Final-Film Festival-13-11-08.p65 - Directorate of Film Festivals

SHYAMAPRASADBorn in 1960, Shyamaprasad had his basicdegree in Theatre Arts from the eminentSchool of Drama of Calicut University, India.Having been awarded the Commonwealthscholarship in 1989, he did his Masters in MediaProductions at the Hull University, U.K. Hehas also worked as media researcher andcreative contributor for BBC, Pebble Millstudios. Some of his most interesting work has been with ChannelFour Televisions of Britain for their multi-racial programs. Hisfeatures for TV and cinema have won him several national andprovincial awards.PERIYAR(Great Man)35mm/colour/Tamil/170 minutes/ESTDIRECTOR'S STATEMENTNot all tales of passion and pain are based on a reason thatmake them sound sensible. Someone could indeed fall prey to atorrid kind of love that defies all logic and reason and still existwith the hope of redeeming it some day. It's a fact. And OreKadal is one such narrative that refuses to play along with ourbeliefs and notions of what is right or what is wrong!A sense of appropriateness is totally relative here. Deepthiloves Nathan. Period. And that itself is the biggest explanation.And of course the biggest irony too, for most of us around.SYNOPSISThe movie 'Periyar' is based on the life and times of PeriyarE.V.Ramasamy (1879-1973), a well-known social reformer andiconoclast.Born in Erode, Tamil Nadu, in a wealthy, orthodox family,Ramasamy, disapproves his parent's religious beliefs andsuperstitions and caste-based discriminations in society from avery young age,. He defies everyone and gets his niece Ammayi,a child widow, remarried. In spite of hailing from a rich familyhe marries Nagammai, a poor relative whom he likes. He exposesa fake priest for which he gets beaten with slippers by his furiousfather. Dejected, he leaves for Benares.In Benares, his experience is no better. Even in monasteries,food is served only for the upper- caste people. Once he isdriven to eat from a dust bin. He comes across holy men involvedin drugs and prostitution and returns home, disillusioned. Not46 47