pulijanmam - winner of the national award

malayalam film maker priyanandanan's film 'pulijanmam' won the best film award at the 54th national film awards. this is his 2nd film. his previous film 'neythukaran' won the national award for best actor. a great achievement that has gone largely unnoticed , even by the miniscule cinephile community in the country. there was virtually no media coverage , which was very surprising , given all the brainless trash the national media busies itself in peddling in the absence of any real news to report. for 'pulijanmam' the recognition only managed to carry it from obscurity to oblivion. if virtually no one in the country had seen it before it got the award , then maybe a handful of jury members and a few others in their circles got to watch it after.for the rest , it doesnt even exist. this is disappointing. more than that,it's heart breaking. there is an increasing cinema consciousness among the middle class which hitherto recognised hollywood as the frontier of cinematic adventure. the names of akira kurosawa and ingmar bergman are becoming known.the works of david lynch and pedro almodovar are being sought. then why this apathy towards our own cine masters?the oscars and the cannes and the venice film festivals will all create a good amount of buzz but the greatest celebration of the finest in indian cinema passes by unheralded and unnoticed. the reason is not too difficult to fathom. like all arts, the cinematic sphere too is populated by a thick layer of snobbery. too many connoisseurs, but only a handful that see the beauty behind the form.simply put , a malayalam film doesnt seem as cool or as chic as say a french new wave. priyananwhatsisname doesnt sound as as fancy as andrei tarkovsky.
at the heart of it all is the age old colonial mindset , our ancient inferiority complex. our subconscious , but firm belief that all things foreign are superior to all things indian. a very sorry state of affairs. as a lover an admirer of cinema, one can only hope that the makers of 'pulijanmam' make the film available on the web so that it may reach a wider audience and garner the appreciation that is its due.