I like koikala

Being a film critic, I can recall about 350 films from recent memory, films I’ve seen in the past few years. But there are always films that make you nostalgic. Films such as Avargal or Agni Natchatram.

A few years ago, an interesting thing happened. I had to do a brief feature on Kamal Hassan for Vijay TV about his movies. I told him all his best movies seemed to come from the second half of his career. He didn’t get irritated and patiently asked me: “Have you seen Kokila?” It was a Kannada movie. He said: “I think I’ve done a good job as far as the acting in concerned.”

There was no DVD available anywhere. He caught up with the producer and got hold of a DVD. It was the first movie by Balu Mahendra. When I saw the movie, I was stunned. It was such a beautiful movie, up there in the league of Truffaut and his The 400 Blows. You can see the genius in the first movie. Director Balu Mahendra had arrived. Kamal must have been 23 years old. What a great actor Kamal was going to become in the future, you could see in Kokila. It was very unfortunate that he was just made to wear huge bell-bottoms and do song and dance at that time. But Balu Mahendra persisted and made Kokila.

It was a surprise experience for me to see Kokila. I am mentioning this movie because I think it is time we start preserving our old movies. Youngsters of today should be given an opportunity to see Kokila.