Tamil film maker Bharathiraja is no more. Yet y 84 year film maker will always stand out in a crowd for his works on silver screen.He saw potential in everywhere he looked at.
His eyes panned red soil of the fields of his native Tamil Nadu, dried river beds and swaying palms. He found cinematic beauty therein. He trained his. camera on village life on his directorial debut 16 Vayathinile and changed the aesthetics of Tamil cinema.
Till then it was determined by the limits of the studio and the sensibilities of it’s largely city-based storytellers. They determined what could be shot and whose stories could be told. Bharathiraja brought in sights and textures of Tamil rural life on the screen.
He changed the grammer forever gently exploring how caste, inequality and deprivation shaped the relationships. The maker of classics like Kizakke Pogum Rail, Sigappu Rajakkal, Vedam Puthithu and Mudhal Maryadhal was also a master in spotting potentials in people. He launched the career of actors like Revathi, Radhika and Karthik.
This was partly out of instinct and partly out of a gesture of defiance against an industry. After all had stymied his own ambition to be a star.Music was key to the appeal of Bharathiraja films. This was largely owing to his long partnership with Ilayaraja. The relation dated back to when the duo, among with the composer ‘s brothers performed at communist meetings. It was instrumental to establishing the soundtrack of rural Tamil Nadu.The later day songs speak for themselves.
Even today, songs rooted in folk tradition and evoking a. certain romance with the rural continue to stir the imagination of movie goers.
