You cannot think of cinema as a timepass: Adoor Gopalakrishnan

“I don’t watch the OTT because I don’t believe in releasing my films for cellphone and laptop viewing. A film is made for a viewing experience in a theatre.... cinema is a social experience and is meant to be watched by society in a darkened movie hall,” says the renowned filmmaker

The tumultuous bus journey that a young couple took in 1972 continues to captivate audiences. Swayamvaram remains relevant even 50 years after it first hit the screens and auteur Adoor Gopalakrishnan continues to deftly unravel the complexity of human relationships on screen.

In Delhi to attend a rare commemorative retrospective of his select films organised to celebrate 50 years of his creative journey, the much-feted filmmaker spoke to The Hindu on a range of issues and, of course, his art. Edited excerpts:

Q / What has been your experience of engaging with Delhi?

A / We cannot avoid Delhi, we cannot escape Delhi! Engaging with the government is neither easy nor interesting. Cinema is equated with Bollywood: The bureaucrats are neither aware of nor interested in anything other than what is churned out in Mumbai. Automatically, we get segregated as outsiders.

A / My argument was that in this country I am known as a regional filmmaker. To become an Indian filmmaker, I have to go abroad.

Q / Have things changed now with OTT platforms screening a number of films in south Indian languages with subtitles so they reach a pan-Indian audience?

A / I don’t watch the OTT because I don’t believe in releasing my films for cellphone and laptop viewing. A film is made for a viewing experience in theatre. How could you shrink it and show it on a smaller medium? Cinema is a social experience and is meant to be watched by society in a darkened theatre. Even TV was a compromise but we used to show films on Doordarshan after a significant time had elapsed after the theatre run. It was a secondary source of income, not the intention of making the film. Today, people are making films only for TV viewing which will destroy cinema.