Manipur News

– A Sublime Narrative

By : Khura Seraton

Art needs meditation, deep penetration, humility, awareness of the magnitude of the task and a total feeling of oneness with the problems at hand-RITWIT GHATAK (1925-1976).

The journey of an artist, from a young boy intrigued by the big moving camera and the silver reflector to Cannes Film Festival. From a backbench High School song composer to a film music director. An individual who fights for his conviction. An orphan who then is son of the soil. The embodied persona of an artist is well reflected in his work. This time Shri Aribam Syam Sharma has communicated in a different medium through his book “Living Shadows”.  Though the writer claim not to be confident with words as with films, he narrates stories within story with insightful erudition and style. There was a certain hesitation – if  that is the right word- in writing a review of the book. The book is easy to read, but not so easy a book to review. Reason being, one-the larger then life image of the writer (the image gets larger as we read the book). Two, we as a different generation who grew up in a different visual culture in which sattelite channels not only shape but also influence our standard, taste, sensibility et al vis-a-vis art; a trace of cultural disorientedness is very much an uncomfortable reality within us.

This envisage an introspection into our cultural milieu, its historicity and its reverberation on different art forms of Manipur in particular. And therefore, a pertinent question comes up- can we relate to his work of art ? or if the question is to be put in a simple way; are we able to appreciate our own art forms and culture? The answer is not so simple. But here is an conjectural insinuation into it ; the song from SHAPHABEE (1976) “Mapok Langol Khudingda” has become a part of Manipuri Culture. The song is played at almost every Meitei marriage (whether one like it or not) on the clarinet when the bride is received by her in-laws.

The book purport to be an autobiographical sketch per se, as the narrative is set in the context of his work where, in the author`s words, “My films have given me much pleasure as well as pain in the same way my life gave me both in equal measure. It is for the reason that I saw the relation between my films and my life that I had not concentrated just on films but I also have written something about my life prior to films“. One of the most striking attributes in his narrative is that there is something about life and lives. Notice those “slice of life” are usually in one or two simple lines. His stay in Brindaban, of close-family ties, the unconditional love from the elders- “It is one of the mysteries of life”. The Dahi wala gave a ladle full of curd free to his youngest brother, everyday. Seemingly the writer makes a pause to ponder that, “kindness, somtimes, comes from unexpected quarters. And those simple gestures can be powerful enough to stay in the memory of a life time”. His recent meeting with the writer, Shri Biren who accompanied him to his gate inspite of the illness made him realise, “that there are still some beautiful souls with us”. The book opens with the clearest memory from his childhood of a strange `sight and sound`, which later on his life became the medium of creative expression. Devastation and the sufferings cause by the bombing during the 2nd World War had a significant impact in his life and as well as to his outlook, “it dawned on us that the world is much larger and complex then what we thought it to be. Before we had the chance to set foot on the world it came to us”.

His first Love :

The way home from the Cinema which the writer saw only for the songs, was always too short to learn them. He saw the film ‘Baiju Bawra’ more than ten times to get the song  by heart. Such was the writer`s propensity towards music. His high school romance became a lifelong companion. It is also important to note that his inclination was not encouraged by the family, early during his life. Despite of it, the writer became one of the Central figures in ushering in a modern Manipuri Song- “Matamgi Eshei”. His intense affairs with music gave birth to numerous outstanding personalities, whose songs and music captured the heart of every Manipuri. The formation of the Amateur Artistes Association (AAA) and in retrospect became the forerunner of the Roop Raag (RR) the oldest musical association. Note this adventure of the writer with Shri Aheibam Budha, “The elders who were used to more oblique reference to romantic love were quite horrified by the direct approach of my songs and dismissed them as singing love letters… Budha and I would come back home late at night on our bicycles with the harmonium on my bike and his percussions on his, through the dark streets. If we were a bit early we would stand on the crossroads and talk for a while about the performance and the coming performances”. Like his films, the line surely has a visual impact on the reader. His `faithful companion` took him to Santiniketan, led him to theatre, to music direction that he first entered cinema. And also led him to an imporant person in his life-Sanaibemma.

His first born child :

Shri Aribam Syam`s first born child had to bore on the remarks such as, “salvaged from a dust bin”, “move like Charlie chaplin”. On the contrary, the child had put the northeast India on the world stage. The writer have given optimum space for the chapter “the surprise of `81″. An intimate detail of the experiences he had to go through in the making of  Imagi Ningthem (1981). It includes, the intricacies of film -making, the price of working with outdated technology, how he works with his artiste and the script. The film made him to take some major decisions in life. Its initial release in the state gave hard days to the writer. After his three major block buster, the audience were looking only for the stereotypical masala film and were ready to pay for the `service level of entertainment`. The tragic incident of the actor Ingudam Mangi, three days before the film was shown affected the writer very much. But “Imagi Ningthem” turns out to be a blessing in disguise. It travelled world-wide, earn respect and appreciation from different quaters. Imagi Ningthem remained very close to the writer`s heart, “the film gave some of us who believed in our own way of life, inspite of many drawbacks in our society, an assurance to that belief. I feel that Imagi Ningthem was my first-born. It was the reason that made me a film maker in my own eyes”. The writer confess with honesty that his three major films viz Lamja Parsuram, Shaphabee and Olangthagee Wangmadasu did nurtured his ego. But he left the readers with room to doubt on how he decided to move to a different direction after that. Perhaps some more detailing on his account of sharing “his insight” is asked for! should we ask the writer to make another film on “the making of Imagi Ningthem”? His masterpice cannot be screen today to commemorate its silver jubliee. It gives immense pain to the writer. (we share his pain).

His Company :

Living shadows fairly seems to gives the hunch of reading a who`s who of our culturalscape. It includes a host of writers, singers, dramatist, musicians, filmakers and actors etc. Each one of the names have occupied a distinctive space of its own in our cultural domain. Therefore, it is felt that the names need not be mention again in this review. But it would be an impropriety if the review fail to include the name of Sanaibemma. The book has a special chapter called “Sanaebemma”

“Sanaebemma” as the writer call Maharaj Kumari Binodini, in deference and affection, came to meet for the first time to congratulate him. Shri Syam took the role of Bishu Pagla in one of Tagore`s play. “Raktakarabi”, “the moment behind the stage was the start of a lifelong friendship, personel as well as artistic.”

The writer narrates a brief life history of Sanaibemma and throws light on the creative genius of an artiste in her. His gratefulness to her, of their artistic collaboration, the chemistry between them, are vividly mention in the chapter. He writes, “my best films owe much to her commitments. It is not easy to describe the dynamics that works….. A deep understanding of each other as individual artiste also has made our friendship long and deeply rewarding”

Yes ! without an iota of exaggeration, reading the book of Shri Aribam Syam`s Living Shadows is a rewarding experience. Other then his narrative the photographs are of visual delight. Some  of his classic works are their in the photograph. And also some of his outstanding actors. The book is highly recomended specially for film makers and those wanabe film makers. It would also be worthwhile to carefully study the chapter of his lecture delivered at the Jyoti Prasad Agarwal Memorial lecture, organised by the Guwahati Cine Club. One might overlook it, better not. And for those who are out to look souly for commercial gain by  blindly aping from anything to anybody- Do not touch it. Another very important feature of the book is the series of articles writtern by eminent critics on the writers` work. For instance, the outright criticism from Professor E. Nilakanta Singh, precisely on the film Sanabi (1995) gives a jolt. It demands sincerity and boldness for the writer to re-publish it. We find the hint of an answer to the criticism in the chapter “My lesser knowns”. Well, to give a mild criticism, the book has some silly  spelling mistakes and printing errors. BBC correspondent, John Warrington`s write up on Ishanou dates back to 1981 ! Such lapse could have been well avoided with serious proof reading.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/04/aribam-syams-living-shadows/