A regal canvas re-created

Even as a young lad, Santosh Sivan found the life of King Asoka intriguing. The impression continued and has now manifested itself in the form of a big screen extragavanza. The director- cinematographer talks about his pet theme to SAVITHA GAUTAM.

AS A child, history always fascinated him and the credit goes to his erudite history teacher, who had a Shakespearean bent of mind and loved to act out scenes from the pages of history. "He made it very interesting for us. Particularly the story of Asoka and his tryst with Kalinga". It left a deep impression on the lad, Santosh Sivan, who grew up to be an ace cinematographer and director.

"Actually most of my films are offshoots of something that interested me in school. Even "Malli" is a story I learnt in school. I remember all my classmates e-mailing me after watching that film. They are now as excited about "Asoka" as they know where it all began," Santosh says with child-like exuberance.

So it is hardly surprising that he decided to translate the story of Asoka into celluloid. The little known fact is that the theme was attempted at least once before in the 1940s when Prabhat Studios made a film on Asoka. Also, O. P. Ralhan was keen on the subject and so were many others. But, nothing came out of it. Till Santosh's dream project...

Slated for release (it is being dubbed in Tamil) on October 26, "Asoka" was well-received at the recently concluded Venice (the closing film) and Toronto film festivals. Meanwhile, the President recently released a book on the making of the film, written by journalist Mushtaq Sheikh. With a stellar cast — Shah Rukh Khan playing the title role, Ajith Kumar (the Tamil cinema hero makes his debut in Bollywood) as the mean and power- hungry Susima, Kareena Kapoor as the sensuous Kaurvaki, Hrishita Bhatt, Danny Dengzongpa, Subhasini Ali (in a non-political avtar), Rahul Dev and Johnny Lever — the film is something to watch out for. And what's more, there's Sabu Cyril as art director, Sreekar Prasad as editor, Anu Malik as music director and Farah Khan as choreographer. And Dreamz Unlimited (yes, the Shah Rukh-Juhi Chawla company) has produced it!

So, what was it that drew Santosh to the theme? "Asoka" is all about the change of `Chandasoka' to `Dharmasoka'. It is fascinating to understand the psyche of someone who was destined to be king but was not supposed to be one as there was already an heir to the throne. It is about the different stages in a man's life. Asoka becomes ambitious and wants to be the greatest. Till he confronts the biggest battle of his life... Kalinga. I though it would make an interesting film. I think it is strange for a warrior, who has seen blood and gore all his life, to suddenly shun violence," explains Sivan, sitting in the spacious and elegantly done-up drawing room of his home in Chennai. The film is a fusion of fact, fiction and legend, of a ruler whose existence came to light only in 1915.

Santosh, who researched the subject quite thoroughly, decided to place the film in the context of the legend of Kaurvaki, popular even today in Orissa (the Kalinga of Asoka). In fact, her story is inscribed on a cut stone at a cave in Orissa. "Asoka's life is full of interesting legends, as there is nothing much known about his life except for what's available in the edicts. One such is of Kaurvaki."

The sources? Anything and everything... from the edicts to works of Romila Thapar and other eminent historians, and even Buddhist lore. Known for his shoe-string budgets (this one was pegged at Rs. 15 crore) and off beat themes, Santosh was seemingly testing new waters with "Asoka". He decided to give the film a commercial `look' with songs, fights et al. In the Bollywood format perhaps? "Actually, `Bollywood format' is a strange term," he reacts. "After all, I am no stranger to the commercial format, having been cinematographer for many such films. I would rather put it as the Indian, traditional way of film making with songs, a little bit of entertainment... humour and action. Basically I wanted it to have songs since I enjoy shooting songs." Santosh admits that working with such big budgets means the responsibility is much more and "it requires a lot more co- ordination."

Shot in 100 days, in different seasons to reflect the state of the human mind, the film promises to be visually brilliant. "Sunshine, the rain and the mist... night coming to day, a time when there is a no shadow... all these signify transition. Honestly, it was quite a daunting task as we had to wait for sunset or mist. And as far as possible, I have tried to shoot it in a natural setting." The film has been extensively shot in Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Kerala. Yet another tough proposition was making costumes... in one scene there were 600 soldiers to be clad and Anuradha Vardhan, the costume designer, (the grand-daughter of the great comedian, N. S. Krishnan) took up the challenge head-on and succeeded too.

And who better than Santosh himself to handle the camera? He laughs at that. His approach to direction is from cinematographer's point of view, which he says is "my niche, my strength." Which is why he does not find it too taxing to direct and work behind the camera simultaneously.

Why did he choose Shah Rukh Khan? Santosh says, "I needed a good actor to bring out the various shades of the character. Though Shah Rukh is perceived as a star, he is an actor with a lot of potential. He has also worked with Mani Kaul and Ketan Mehta. As for Kareena, she is spontaneous." And she seems to exude power and sensuality... in the promos.

The film comes at a time when the worldwide applause for his earlier "Terrorist" is yet to die down. It has indeed been a magical mystery trip for a small budget film, which was funded by friends and was made with the help of students. The film found famous admirers in John Malkovich, who was part of the jury at Cairo, Buddhadeb Dasgupta ("he knocked on my hotel door in Hyderabad to laud me") and most recently, writer Michael Ondatjee, who is incidentally talking to him about filming his novel "Anil's Ghost". And interestingly, Ayesha Dharker, the award winning actress of "Terrorist", got the role in the next episode of "Star Wars", when the Hollywood actor Samuel Jackson gave George Lucas a copy of the film! Ask him about "Terrorist" and Santosh remarks, "I know why it did not work in Tamil Nadu! Actually my driver was one of the first to see "Terrorist". Of course he did not know I had directed it. When I asked him what he thought of it, he said, "Idhu ellam padama, saar? (Can this be called a film?) No hero, no songs and no action". Then on a serious note, Santosh adds, "I think the film worked because it was about violence but did not glorify it."

What about his career as cinematographer? Remember the awesome beauty of the snow-clad peaks in "Roja" , the ruggedness of Ladakh in "Dil Se" and the lush well-preserved Scottish castles in "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai"? "If I get a good opportunity I will definitely take it up. I am a cinematographer first." The man is brimming with ideas. He wants to make more films for children. Meanwhile, he is working on a documentary on a still photographer, and his finely crafted ad for the Kerala Tourism Department has caught the attention of others like the Mumbai and Karnataka Tourism departments.

Santosh has always consciously tried not to get slotted. Be it as cinematographer or ad film-maker or director. To win an award as an Emerging Master at the Seattle Film Festival at 30 plus is no mean achievement. He has joined that elite group of Indian film- makers such as Mira Nair and Shekar Kapur, who have gained global recognition. But what distinguishes him from the others is the fact that so far he's made his films in India without any international support.

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