Filmmaker P. Baburaj traces his cinematic journey with recently deceased activist and filmmaker C. Saratchandran

Source : Time Out Delhi ISSUE 3 Friday, April 30, 2010

P Baburaj remembers C Saratchandran, the filmmaker and activist who died in a freak accident in April.

The personal, professional and political were all so tightly woven together in the documentary filmmaker Chandrasekharan Saratchandran that it was impossible to separate one from the other. Saratchandran died in a freak accident on April 1 – he fell off a moving passenger train while returning to his Ernakulam home from a wedding. The 52-year-old director and environmental activist was a well-known name, especially in Kerala, where he participated in several popular movements against the government and corporations, made many documentaries, and tirelessly promoted world cinema and documentaries by organising screenings. Documentary filmmakers in several cities are planning tributes to Saratchandran. In Delhi, Kriti Club and the Delhi Film Archive will organise screenings of two of his films at the India Habitat Centre.

Before becoming a filmmaker in the 1980s, Saratchandran assisted leading Malayali offbeat filmmakers like John Abraham and G Aravindan. He made four films with P Baburaj, including the acclaimed Chaliyar…The Final Struggle, and The Bitter Drink. Baburaj tells Time Out about the influences on Saratchandran’s work, and his contribution to the state’s film and political cultures.

“Saratchandran, KP Sasi and I were all born in 1952. My father, C Unniraja was one of the first Communists in Kerala. Sasi’s grandfather MP Manmadhan, is one of the great Gandhians of the state and his father Chandrasekharan Nair is one of the leading Hindi scholars of Kerala. Sasi’s father is K Damodaran. So activism runs in our blood, but we all chose a different path – neither Marx nor Gandhi.

Sarat had always sought an alternative to the mainstream, whether it was in films or art or developmental issues. I met him around 1983 while he was working on a feature film. It was a culturally and politically active period in Kerala. There were alternative poets and magazines, John Abraham [a Malayali filmmaker] was active. Sarat and I later assisted Sasi on Living in Fear, about the hazards of radiation caused by the company Indian Rare Earths in Kerala. We became close friends and associates.

Both of us were a part of emerging non-party political movements linked to human rights and the environment in the ’80s. Sarat had a video camera which he was using to document meetings and campaigns. The VHS camera had mostly been used to shoot weddings, but Sarat made three documentaries with it. One was Save Western Ghats March – The Kerala Experience. Then a film about a campaign against a hydroelectric dam, called No Two Big Dams. Then Before Everything Heads, about several developmental issues in Kerala.

In between, Sarat went to work as an educational consultant at the British Council office in Riyadh. His idea was to save money for equipment. He returned in 1998 with a digital camera. I was working with Sasi in Delhi at the time. Sarat and I decided to document alternative initiatives in Kerala. An agitation against industrial pollution in Mavoor was going on, so we went there and shot a film, which later became Chaliyar… The Final Struggle.

Before we actually started working together, we decided that we wouldn’t make weepy documentaries, but instead focus on showing collective action. As concerned citizens, we were also involved with these struggles. So the films followed our social involvement. The Chaliyar film won us the certificate of merit at the Mumbai International Festival of Films in 2000, which established us as a filmmaking duo of reasonable repute.

No two people could be any more different. Our concept of cinema is as different as our physique – I’m much taller than he was. Our films developed through intense arguments. We would shoot and argue, edit and argue. The strength of the four films we made together, apart from the issues we took up, was the constant arguments.

Sarat was working on several projects when he died. He was shooting for Sasi’s documentary on Kandhamal. We had finished about 70 per cent of a sequel to the Chaliyar film. We were also working on two more documentaries, and he was making a documentary on his own. I plan to complete all the films.

Sarat was also the founder of Nottam, a touring festival of documentaries. Earlier, he used to show world cinema classics from his collection all over the place, to film societies, schools and reading rooms. Then Sasi suggested that he start showing documentaries too. Sarat dubbed Anand Patwardhan’s Ram Ke Naam into Malayalam and showed it in Kerala. He showed the films of people like Amar Kanwar and Sanjay Kak. A friend of ours called C Venkateshwaran wrote an article in The Hindu calling Sarat a ‘conduit of images of resistance from all over the world’.

He had gone from Ernakulam to Thrissur to attend the wedding of a close friend. The train he took to return was very crowded, and he seems to have fallen off onto the tracks. I got a call from his wife at 2.15 in the morning. For days, I was haunted by the image of him falling from the train.”

As told to Nandini Ramnath

Retrospective of Saratchandran’s films

We invite you for

A man with a 1000 dreams: Remembering C Saratchandran
(A retrospective of Sartchandran’s films.)

Venue: Centre for Film and Drama,Millers road , Bangalore
Date: 8th May, Saturday
Time: 4.30pm – 8.30 pm

C. Saratchandran (1958 – 2010)

A civil rights activist and a documentary film maker, C Saratchandran has been an inspiration and a great support for all individuals and organizations that screened issue-based documentaries across the country. He has reached out to many, both through the medium of films and with his most democratic personal politics.

Throughout his life, Sarat has shown us the significant role a film maker plays in social change and how powerful a camera can be as an agent of such change. Untiringly he had screened documentaries throughout the length and breadth of Kerala about several socio- political issues.

Educated at M.G College Thiruvananthapuram and Dharmadam, Saratchandran was part of a movement against emergency. He learnt film making from John Abraham and G Aravindan. He started documenting social struggles in ’80s and was often involved in the struggles he set out to document.

We invite you to be a part of this programme in solidarity and remembrance of an environmentalist, activist and film maker who has a body of work that will live on forever. The screening of the following films made by Saratchandran as a part of an evening of remembrance and dedication to the life of Sarat.

Programme

Time: 4.30 pm – 5 pm
Chaliyar… The final struggle (1999)
Dir: P. Baburaj & C. Saratchandran
35 mins/ English

A river, her people and a factory that gobbles all precious natural resources and pollutes the land lives, form the principal characters of this video film.

Special Mention, MIFF 2000
The Bronze Tree Award, Vatavaran 2002

Time: 5 pm – 6 pm
Thousand Days and a Dream (2006)
Dir: P. Baburaj & C. Saratchandran
77 mins/ English

On the four and a half years old anti-Coca Cola struggle in Plachimada, Kerala. Perhaps, no other agitation in recent times in Kerala has attracted national and global attention like this one. The film captures the spirit of the struggle, traces the history and discusses the several issues raised by the struggle. It also documents the poignant moments of the struggle and shares the dreams and sorrows of some of the active participants of the struggle.

10th Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) Indian Jury Award Winner.

Time: 6pm- 6.15 pm

Tea break

Time: 6.15 – 6.45 pm

Remembering Saratchandran – friends of Sarat sharing their memories
Time: 6.45 – 8.30 pm

Your’s Truly John (2008)
Dir: C. Saratchandran
100 mins / English subtitles

A video essay on the many faceted life of John Abraham, the film maker. Over 50 of his friends and close associates speak about him and discuss his films and creative life. This documentary brings us closer to the person who lived the life on the edge, through reminiscence of those who were close to him

Organised By
Vikalp Bengaluru, Pedestrian Pictures, Maraa, Bangalore film society, Grass root media, PUCL(K),PDF, Alternative Law Forum , SICHREM, Vimochana, Samvada, Environment support group, Samanatha Mahila Vedike, Karnataka Janapara Vedike, Sthree Jagruthi,

For further details Contact Deepu- 9448367627, Sushama Veerappa- 9845766808 ,Johnson Rajkumar -9886126064

In memory of C. Saratchandran!

Remembering documentary film maker & civil rights activist C. Saratchandran by screening his following films : organised by the Delhi Film Archive & Kriti Film Club

Venue: Habitat World, India Habitat Centre ( IHC ), Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110003
Date: 7th May 2010Time: 7:00 pm
Entry: Free

The Bitter Drink

English (subtitled), 26 min, 2003, India

The people of Plachimada, Kerala take on the Coca-Cola corporation in a David an Goliath battle.

To Die For Land – The Ultimate Sacrifice

English (subtitled), 29 min, 2003, India

The film captures the adivasi land struggle in Chengara, Kerala. Located in Patnamthitta district, Chengara is witness to the occupation by 20000 adivasis of over 2000 acres of land belonging to Harrison Malayalam Company Ltd. For the adivasis who took over this commercial tea plantation land, the occupation is a defiant way to highlight their situation. Over the years, plantation companies with the active support of the government have ensured that the adivasis are now alienated from land that they once called their homes.

To order copies of the film, The Bitter Drink, write to us at: underconstruction@magiclanternfoundation.org

For other films by C. Saratchandran, log on to: Films by C. Saratchandran

In memory of C. Saratchandran!

By now you may be aware that our friend C Sarat Chandran passed away on 31 March 2010 in a train accident near Chalakudi, Kerala. After the cremation, a condolence meeting was organized on 2 April 2010 in Thiruvanthapuram. More than 100 friends attended the meeting and sharedtheir memories of Sarat Chandran.

Sarat has shown us the significant role a film maker plays in social change and how powerful a camera can be as an agent of such change. Untiringly he had screened documentaries throughout the length and breadth of Kerala about several socio- political issues. He was anactivist, a filmmaker who was an inspiration and a great support for all individuals and organizations that screened issue-based documentaries across the country. He has reached out to many both through the medium of movies and with his most democratic personal politics.

Surely we are facing a big void with Sharath’s passing away; especially during the most troubling times we are living in.

The following suggestions came up in the meeting:

1) A Retrospective Film Festival should be organized in various parts of India during the first week of May 2010 – possibly on 8th MaySaturday ( If you are interested in holding the screening in your area, please write to us amudhan.rp@gmail.com, pedepics@gmail.com).

2) A booklet should be released containing opinions and thoughts of friends about Sarat Chandran; Friends will be requested to share theirthoughts by, latest, 1st week of May. (If interested, please mail it to mustafdesam@gmail.com)

3) A small documentary should be made about the life and work of Sarat Chandran. This film be screened during the Retrospective FilmFestival. Kerala State Chalachithra Academy has agreed to give an annual award in the name of Saratchandran to the best documentary on Human Rights issues. Besides, there will be a retrospective package of Sarat’s films in the upcoming International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala June 2010.

4) A film archive that comprises the collections of Sarat may be created (with the permission of Sudha).

5) An annual film festival for issue based films should be organized in Trivandrum.

6). Nottam, the traveling film festival started by Sarath chandran should be continued by Pedestrian Pictures.

7) Various friends and organisations should be contacted to contribute financially to complete the films started by Sarat Chandran.

WITH THE FOLLOWING SUGGESTIONS…

1)Baburaj, Amudhan and Mustafa agreed to complete Sarat’s unfinished film on the Kathikudam issue and

2)Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival agreed to create an award in the honor of Sarat Chandran for an issue-based film.

The spirit and legacy of Sarath Chandran should be carried forward. With tears in our eyes, lets us rise up to fill this void, to make our voices heard and documented against injustices — both small and big!. Let Sarat’s lifelong pursuits live on through our political activities and films. We request all the friends of Sarat Chandran throughout the country to support us in this endeavour.

Please visit for photographs of Sarat Chandran:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vibgyorfilm/sets/72157623745660108/

Screening of Bilal: Bangalore!

VIKALP BENGALURU’s April screening is dedicated to the memory of activist filmmaker Sharatchandran.

BILAL – The story of a little boy growing up with blind parents

Director: Sourav Sarangi 88 min/Bengali & Hindi/2008/India

Date: April 9, 2010
Time: 7 pm
Venue: CFD (Centre for Film and Drama) 5th Floor, Sona Towers, Millers Road, Bangalore.

No tickets or entrance fee. All are welcome.

Synopsis: The story begins inside an 8X10 feet partitioned room in central Kolkata. Almost nothing is visible inside. In fact, Bilal’s parents don’t need any light to see things around; they are blind. Bilal is just three years old and he has an infant brother. Both can see. So together they live as if in a game of seeing and not seeing. Though of a very tender age, Bilal is fully aware of the physical handicap of his parents. He knows how to communicate with them through sounds and touch. He is never jobless or tired, be it guiding his blind parents through the traffic or teasing his brother, as all elder brothers do! Whenever Bilal is in the mood for mischief, his parents become strict and he jumps into the world outside as adventurous escapades. Bilal tastes life on street… it’s hard. But he never gives up. Very unusually for our times, Bilal’s upbringing and care seems to have become a collective responsibility of all the neighbors. The film tells this curious story by observing the little boy over a year and capturing rare moments of sharing love, fun, cruelty and hope… the wonder world of Bilal.

Director’s Note: I met Bilal in a hospital bed through my wife when he was just eight months old; he fell and had severe brain injury. I stood in silence and looked at the boy struggling for life, the blind mother held him tight. Bilal looked at me for a very long time… and finally smiled. He touched his mother gently and that’s how she knew that I was there! I felt the magic of the touch and saw the eyes, those beautiful eyes of Bilal… ushering love and hope in moments when darkness rules…This film is a rough assembly of my moments with Bilal.

More on www.bilal.in
For directions, visit www.vikalpblr.org or call 22356263

For more information about VIKALP BENGALURU: http://www.vikalpblr.org

UC filmmaker C. Saratchandran passes away

We regret to inform you that we have lost one of our Under Construction filmmakers, C. Saratchandan due to an unfortunate train accident that has lead to his death. C. Saratchandran was known for films like  Save the Western Ghats March: The Kerala Experience (1987); No to Dams: A Pooyamkutty Tale (1988); Ellam Asthamikkum Munpe(1989); Kanavu (Dream), a film on a tribal children’s commune in Wayanad (2001); Evicted from Justice – a video report on Muthanga massacre (2003); Your’s Truly John, a video essay on John Abraham, the film maker (2008); and To die for land – the ultimate sacrifice, on Chengara land struggle.

His association with P. Baburaj resulted in films like Chaliyar…The Final Struggle (1999), which won The Bronze Tree Award, Vatavaran 2002; and The Bitter Drink (2003) on the Plachimada struggle against Coca-cola plant, and Only an Axe Away, a film on the struggle to save the unique ecosystem of Silent Valley.

For more information on the accident, visit: http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/02/stories/2010040255750400.htm