50 years of ‘Swayamvaram’: the debut of director Adoor Gopalakrishanan

Kerala By Dileep V Kumar November 23, 2022 Read the article

Iconic filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s 1972 debut Swayamvaram ushered in the New Wave in Malayalam cinema.

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It opened with a 5.36 minute long shot of an ordinary bus journey in which nothing much happens.

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To present an unmarried couple living together was a challenge to the existing societal norms.

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“The film begins and ends in realism and at no point has it tried to run away from life and its hard realities,” said Venkiteswaran, a film critic.

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The film was a trendsetter that introduced the concepts of synchronised sound and shooting films on actual locations.

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A young Adoor carried his Nagra recorder and the camera beyond the studio walls and live recorded sound.

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It is still being reckoned with for the experimentation in its narrative style, especially the use of sound and silence.

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Though the initial response was lukewarm, after the film won four National Film Awards, it ran to packed houses for one or two months.

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Swayamvaram was funded by a loan from the FFC and marginal profits from documentaries produced by Chitralekha Film Cooperative.

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For the film’s 50th anniversary, the Department of Cultural Affairs and the Kerala State Film Development Corporation are releasing a documentary.

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The Journey: Swayamvaram at Fifty, by Madhu Eravankara, will be screened as part of the 45th edition of the Soorya Fest.

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