Film industry pays tribute to K R Mohanan

THRISSUR: The last rites of filmmaker K R Mohanan, who breathed his last on Sunday afternoon, were performed on the premises of his ancestral house at Thiruvathra near Chavakkad on Monday. The 69-year-old was undergoing treatment for stomach-related ailment for the past one month.
Several prominent personalities from film and literary fields and friends offered tributes to Mohanan when his body was kept at Kerala Sahithya Akademi here and later at his ancestral house with full state honours.
Though Mohanan had made only three feature films - Ashwathama, Purushartham and Swaroopam - he is considered as one of the most significant practitioners of the new wave genre in Malayalam, which had captured the imagination of youth of the late 70s.
A graduate from Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, Mohanan's maiden film Ashwathama (1978) focused on the existential angst of a brahmin youth. Purushartham (1987) dealt with issues of fidelity while the 1992 flick Swaroopam captured the early signs of revivalism which has now gripped the entire society, according to film critic I Shanmughadas.
While the first two films bagged the state award for best film, Swaroopam won the national award for the best Malayalam film.
Mohanan had made several documentaries too - Kalamandalam Krishnankutty Poduval, Vishudhavanangal, Devagriham, Racing Snakes and Remnants of an Ecosystem.
According to critic C S Venkiteswaran, who authored a book on the filmmaker, though Mohanan adored the film field , he was never overwhelmed by its glamour.
"Mohanan was a genius, but he did not get the deserved recognition, because he avoided 'self-marketing,'' feels cinematographer Madhu Ambat, who had wielded camera for all the three movies of Mohanan. Director Sathyan Anthikkad remembered Mohanan as a soft-spoken person. For actor Sreenivasan, who played the lead in Swaroopam, Mohanan was love personified. "I have not seen Mohanan angry or frustrated," he said.
Mohanan has served as the chairman of Kerala State Chalachitra Academy from 2006 to 2011.