Salute, Paresh

Illustration/Uday Mohite

As a film curator, I'm always looking out for good filmmakers working in Indian and South Asian languages. I also follow many critics of regional films. For years, film critic Paresh C Palicha was my go-to man if I wanted a reliable opinion on any Malayalam film. Imagine my surprise, when I discovered that Palicha had cerebral palsy from birth, and spent his life in a wheelchair in Kochi. My respect for him, already high, sky-rocketed.

After watching The Will to Wish, a short film on him on YouTube, made by his journalist-scriptwriter friend Joshua Newton, I was deeply humbled to see the incredible effort a fellow critic took to write a single review. Palicha's dad, Charan Das Palicha, was living then: a senior citizen, he would physically lift Palicha, now 46, over his shoulder, and transfer him from his wheelchair to a rickshaw. Then, both would trundle together for the films that Palicha had to review. Once, when the autorickshaws refused them in pouring rain, his dad wheeled him all the way home on his wheelchair, so Palicha could meet his deadline.

Palicha has written as a critic and journalist (he has interviewed top Malayalam star Mohanlal for The Hindu, The Indian Express, rediff.com and India Abroad News Service, among others). Sadly, he is now unable to find any media interested in professionally publishing his film reviews, so he puts them up on his blog and social media. Although he speaks haltingly, mostly he can be easily understood. Motor coordination is a big challenge: he takes five hours to type a single, 500 word review. He now has a full time job with Tata Global Beverages, so he can see the Friday 9pm show and send his review by Sunday night. Hopefully media houses, especially those carrying multiple reviews of the same film, will value his expertise and integrity.

It was a dream come true to meet my critic-hero in Kochi recently. Palicha was most excited about going to see Vasan Bala's Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota. Even with his Man Friday, he needed an hour each way to the cinema. He took a Volvo bus (whose floor can be lowered for a wheelchair) to the cinema, then returned by first taking a Metro train, and then an Uber home. Palicha had to go: he was once on the jury of the Ability Fest of short films in 2005, along with Mani Ratnam, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Jaya Bachchan, Rajiv Menon and Nandita Das, where Vasan Bala was competing; filmmaker Thiagarajan Kumararaja won for his short, Becky. Palicha said he had also done the English subtitling for three films, but these were not yet released.

Palicha lives with mother, Indu, 77. He now sports a cool, clean shaven look, like a motta (Malayalam for egg). He has an impish sense of humour. After we met, he said on his Facebook post, that "she has wings in place of legs, and she glides in a levitated state." When I called him later and whined about my laptop giving me trouble, he laughed and said, "Bade bade deshon mein aisi choti choti baatein hoti rehti hain."

In The Will to Wish, Palicha says most movingly, that finally, at his age, he accepts that he doesn't always have to be cheerful; "sometimes I can be angry or sad." I feel incredibly lucky to count this marvellous critic and burnished soul as a friend. His next goal is to become a filmmaker. My heart is soaring as I leave.

Meenakshi Shedde is South Asia Consultant to the Berlin Film Festival, award-winning critic, curator to festivals worldwide and journalist. Reach her at meenakshishedde@gmail.com

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