Intellectually, is he following the footsteps of his father
and BJP leader, O. Rajagopal? "I still don't know
whether I agree with what my father preaches. I am yet
to look inside and find that out. You don't know what
you will believe in 50 days from now. My father has never
imposed his thoughts on us, kids. We were free to have
our own beliefs, interests and ways of living. Therein
lies my father's greatness. Yes, I admire his honesty,
his selflessness and his commitment to his ideology."
His family, his father especially, had been very supportive
when, "bored" with the formal university education,
he chose to join the School of Drama, Thrissur. "Those
three years were like a long joyous vacation. It was an
exciting new world. It taught me that art was not a frivolous
pursuit. I was fortunate to have such gurus as G. Sankara
Pillai and S. Ramanujam."
Another "guru" of his, he says, is Doordarshan.
"I share a love-hate relationship with this guru.
Fresh out of the drama school, I joined the Thiruvananthapuram
Kendra of Doordarshan as a production assistant. Being
in the junior cadre, I had to work hard to get noticed.
The experience whetted my creativity. It gave me good
exposure. Without Doordarshan, my TV films, including
"Uyirthezhunnelpu", "Nilavariyunnu",
and "Peruvazhiyile Kariyilakal", would never
have been born. At one stage, I faced a lot of problems
in Doordarshan, which led to my resignation. However,
looking back, it was an inevitable event in my development
as an artiste."
Having tasted success as a serious film maker, thanks
to "Agnisakshi", and having entered the mainstream
domain through "Kallukondoru Pennu", what will
be the genre that he will be sticking to in future?
"I would like to make films that I enjoy making.
My tastes are normal. I like humanist stories. I am certainly
not interested in making movies for purists alone."
A 26 episode serial on Malayalis living in the Gulf, "Manal
Nagaram", and an English film, based on Kamala Das
"My Story" are on the cards.
"My
ultimate concern is to keep the flame of search alive
in me," he says, "The minute one finds the answer,
the journey will lose its lustre." |
