Vidyarthikale Ithile Ithile Part 3 - Arrival of Bala Mahendran at Madras

One day while walking towards our Producer Minnal's office at Wallajah Road, Triplicane, a tall lean man approached me. When he came near I recognized him, it was Bala Mahendran with out his French beard. I had known him at the Institute as he was my senior by one year and was also  the batch mate of John Abraham and Azad. During the Institute days he had a different look with  receding hair and a French beard  and had not started wearing his trade mark cap. He was mostly  found in the company of foreign students since he was a native  of Ceylon. Even though most of the time he spoke in English, since his name was Bala Mahendran I guessed that he must be knowing Tamil and I used to speak to him in Tamil when ever I met  him on a few  occasions. He was a reclusive person and had only a few friends mostly foreigners and some South Indians at the Institute. His peers at the Institute told me that he was such a romantic person that even when he visited Budhawar Peth Red light  area he used to take flowers, kaajal, bras etc as gifts to his regular  girls there.

 

Bala Mahendran

A tired looking Balu was extremely  happy to see me at Wallajah Road and narrated his sad condition.  D. Gautaman, his senior at the Institute in  Direction  who was working as assistant to Director Ramu Kariat had recommended Bala Mahendran for his next colour film NELLU. Hoping that the film will start soon, Bala arrived in Madras and was staying with some distant relatives. The start of the film got delayed and with no income, his relatives were about to show him the door. He was on the look out for alternate accommodation and  had no money as Ramu Kariat had gone to Kerala for the shooting of another film. He also didn't have much friends at Madras and was roaming around. It was then he happened to see me on Wallajah road.  On learning about his pathetic condition, I offered to take him up with me for staying in our producer's flat at Mahalingapuram. At that time there was a break in our shooting schedule and all others like John, Azad etc  had left for their native places and I was living there alone and it was easy to accommodate him there.

My producer Minnal on his way to his office used to come there and   give me  money  for the day's food expenses and I used that amount to feed both of us. After a few days I had to go home for Deepavali  and Bala could not be left there as  he was not in a position to meet his daily expenses in my absence. So I decided to take him along  with me to my  home at  Maduranthakam which was 50 miles away from Madras. There he stayed for a few days with my family and then we returned to Madras together. Soon  Ramu Kariat returned from his Kerala location shooting and Bala managed to get some money and found alternate accommodation, but he still remained unemployed.

In the mean time myself and Kasturi Kurthy  had to go Poona for my Viva Voce  examinations. But a few days of the busy actress Jaya Bharathi was available and all of a sudden the shooting of a song sequence was planned on the same dates. So I had to find an alternate cameraman to do the  work  in my absence. Since Bala was from the Institute and  batch mate of John and Azad, I suggested to let Bala do the work.  John preferred some one from the Institute and he accepted Bala. Thus Bala started his career in feature films  by cranking the camera under the direction of  John Abraham for a song picturisation sequence in the film VIDYARTHIKALE ITHILE ITHILE.

The film Nellu took still longer to materialize and Bala used to visit us often as we were all from the Poona Film Institute. K.G.George who had joined Ramu Kariat also was part of our group.  In the meantime Director P.N.Menon was on the lookout for a cameraman for his B&W Malayalam film " PANIMUDAKKU " ( Strike). Bala got the break to work as an independent cameraman for a feature film.The film was to be shot in a place called Puthukkad near Trichur, Kerala. At that time Bala didn't have  an exposure meter the essential tool for any cameraman. He didn't have the money to buy one either and even if he had, he need to place an order with the Xaca company at Mount road and it will take weeks to arrive from Bombay.

Since I wasn't shooting at that time, I lent him my own exposure meter and also sent my friend Kasturi Murthy who was working with me to be his assistant for the film. After the shooting started, from the money  I obtained from the producers of that film I purchased a new Sekonic exposure meter and sent it over to Bala's location.  Kasturi Murthy later kept on associated with him for  many of Bala's films.

The film NELLU  still needed more time  to materialize, but soon  Ramu Kariat started a B&W film MAYA and gave Bala the opportunity to work with him. Ramu Kariat was the main  reason behind Bala coming to India from Ceylon.  Meanwhile he had changed his name into Balu Mahendra and is now known only by that name.

In spite of having done this much for him he had  never  shown the courtesy of inviting me inside his  home on the two or three occasions that I visited his residence at  Madras. He always met me at the gate and saw me off, never letting me in. Strange!

May be he was too much  protective or possessive   about his family !

VIDYARTHIKALE ITHILE ITHILE - Part 2 - John Abraham gets Arrested

After a long train journey from Poona, Kasturi Murthy and I returned to our flat at Madras Mahalingapuram and were getting ready for a refreshing bath. I was standing on the balcony and some one beckoned me from the road, who claimed to be a policeman. Since he was not in uniform,I signed him to come up to my flat and explain what he wants. The man came up and showed his identity card and said that our Director John Abraham had been arrested for being drunk and is being held in the lock up at the Nungambakkam police station. ( those were the days when Prohibition was in force in Tamil Nadu). Suddenly he noticed two empty XXX Rum bottles lying near our baggage and started questioning us about it. We convinced  him that we had just arrived from Poona and those bottles were filled with water for use during  our long  train journey and as proof we showed him our train tickets too. In those days when packaged drinking water was not in vogue, empty glass bottles were used by most of the passengers to fill up water from wayside stations.

The policeman then told us arrange for bail to get John released from the Police station. I immediately telephoned our producer Mr.Minnal and informed him and soon he went to the station and  obtained bail for John and they both arrived at our flat. Then John explained to us how it all happened.

Producer Minnal

Under the Kodambakkam railway over bridge there were a few illicit country liquor dens catering to die hard addicts during Prohibition days.That afternoon John went there to have a few drinks and was returning back to our flat. In 1971, Mahalingapuram  was a vast open space littered with a few building here and there.That day even at noon it was a really deserted place except for a young girl walking ahead of John. He  was shabbily dressed  with  unkempt long hair, beard and mustache and was walking with faltering steps. His very appearance created fear in the girl's mind and  she started walking faster. On seeing this, just for fun John also increased his pace a little more. As she increased her speed of walking , John also increased his speed. This continued for some time till the girl started to run and just like that, John also ran after her. She ran into a slum adjoining the railway tracks and shouted for help and people started coming out of the huts. Meanwhile someone telephoned the police and in a few minutes police came and arrested him before he was beaten up. Thus a small innocent act for fun ended in John being put behind the bars in police lock up.

The next day  he was produced in the Saidapet Magistrate's court and one by one  cases were being heard and disposed off quickly  as most of them were Prohibition cases. It went on  like this:

Magistrate:  What is your name ?
Accused :   Kuppusami
Magistrate:  Did you drink?
Accused : Yes Sir.
Magistrate:  What's your Job ?
Accused : Carpenter
 Magistrate: Fined Rs.5..

The next person comes...

Magistrate:  What is your name ?
Accused :    Muthu
Magistrate:  Did you drink?
Accused :    Yes Sir.
Magistrate:  What's your Job ?
Accused :     Rickshaw puller..
 Magistrate: Fined Rs.5..

Now it was the turn of John

Magistrate:  What is your name ?
John :          John Abraham
 Magistrate:  Did you drink?
John :           Yes
 Magistrate:  What's your Job ?
John :           I am a FILM DIRECTOR !
Magistrate:  Twenty Five Rupees !

Afterwards the Producer was jokingly lamenting that had John told the Magistrate that he was employed in some petty  other job, he would have saved Twenty Rupees!

Shooting of "VIDYARTHIKALE ITHILE ITHILE"

After our classes were over at the Institute my self and Kasturi R Murthy traveled by train to Madras to take up our first feature film assignment. Since Murthy had some relatives at Madras, he preferred staying with them. I joined John and Azad at their office at 49, Wallajah Road and was accommodated there for the time being. We did not have a separate room for ourselves and spent the day amongst the office staff and at night, we all slept in the settee and carpet in Producer Minnal's air conditioned cabin. In the hot and humid climate of Madras the air-conditioning was really a luxury. There was a nearby "Nair's Mess" at Triplicane which provided tasty Kerala type meals at very low prices. It was a small place and was always crowded and you have to wait for some time to manage a seat. The food and accommodation was quite comfortable.

As I was a novice in the Madras film Industry I had to learn many things about the procedures and working methods there. At the Institute you had all the equipments at your disposal and all you have to do is to write the list in the register and take them for the shooting. But here the equipments had to be hired from rental companies. Since Azad had worked in a few P.N.Menon films, he took me to Sujatha Movietone Unit, whom he said charge reasonably and had good workers. The camera we wanted was Arri IIC with option to use blimp as John wanted to use location sound recording. But the compact and portable Nagra recorder was not available at Madras as it was not considered a "Professional" equipment by the sound recordists there. Because of its small size and 1/4 inch tape they thought that it will create sync problems in lengthy shots. P.Devadas an alumni of the Institute who was at that time was with Chitralekha Film Co-operative Studio founded by Adoor Gopalakrishnan was contacted and he joined us with his Nagra equipment to do the sound recording.

We had planned to do our shooting in real houses instead of the usual practice of using studio sets using the household power supply. But to match the indoor light with the bright sunny out door light required the use of more powerful lights, such as 5KW or 10 KW. We could not use them as they would consume more power and the house connection will not take up such heavy electrical load. Generators were rare and very expensive too; hence locations with 3 phase power supply were only selected if additional lighting is required. Apart from the usual Junior and Baby lights I asked for Colortron (USA) lights which I have used at the Institute and are known to give much brighter light out put. To my surprise I was given a Bombay made light which had a sealed beam spot light whose intensity can be varied step by step using a transformer and they called it "Colortran" light! Since it always produced a hot spot I asked for a few white boards to be made for bouncing the lights.

First Day of the Shooting

Having been brought up in Tamil Nadu, I haven't seen many Malayalam films. I have seen a few of them while we went to Kerala on summer holidays to my parent's place. I had seen Ramu Kariat's CHEMMEEN at Madras and P.N.Menon's KUTIYEDATHI ( Starring Jayabharathi ) and few other Malayalam films at the Institute. In fact I have never even witnessed the shooting of a Malayalam film either before I ventured into the film industry as Cameraman.

We were using ORWO Black and white negative film as Kodak film was much expensive and also hard to get and required and import licence. Since ORWO film was manufactured in Communist East Germany and was imported against Rupee payment it was freely available and cheaper than Kodak film. ORWO negative was available in two speeds, ORWO NP55 which was 64 ASA and ORWO NP27 which was 400 ASA but rated as 320 ASA.I used the faster NP 27 stock for indoor filming and the slower NP 55 for the out doors. Since we had white walls all around I did the lighting by bouncing a few units on the ceiling, the walls and on the white boards to get a soft day light effect.

I started the first day of my cinematographic career by taking a close up shot of Malayalam Actress Jayabharathi at a small house in CIT colony in T.Nagar. The scene we had to shoot was her interaction in the role of a school teacher with a few children, who were playing their role of her students. After the day’s shooting was over Jayabharathi called the Producer aside and expressed doubts whether some image will be recorded on the film as this novice cameraman had not put any light on my face. Instead he had focused the lights everywhere on the walls, ceiling, boards etc except my face. Having been used to the hot direct spot lights hitting her face in studio floors, it was but natural for her to think like that. Also I was very young (hardly 23 years old) thin and still not out of the Institute and an inexperienced hand. Having heard this doubtful remark from the Leading lady the Producer also started worrying about the results.

The next day I got a call from the Vijaya- Vauhini Laboratories asking me to meet the Laboratory Chief Mr. Sen Gupta. The reason was they were getting only blank film when they processed the test negative. In those days a 5 ft Test shot close up of a face is taken either in the beginning or at the end of the roll which will be processed first and after checking the density the duration of the processing is adjusted accordingly. Under exposed negatives will be brought up to required density by processing for more duration and over exposed ones for lesser time to obtain a uniform density final negative. Usually the density of the negative image is visually checked by experienced personnel and may vary from person to person. Also there will be a variation of the skin tone of the actor in the close up. In order to overcome this I took a Test shot of 18% grey card (considered to be equivalent average skin tone) and asked them to develop it and measure the density in the Densitometer and keep it as standard for the processing. It was the grey card that they found instead of the close up and that created the confusion.

The Laboratory Chief Mr. Sen Gupta agreed to my contention but requested me to have the face close up as test since the Lab technicians over the years are used to that practice. Finally when the rushes were printed and projected in the Lab theatre all anxieties vanished and the producer and the Director were fully satisfied with the results.

Madhu who had by then been well known all over India for his role in CHEMMEEN was the leading actor in our film. On his first day in our set, unfamiliar with the formalities existing in Malayalam film industry I addressed him as "Mr.Madhu". He turned and gave a piercing look at me, a thin young man of only 23 years for calling a top hero like him in this manner. I noticed it and continued " Please come and stand in position for the lighting". He understood the nature of the Institute bred people as he himself was the product of National School of Drama and willingly came and stood in his mark for me to adjust the lighting. Later on I found everybody else on the sets were addressing him as "Madhu Sir" and I too followed it!

A still from the film

We continued our shooting in that house location and also in the streets of Madras for a few days. We shifted to a flat at Mahalingapuram which functioned as our production office as well as our residence and guest house. In the meantime the dates of our Viva Voce examination at Poona were intimated to us. So, during a break in the schedule myself and Murthy left for Poona.

John Abraham plans his first Feature film

When the strike at the Institute got extended for a long time, our parents were instructed by the authorities to take us back home, to cool our tempers. While at home I was informed that John Abraham is planning to direct a Malayalam film based on a script by M. Azad and both of them were at Madras. So I went there and met them. They had in mind to have S. Ramachandra as the Cinematographer for the film as he was a close friend and room mate of Azad. They have offered me an opportunity to work as an assistant cameraman in that film. Since I have still not completed the course and was looking for an opening to enter the film industry, I readily agreed to their proposal so that I can get familiar with the working methods in Malayalam films.

Azad and John in serious discussion

In a jovial mood

The producer was Mr. Minnal, who was running an AD Agency called Mars Advertising Company located at 49, Wallajah Road, Triplicane. The Malayalam film titled "VIDYARTHIKALE ITHILE ITHILE" was to be produced under the banner Mehboob Movies. At that time both John and Azad were staying there in the office itself and were working on the script as the dates of the shooting schedule have not yet been fixed.

After my return to the Institute the strike prolonged for some more time and finally ended as the Government had agreed to constitute an enquiry commission. Our courses were nearing completion and I was wondering about the future, whether to try my luck in the Bombay film industry or in the Madras film field. In those days Film Institute graduates had a tough time finding work as they were thought to have only bookish knowledge and no practical experience. They had to struggle for some years assisting the veterans in the industry before they get a break. Though I was offered a job at the Hindustan Thompson AD agency, I declined because the work involved was only making sample films in 16mm for clients to view and I was more interested in doing feature films.

I was thinking of going down south at Madras which was a much familiar city to me as I had done my graduation from Loyola College there. Also there was no language problem too as I had my schooling in Tamil medium. Then I received a letter from John and Azad saying that they have decided to give me a break in the film as the principal cinematographer! It came as a great surprise as I was offered this film directly without working as an assistant to anybody at any capacity in the film industry and that too before the completion of my final examinations. I was really lucky indeed to have got such an easy entry in films ! I asked my old room mate and batch mate Kasturi Ramachandra Murthy, who was also keen on going to Madras to work as my assistant in the film and he readily agreed to my proposal and joined me.

Letter from John

After a few days I received the official letter from the producer confirming that the shooting is scheduled from 5 th June 1971 on wards and I was expected to be in Madras on the 1st of June to attend the pre-production work.

Producer's Letter

My Practical Examinations and Viva Voce were not over when I started my career as a Cinematographer in the film industry. After shooting the first schedule of the film, myself and Murthy returned to Poona finish our exams!

Bye Dear Ramu…..

It is with a painful heart that I write these words on learning that my dear mentor and friend Ramu (Cinematographer S. Ramachandra) had left this world on the 10 th January, 2011. He was one of the first few persons with whom I came in to contact at the Film Institute of India in 1968, when I joined in the Motion picture Photography course. He was then studying in the second year Motion picture Photography course and was the room mate of M. Azad (Screenplay writing Course). Hailing from Kerala, my seniors Azad and Kabeer Raother (Direction) took natural interest in me and was always there to help me to cope with the new environment at the Institute. Being the room mate of Azad and a fellow South Indian, he joined them to become my local guardians at Poona. Ramu, as I used to call him, was a charming personality with attractive eyes and long hair. He was very much attached to his friend and room mate, M. Azad and vice -verse.

When Azad got his first break as Script writer for John Abraham’s maiden Malayalam film “VIDYARTHIKALE ITHILE ITHILE”(1972) , he had in mind to engage Ramu as its Cinematographer. During the pre-production days they asked me whether I was willing to work as assistant to him in that film and I readily agreed with their offer. But later on finding too many scenes to be shot in the streets with hand held camera they thought Ramu might find it difficult to cope up with his Polio affliction. Ultimately they asked me to be their Cinematographer and I got my first break in the Malayalam film industry. Since John and Azad never had any previous discussion regarding the project with Ramu, he never came to know about it!

Myself and Ramu used to get in touch with each other through letters – he writes long and interesting letters –which arrive after long intervals. We also used to occasionally meet with each other at some of the International Film Festival venues. I remember one occasion, when he came to International Film Festival of Kerala with the film DWEEPA (1982) along with Director Girish Kasaravalli and the late Actress Producer Soundarya. We had a wonderful time catching up with each other's activities. The last time I met him was at Bangaluru in 2006 when he was felicitated by the Suchitra Film Society for being honoured with Karanataka Government Lifetime Achievement Award. At that time I was attending the Bangalore International Film Festival where my short film “CINEKU” was being screened. Afterwards at the party at the Cricket Stadium we renewed our friendship by filling up missing details regarding our work and news about mutual friends.

Last year while I was working in the Malayalam film “INGANAYUM ORAAL” for the first time with our old mutual friend Director Kabeer Raother, he inquired about Ramu’s whereabouts. From the shooting location I called Ramu at Bangaluru and handed over the phone to Kabeer as a surprise. That was the last time I had talked with him. I never had any hint that he was fighting a deadly enemy like cancer and it came as a big shock to me that he had passed away so suddenly. I felt as if I had lost somebody from my own family, for he was so close to my heart as friend, philosopher and guide.

I convey my heartfelt grief and condolences to Ramu’s bereaved family members and friends and pray for his soul to Rest In Peace.

A brief Bio-data :

S. Ramachandra (Shivaramaiah Ramachandra Aithal ) passed out from the Film Institute of India, Poona in 1970. He along with Directors like B.V.Karanth, Girish Karnad, G.V.Iyer and Girish Kasaravalli were the architects of the new wave Kannada cinema movement which took the Kannada film industry to heights during the seventies. S.Ramachandra started off his career as a cinematographer in films with SANKALPA directed by Nanjaraja Urs.

He won the Best cameraman award five times and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Karnataka State government in 2006. He won National Film Award for Best Cinematography in 1977 for Kannada film RISHYA SHRINGA. He had worked as a cinematographer in many films directed by Girish Kasaravalli which brought him much appreciation. He started off working with Girish in his first Swarna Kamal award winning film GHATASHRADHDHA. Later he worked in MANE, KROURYA, NAAYI NERALU, HASEENA and GULABI TALKIES. He was one of the pillars of the New Wave cinema movement in the Kannada film industry. His work in the TV series MALGUDI DAYS (1987) translated in to visuals the writings of the great writer R.K.Laxman and made millions of viewers from all over India to stay glued to their T.V sets feeling as if they were living in the village of Malgudi!

Even a few days before his death, he worked in BETTADA JEEVA directed by well known award winning director P. Sheshadri. This is perhaps his last film as a cinematographer.

Filmography;

This is a partial list of films:

Chomana Dudi (1975)

Rushya Shringa (1976)

Ghatashraddha (1977)

Akramana (1979)

Malgudi Days(1987) TV series

Mane (1991)

Deveeri (1999)

Mukhaputa (2009)

Pallavi,

Grahana,

Kankana,

Rushya Shringa,

Anveshane,

Banker Margayya,

Santha Shishunala Sharief,

Gandharva Giri,

Hombisilu,

Bettale Seve,

Nya Geddithu,

Mudhudidha Tavara Aralithu

Mane

Krourya

Naayi Neralu

Haseena

Gulabi Talkies

Farewell to Seniors from Kerala

At the time the Institute was teeming with lot of Malayalis –John Abraham, Devassy (Direction – 1969) P.Bhaskaran Unny, G. Sadasiva Panickkar and A. Kabeer Rawther (Direction – 1970) K.G.George (Direction – 1971) M.Azad ( Screenplay writing – 1970) C. Murlidharan (Sound recording – 1970) and C. Ravindranath Menon ( Ravi Menon) ( Acting – 1970)

Though I, George and Ravi Menon were in the first year we had good rapport with our seniors from Kerala. Azad and Kabeer Rawther were always willing to act as our Godfathers and filled us with their worldly wisdom. One most unassuming person whom I met at the Institute was Raman Nair, who at that time was working at the Film processing laboratories. He was a very mild and soft spoken person who was always ready to help you with his worldy wisdom. He was such a low profile person, I was surprised to learn much later that he was the younger brother of Film Archives P.K.Nair and had passed out from the Institute in the Editing 1966 Batch! Years later while we both settled in Thiruvananthapuram we had opportunity to work together and meet occassionaly. Unfortunately he is no more as he had died a few years back unsung and to me it is still a mystery as to why he worked in the film processing after doing the Editing course?

The most notable person at that time was none other than John Abraham. Many of my encounters with John always ended with my parting with some money for his daily need of “Tarra” the local brew. Most of the time he will be high and with his long hair and beard and unwashed clothes he was a real Hippie! Out of fear, I always avoided crossing his path. But I had to face him on the day when we juniors gave our seniors a farewell party.

Azad and John Abraham

To beard the lion in his den, I thought that I should also have a few drinks at the party so that I will be on par with John! But I was just a novice when it comes to consuming hard liquor. Earlier, I had never taken more than a peg and that too just to feel the taste of it. In the party I gulped two or three pegs of rum and joined the fun. But I soon passed out resulting in a hangover and severe head ache next morning!

Myself and Kabir Raother - 40 years later in 2008

The above photo was taken recently at the get together of FTII Graduates in Thiruvananthapuram. ( Note the change in the spelling of Kabir's name)

Friends from Kerala

Having come from the South and with little knowledge of Hindi, I was looking forward to find birds of the same feather. As I have studied in Tamil Nadu I was more familiar with Tamil Language and was looking for some Tamil sounding names. There was Bala Mahendran ( who later changed his name into Balu Mahendra) from Ceylon in Motion Picture Photography and he appeared to be a Tamil guy, but in his French beard, he was found to be mostly mixing with the Foreign students. I tried speaking to him in Tamil, though he understood it, he mostly replied in English. Then there was Swaminathan in Editing from Calcutta with whom I used to strike up some conversation.

Of course there were many Keralites and since my mother tongue is Malayalam I could easily communicate with them all, even though I could not read or write the language.

We even presented a group song on stage, on some special occasion


Standing from L to R : John Abraham ( Direction) M.Azad ( Screen Play Writing), Ramachandra babu ( Motion Picture Photography) , Kabeer Rowther ( Direction), K.G.George ( Direction), Suresh Babu ( Editing), Bhaskar Unni ( Editing & Direction) and G.S Panikkar ( Direction)