Jayaraj's journey to history-making 'Atbhutham'

Hyderabad, Dec 21 (IANS) Filmmaker Jayaraj, who has created history by making a feature film, "Atbhutham", in two hours and 14 minutes, is a winner of many national and international awards.

Born in 1960 in Kottayam to middle-class parents, Jayaraj was good in academics and earned a degree in electronics and telecommunication from the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, but cinema always remained his special interest.

As a student he joined local film societies and watched a lot of world classics. The one film that influenced him immensely was "Bicycle Thief".

After completing engineering, he moved to Chennai to meet noted filmmaker late Bharatan who used to live next to his sister's house. Impressed with the young man, Bharatan made him associate director in his film "Chilambu". Jayaraj went on to assist him in six more films.

He debuted as an independent filmmaker with "Vidyarambham" in 1988, which was followed by several average films. It was "Paithrukam" made in 1993 with Suresh Gopi in the lead role that made people sit up and notice him as a serious filmmaker.

But his biggest achievement was his 10th film "Desadanam" in 1996. It tells the story of a 10-year-old boy who was chosen to be a 'sanyasi'. The film won many awards, including the state award for Best Director, and was invited to participate in Pesaro, Fukuoka, Karlovy Vary, London and Shanghai film festivals. It won an honour at the 1997 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Then came "Kaliyattam" in 1997, another important film in his career. The film retells Shakespeare's "Othello" with the Theyyam festivals of north Kerala as a backdrop. He won the Best Director award at the national level, and Suresh Gopi was selected as India's Best Actor that year.

"Kaliyattam" also participated in the international film festivals at Berlin, Vancouver, Singapore and Bangkok.

It was followed by "Karunam" (2000), the first in the Navarasa series. The film tells the story of an old couple abandoned by their children in an old age home. It won the Golden Peacock award at the International Film Festival of India (2000) and the Kerala state award for Best Film.

The second film in the Navarasa series was "Shantham" starring footballer I.M. Vijayan as the protagonist and K.P.A.C. Lalitha and Seema Biswas as two important characters. The film won two awards at the national level that year, for the Best Film and Best Supporting Actress (K.P.A.C. Lalitha).

The film also has the distinction that its cinematographer Ravi Varman - for the first time for an Indian cinematographer - won an international award for cinematography at the 23rd International Film Festival in France.

The third in the Navarasa series was "Bheebhats" in Hindi with Seema Biswas in the lead.

Even as he makes serious movies like "Desadanam", "Kaliyattam" and "Karunam", he also churns out run-of-the-mill films like "Millennium Brothers". Last year he made the hugely successful commercial film "4 The People", and some more forgettable films.

But then he alternates these with the serious genre. His next efforts after "4 The People" were a small film called "Makalkku" and an offbeat film on communalism and terrorism. Both the films won a lot of critical acclaim.

"Atbhutham" is the fourth in the Navarasa series.