John Malkovich Presents Santosh Sivan's Terrorist

An Exclusive Interview with Santosh Sivan
A pair of ten packs wilt companionably beside a crumpled black bean bag. The ashtray is overflowing with grey stubs, Not ash. Wednesday yet, but say, hey, figured that someone here is trying to blow their lungs to sky heaven. And Santosh Sivan lights another.
'Terrorist' a 90-minute watcher, which probes the mind of a potential human bomb assasin (played by Ayesha Dharkar) has been selected for the State and National Awards.
Flicks a lighter and pans the camera of his mind back in time now. The frame freezes on a younger Sivan, student at Mar Ivanlos College, Trivandrum, (where his father runs Sivan studio), crafting shorts (mini documentaries) on a video camera. "I owned the camera and literally called the shots back in college", and then he laughs, "Fact is I got Super 8 (camera) from playback singer K J Yesudas, a family friend. Casual like, it was lying around and he wasn't using it anyway, so he gave it to me."
The late Krishnankutty Nair, a fine actor, well known to Malayalam cineartists, was cast in one of these youthful attempts at film making. "Happened to come across him and he was game for anything."
He also likes working on documentaries "because they break you into real life. Into the actual, you understand what I mean?" And the shorter the better.
"You can use the medium like brief lines of Haiku. Minimalistic. Tight. No extra frills. And yet it says all that you want it to."
Lensmen thirst after working on a black and white medium, where lines are sharp and clearly defined. But Sivan senses a shift towards the monochrome palette, which he has used in films like Mani Ratnam's 'Iruvar'. "The shade is neither black or white. Nor is it colour. The tones are warmer somehow.
"When you work with colour, you have to replace on screen, every shade that you take from nature. Your instruments are artifice and contrivance. You cheat in your attempt at perfection, and never want to shoot films as they are.
"You take a girl, an actress. Think, she looks nice a certain way, so you take her from that angle. Do her up against certain background. No warts. No BAD THINGS. Everything looks picture perfect. Everyone is happy and no one minds that you are lying through your lens."
And while he is put off by the penchant for surface appearances, time frames matter. "Iruvar (a film he holds close to his heart) was different, in that it explored natural time. You did not find the scene shift suddenly to Kodaikanal and back in a minute. There were no gimmicks. No trying to be smart. No gloss."
Previous films include 'Rudaaali' (with Kalpana Lajmi), 'Kala Paani' (with Priyadarshan) and 'Roja' (with Mani Ratnam).
When he makes a film, Sivan considers its life. How important it might be within a couple of years. Will it stand fresh with time? "I have met up with a couple of film producers who encourage wild thinking. Shock value finds its 15 seconds, but it stands to reason that what is uneven and unbalanced is transient and lacks in depth."
Deepness for Sivan, who enjoys working on films for children (including "The Story of 'Tibloo' and 'Halo' which he directed for NCYP), means connecting with the subject. "You could be shooting the sun or the moon. A sunrise - now THAT is something I love."
"When I shoot a sunrise, it becomes, for me, the finest creation at that moment. And realising my own significance, I merge with it. A spiritual process whereby I become part of a larger force, enhancing my own sense of self." 'Terrorist' which he describes as an 'interior film', also follows real time. The idea for the script fell into place after the Rajiv Gandhi assassination. "Jones Doctor, a good friend told me about the Sriperumbadur incident and I was fascinated by the fact that someone had actually blown herself up.
self-destruction with both eyes wide open, and whether there is an outside or inside force which could make you think twice about what you are actually putting yourself through."
"It could be the power of conscience, it could be a person, someone you care enough about to want to live on for." Muted shades of blue and green ("nature colours") are predominant in the movie which was shot in an actual drizzle ("no sprinklers"). And it was put together with help from students of Chennai's Loyola College Visual Communications Department, in a couple of days flat. There is a wet richness about the film like, under a waterfall, through only from the other side."
"Ayesha Dharkar was an ideal choice, because of her unfathomable nature. You can never quite figure out whether she is a good person who has been brainwashed, or whether she has a serious negative flaw running through her like an open wound."
Sivan rates Subroto Deb (who worked Satyajit Ray's films) as India's finest cinematographer because "he was not afraid to show us as we actually are."
"It is important to be genuine about your purpose when making a film, because your personal attitude, and your treatment of a film reflects you in every frame. When I make a film I think about my mother. Think 'this film is for her', you understand what I mean?"
- Shana Maria Verghis

http://www.santoshsivan.com

Get The Terrorist at Amazon.com - just click below!

The Terrorist DVD

The Terrorist VHS

[movie][cast][crew][snippets][reviews][guestbook][home]