On coming into films

I was just like any other kid in school; you know the type that participates in youth festivals, competitions. Didn't have any exceptional achievements back then . . . but even way back then, I was more into the setting up, the organizing than in the actual 'performing'. When you know, most children just want to perform out there, on stage. When in Xth standard, I wrote a play and staged it - got a real kick out of doing it all, you know the costumes, collecting music pieces . . . I really agonized over these (tape recorders were pretty rare those days). And that's what I really enjoy most - setting up a performance, which is what I'm doing now.

In college I continued in the same vein. But more as writer/director, than actor. After my Pre-degree, this seemed to be a natural course to take . . . what with the Film Institute, the NID* all opening up as avenues. It was around then that Drama School was started by the Calicut University (for the first time in Kerala). I simply headed there.

It was at Drama School that the world of theatre opened up to me - it was an in-depth study of the medium; its history & techniques as they evolved over the years. And when you're so much into something (it was an intense 3 year course) - in touch with so many artistes, like-minded people; some of them the leading lights of their time, such as G Sankara Pillai, S Ramanujan - they were our teachers then; there was a galaxy of writers, directors, designers, actors, at both national and international level - it all really gave one a perspective, a profound consciousness on theatre.

So that's how I came to be in such a medium. Looking back I hadn't really set out on becoming an artiste; I mean, I never had such a wish early on. On completing the course, I wasn't too inclined to pursue theatre as an 'occupation'. Then, it was rather difficult to earn a living as a theatre person ... it still is.

Fortuitously, it was then that a medium like television picked up. Trivandrum Doordarshan got started then. And so again, it seemed the best thing to do next. I could adapt the lessons I'd learnt in theatre to a medium like the television. It was while in television that the stint at Film & Television Institute happened. And then on, to England where I did my Masters in Media Production & Film making. Over time I developed a finer taste for the medium of film-making . . . I'd like to think that it was all a period of 'experimentation'. And you know, when you see the results of your efforts bear fruit - it gives you confidence, and the guts to take off.

So, quite naturally, I came into films.

*National Film Institute, Ahmedabad INDIA