My decades-old films are still relevant to the times: Adoor

Auteur Adoor Gopalakrishnan, on Saturday, said that the enthusiasm shown by the youth all over the world in receiving his films made several decades ago made him feel that he and his films remained forever young.

“I was really amazed to see the way my last film was received at some film festival in the West. The enthusiasm shown by the youth surprised me and made me feel that I have not aged and have remained relevant to the times,” Mr. Adoor said at a retrospective of his films organised by the Cochin Film Society at the Children’s Park Theatre.

His comments came in the wake of a remark earlier made by actor Mammootty — who had won applause for his roles in several Adoor films — that while some people thought Mr. Adoor was old-fashioned as he made slow-paced films, that was not the case. “We honour him every day. In fact, I learnt the technicalities of filmmaking and its finer aspects while acting in his films,” the actor said. Mammootty felicitated the filmmaker with a ‘ponnada’.

Mr. Adoor said that while his feature films were being talked about, attention should also be given to the documentaries he had made with equal amount of effort and dedication.

He recalled, rather emotionally, his documentaries on the iconic Kathakali artistes Kalamandalam Gopi, Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair and Guru Chengannur, the last filmed in his 30s. The role of film societies in creating a visual art culture in the State was also mentioned by him. Artist Kaladharan, who presided over the event, said it was only fitting for the Cochin Film Society, which turned 30, to organise an Adoor retrospective. “The films could have been screened in a better way if we had an alternative screening space for quality cinema,” he said.

Later, Hibi Eden, MLA, said he would grant money from the MLA fund for constituency development if the society identified a location for setting up such a screening space.

Writer K.N. Shaji said honouring a filmmaker of Mr. Adoor’s stature reflected some of his glory on the film society as well.

The feature films Kathapurushan, Mukhamukham, Anantharam and Elippathayam and his documentary on Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair will be screened on Sunday. Also screened will be Prasanna Ramaswamy’s film on Mr. Adoor.