Kochi: Stating that “mysterious efforts” were on to keep his film ‘Kayattam’ and any talk about it away from the public, well-known Malayalam film director Sanal K Sashidharan has said that the reason why these “unholy efforts” were not completely successful was because of the “significant height of the art work we have created.”
Taking to Instagram, the director, best known for his award-winning film ‘Sexy Durga’, wrote, “FB reminds me that on this day last year, Chandru Selvaraj, the cameraman of the movie ‘Kayattam’, got the award for best cinematographer.
“Mysterious efforts are still going on to keep the film and any talks about it away from the public. But the reason why these unholy efforts are not completely successful is the significant height of the art work we have created.
“All those who watched ‘Kayattam’ at IFFK will secretly agree on this but not say it out loud. This may be because of the shady stories spreading across against me.
“Kayattam has been shot entirely on a smartphone. But nobody who watches the film can tell that the film was completed with such a very minimal set-up.
“Kayattam is the film in which I have used all my experiences I gathered in experimenting with minimalism from my first film ‘Oralpokkum’ onwards.
“Even though the star cast of Manju Warrier in the film opened up the possibility of shooting the film with easiness and convenience, I was clinging to my own rough path.
“It has also been my habit since my first film to give opportunities to as many new talents as possible. But as all my films faced unreasonable opposition one way or the other, none of the new talents got the accolades despite their merits.
“Indrajith, cameraman of ‘Oraalppokkam’, Ajith, cameraman of ‘Chola’, Basil CJ, who did the music for my first three films, Nisthar Ahamed and Byju Netto, who acted as Dharman and Dasan in ‘ODK’, are talents worth mentioning.
“As it was extremely difficult to completely blind their eyes on these talents, the juries escaped from their prick of conscience by giving one or two major awards to the films and thus washing their hands.
“In ‘Oraalppokkam’ they gave award to me and in ‘Ozhivudivasathe Kali’, it was for the film. Exceptions were Sandeep’s and Jiji’s awards for sound recording in ‘Oraalppokkam’ and ‘ODK’. The deserving people who worked with me were totally upset on me in this, even though I was innocent.
“Although I am happy that ‘Kayattam’ has changed that routine, everyone who worked for the film is disappointed that it did not release. If the films are released, then the myths spread about me will collapse in no time and that is why this nasty game.”
