 Santosh Sivan on 'Navarasa'
 Awards and accolades, national and international, have become a habit with him and he wears them lightly on his shoulders. The latest on his list is the national award he reeived for 'Navarasa', judged as the best Tamil film of the year, a film he'd directed and photographed.
Santhosh Sivan's 95 minutes film centeres on the life of a eunuch as seen through the eyes of a 13-year-old girl played by Sweta. The cinematographer-director has shot the film with real people playing themselves and with the backdrop of the 'Kuthandavar Aravani Festival' at Koovagam, near Villupuram. This is a festival where eunuchs and transvestites from all over converge for the yearly celebration. The film was screaned at the Seventh Osian's Cinefan Asian Film Festival in Delhi recently and had earned praise for
Sivan.
After his 'Terrorist' and 'Malli', it's the third Tamil film for Sivan that has earned him the national
award. The cinematographer-director explains it away as a natural offshoot of his long stay in Chennai, his interaction with directors like Maniratnam, for whose films he had done cinematography, and the natural influence of the place and its culture. "My ideas have naturally been influenced by the place where I spend most of my
time," says Sivan.
 Sivan says that he got the idea about making 'Navarasa', a film on the third gender, when he had earlier got a chance to interact with them. He'd interviewed some of the eunuchs along with his scriptwriter Raja Chandrasekhar and it was then that the idea germinated in his mind. "I wanted to make a real, honest film on them without sensationalising them. A film that would try to understand them and their problems, says
Sivan.
The best way would be to follow them in their activities, especially at the Koovagam festival, where most of them would gather. Sweta represents the unbiased younger generation and it's through her eyes that the film unfolds, says the director. The little girl goes in search of her uncle who had disappeared, finds him at the Koovagam festival where the man was on a discovery of his own identity.
Santhosh Sivan had wrapped up the film, and flown off to London to shoot 'Mistress of the Spices'. Later, he had become busy with directing his first Malayalam film, 'Ananda Bhadram', a supernatural thriller. So not much was heard of 'Navarasa' till it bagged the national award.
Ask Sivan how he managed to shoot at the Koovagam festival when the eunuchs, one hears, don't like outsiders peeping in. But he found them very helpful, and says that their various organisations had cooperated with him during the festival. Sivan specifically mentions Ashaa Bharathi, the president of the Tamilnadu Aravanigal Association. "She helped us as a subject consultant and even acted in our film," adds
Sivan.
The director has used different forms and styles to dipict his theme.The Aravanis believe that they are the reincarenates of Mohini (Krishna). So 'Navarasa' merges the myth of Mohini with period drama, fantasy, fiction,and documentary too, all in 95 minutes. "The film has used real actors, of the 3rd gender, was shot at a real festival, and real events with about 3 lakh people," says Sivan. Asked if he took commercial viability into consideration when he planned such a film, his candid answer is, "Some films are made for a niche audience and one can be comfortable financially. But I don't restrict myself to language or budget."
Sivan is now busy with the post-production work of 'Ananda Bhadram', starring Prithiwiraj, Manoj K.Jayan, Kalabhavan Mani, Kavia Madhavan and Ria Sen. He likens it to a grandmother's tale that suddenly turns to a reality for the foreign-returned protagonist who is on a visit to his village for the first time. "It's about transmigration of souls," says
Sivan.
About his experienceof shooting for the 'Mistress of the Spices', Sivan says that it was an exciting project that was shot in Europe and America. "It's a very different way of working, very disciplined, where no one waits for anyone, and there is a lot of respect for each other's time!"
What next for Sivan? "It's a Hollywood production, an English film to be shot in Kerala," says Sivan. And one is sure one hasn't heard the last of Santhosh Sivan and the national awards. He already has 12 of them in his kitty!
Director Vasanth,talks about
'Navarasa':
 Director Vasanth was one of the jury members at this year's national awards. Talking about 'Navarasa', Vasanth says that what touched him, and the jury, was the emotional angle to the issue and the sensitive way Santhosh Sivan had crafted the film.
Adds Vasanth, 'I liked the emotion and the sensitivity depicted during the gender change, and the powerful visuals that backed it. The myth of Shikhandi has been used well here. The concept of search which Sivan weaved into the the film was fantastic. For the girl it was a physical search for her uncle, while on the other hand, for the uncle it was a search for his real identity, of whether he was a male or a female.
Vasanth was also appreciative of the way Sivan had used documentry footage and weaved it splendidly into the script. "A film that was worth the award," says Vasanth.
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