09 January,2022 07:38 AM IST | Mumbai | Sucheta Chakraborty
The film’s characters, replete with distinct looks and personalities, have a host of influences, from Kerala’s performing arts to folklore, urban legends and other hearsay, their descriptions and functions, fluid and ever-changing
Suresh Eriyat, animator and founder of Mumbai-based Studio Eeksaurus is currently home in Kerala, the setting for his studio's latest offering Kandittund! (Seen It!), an animated black-and-white short, based on the thoroughly entertaining stories about Malayali ghosts narrated by his father PNK Panicker. These characters, replete with distinct looks and personalities, have a host of influences, from movies and Kerala's performing arts to folklore, urban legends and other hearsay, their descriptions and functions, fluid and ever-changing. There is Eenam-pechi, born when a pregnant woman meets an unnatural death, who collects fruits shed by cashew and mango trees and is terrified of men. There are also Arukola who howls and screams as he floats following people around at night, and Kuttichathan who helps to destroy one's enemies, among many more. "He gave us bizarre physical clues [like the fact that the spirit Aana-Marutha who visits temple premises around noon looks like a baby elephant that waddles along] which opened the spectrums of our imagination," says Eriyat, about the colourful and lifelong raconteur. For director Adithi Krishnadas who took on the film soon after graduating from the National Institute of Design, the characters were born of some playing around so that they fit seamlessly into their rural environment. "I drew them in a way that they made me laugh".
Although concerned with the afterlife, the film is laced with a humour that stems from the personality of its protagonist and narrator Panicker. Eriyat's design-driven production and content creation studio, geared towards bringing local stories, most self-initiatives, has several award-winning short films to its credit. But this is his first attempt at filming his father's stories, says Eriyat. "For my other films, his stories could have played a part because they are within me."
Eriyat did an audio recording of his father back in 2015 when he was 85, toying with the idea of a whimsical documentary for a while, while aware that he would need to work with Malayalis to keep the subject's regional essence intact. These stories were an integral part of his early years, he says, and his years away from home studying at NID and then working in Mumbai made him realise how unique they were and the necessity of their documentation. "The plan was to use him in the film and fill it up with animations whenever he is talking about mystical creatures," he says, the idea being to give it a scrapbookish quality where elements from his stories would take the form of photos, scribbles and animations. While the idea of using his father as a caricature had initially filled him with doubt, Krishnadas's rendition ultimately convinced him that they were doing justice to his stories.
Forty four at the time of Eriyat's birth, PNK Panicker has always been a playful and chatty man, indulgent unlike other fathers and always eager to share a real or imaginary story of a ghostly encounter with his children and grandchildren, to strangers in chai shops and old Kerala bakeries. Panicker is also emotional, admits his son, a fact he attributes to him hardly seeing his father who passed away when he was two, and being brought up entirely by women. "His voice is also like that of a woman," laughs Eriyat. "He carried a village essence with him, and was constantly making things, like plucking coconut leaves and making whistles out of them for us," he adds. He also fondly recalls their evening walks, where he would sneak him into non-vegetarian restaurants, the act almost sacrilegious for their strictly vegetarian household. "At 91," smiles Eriyat, "he is as dramatic as ever".
The need to bring out his personality with all its associated charm, was what was challenging says Krishnadas, who only had an audio track and a few video recordings for reference. At the same time, it was this detachment and objectivity, believes Eriyat, that allowed her to make the film which has already had 35-odd official selections and picked up several international film festival awards, including at the Swedish International Film Festival, the Kolkata Shorts International Film Festival and the Dumbo Film Festival. In Kerala, it is immensely popular. "People have come up to my father to ask him how to exorcise a spirit," laughs Eriyat.
These stories of encounters with characters from the afterlife have also dwindled with time, he says. He recalls that his father would often say that with increased urbanisation, the ghosts were made to flee. "This was another way of saying that the fear of the unknown was disappearing slowly. We are not isolated anymore, there is light and noise everywhere, and little scope for imagination." These were also cautionary stories. There were many, for instance, he recalls, about walking along ponds at night. "They were just a way of cautioning people not to walk by ponds, especially after a few drinks which were an evening ritual," he says. Moreover, the stories remain with members of the older generation, who were once central to social gatherings but have now become "funny".
