors for giving an outlet to exhibit the unconventional films of the seventies.
The session was moderated by C S Venkateshwaran. The script of the film, T.D.Dasan Std 6 B, was also released on the occasion.
