Kanam and Kaippad

Kanam and Kaippad two documentary films scripted and directed by Babu Kambrath are the results of extremely careful and committed directorial efforts.Both the films got national and international recognition.Kanam tells the life story of a midland hill and Kaippad gives us an authentic visual description of agiculture done in marshy lands near estuaries where the river joins the sea.I felt a personal attachment to these films because some of the scenes in Kanam were shot at Madaippara and almost all the scenes of Kaippad were shot at Muttukandy near Payangadi.I am familiar with both these places for more than five decades and in my creative writings their role is more important than that of any of the characters in them.Both the films are very much lively and fully capable in creating a keen ecological awareness among the viewers.These films take us to the inner rythms of nature which we usually miss in the hurry and haste of day to day existence. Here we see the birds, plants,flies,fishes and human beings participating enthusiastically in the celebration of life being conducted by nature.If you view things from a different angle you may find an element of over idealisation of nature in these films.But what we have to remember is that when the notion that everything on this earth is there for men to squeeze out it’s essence for his pleasure or to make the most profitable sale controls our very sense of nature even the most irrational mystification of nature is totally agreeable and justifiable.What Babu Kambrath has done in his films definitely demends our admiration and praise.These films teach us how unfamiliar and beautiful are infact those realities which we think quite familiar and mundane.That is the magic of art!