Pulijanmam; a tiger's life for Priyanandanan

By John Cheeran
As Kerala’s so called successful film directors are involved in a fratricidal fight comes the news of director Priyanandanan’s Pulijanmam, based on a play by N Prabhakaran, winning the 54th national (Indian) award for the best film for the year of 2006.
Priyanandanan and I belong to the same district, Thrissur, in Kerala. But unfortunately not being at home and always on the lookout for my next job, I never had an opportunity to have a chat with the guy or watch his two critically acclaimed feature films so far – Neithukaran (Weaver) and Pulijanmam (A tiger’s fate).
Like me, many must be regretting their failure to watch Kaari Gurukkal and Prakashan in roles that are a rare blend of myth and reality.
Murali won the national award for best actor for his role in Neithukaran, and the movie fetched many awards including the state award for best debut director, runner-up best actor (female) and three international awards for best director, best film and best actor.
The fact that Pulijanmam did not win any awards at the 2006 Kerala State Film awards but went on to receive national recognition might be really heartening for Priyanandanan. And this has happened on a number of occasions within the Malayalam film industry.
The national jury, led by Buddhadeb Dasgupta, deserves some praise for having the nous to appreciate Pulijanmam.
I’m so much happy for Priyanandanan, whose travails are evocatively reported by my friend PI Rajeev in the Indian Express on June 11. (http://www.indianexpress.com/story/321767.html).In Thrissur, the other day, Priyanandanan has talked about the humiliations he underwent while directing the movie, and later for getting theatres to show Pulijanmam.
I, however, have one question for Priyanandanan.
As a director, how does he feel about, the jury’s decision to give the best film award for Pulijanmam and best director’s award for someone else, in this case, to Madhu Bandarkar?
For one thing I’m certain. The award will force many of us to watch this director’s efforts in the future.
And with M.G. Sasi and Priyanandanan winning accolades, pushing stalwarts such as Adoor Gopalakrishnan and K.P. Kumaran into far corners, Malayalam films might be on the cusp of a new awakening.