Tamil Nadu

Poignant portrayal through a short film

Photo: G. Moorthy

WELL DONE: Film director Bharathiraja releasing the VCD. Tamil teacher A. Ganesan (right) receives it. MLA N. Nanmaran (centre) looks on. —

MADURAI: When emotions get suppressed, they find their way out through different art forms like what it had been in the case of J. Sankarapandian who had given vent to his feelings through his short film ‘Othappanai’.

Penning down the story, screenplay and dialogues, for the 20-minute film, Mr. Sankarapandian says that the film was the result of what he had seen and read in dailies about the communal clashes in the southern districts.

“The communal fire also consumed some innocent lives, which stirred me to start this film. The film shoot started just like that, we filmed for two days and when we saw the final print, we were amazed to see the poignancy,” he says.

The story is about how the communal clashes shatter an individual and his family and thereby the society.

The protagonist loses his bride in a communal clash even before the wedding bells fade.

Unable to bear the loss of his beloved, he loses heart and mind. For him life has become barren.

“The title ‘Othappanai’ reflects this feeling. That is why our team zeroed in on this title,” Sankarapandian beams with pride.

Releasing the short film, popular film director Bharathiraja expressed happiness over the message conveyed through this film. “The film bubbles with life. Actors have done their role to near perfection. Acting has no shades of artificiality,” he said.

He equated the acting of Sankarapandian, who donned the protagonist’s role, to that of popular Hindi film actor Nana Patekar and said that he had acted well.

Speakers felicitating the creator included MLA N. Nanmaran, poet S. Venkatesan, his Tamil teacher A. Ganesan, who received the first VCD of the film, and his schoolmate Sureshkumar.

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