Title of film : LAASYAM
Director Name : Vinod Mankara
Cast & crew :
Producer : sulochana Balakrishnan
Editor : Anoop.m
Cast :
Synopsis : Mohiniattam originated and grew in Kerala with lasyam or love as its central feature.The central emotion presented in this dance form is sringara or carnal love which is one of the nine rasas or feeling listed in Natyashastra. But lasyam has to go beyond sringara and has to accomodate other rasas or feelings as well and thus it has to have new facets of feeling. This is what Dr.Sunanda Nair,a Mohiniattam expert believes. This disciple of Padmabhushan Dr.Kanak Rele is trying to make Mohiniattam more beautiful by studying Kerala's own dance tradition, and from those many things have to be absorbed. To make Mohiniattam modern and contemporary the other Kerala arts and musical instruments have to be utilised.This is certainly a revolutionary endeavour and this is the effort made by Dr. Sunanda Nair. Staying in the U.S she is trying to teach and spread Kerala arts accross the world and this documentary is a cross section of her effort. Grest honours like Kerala Kalamandalam award, Sangeethanataka Academyaward,Devadasipuraskar,Kalasagar award etc have come to this dancer and we know her as a proponent of the evolutionary nature of Mohiniattam.We come to know this artist more closely through this, and we are exposed to the possible growth and development of this art form through this documentary. Five world renowned Padma award winners take part in this documentary. For this reason, this Kerala art form is sure to find a place of honour in the canvas of world art.
Director Bio : Vinod Mankara(credit-2 National Film Awards,8 kerala State awards,2 Kerala Kalamandalam awards and 7 kerala Film Critics Awards) is a writer and film maker from Kerala. He began his career as a freelance journalist for print media and has worked in Delhi and other major cities in India. His career in electronic media began at Surya TV, where he served as Programme Manager. He has been Chief Manager, Programmes at MET(Middle east television), a television channel based in Dubai. He had a stint at Indiavision as Chief Producer. He has been the senior Producer in the leading malayalam television channel Asianet. He is a native of Mankara village near Palakkad. Vinod Mankara has more than 600 documentaries to his credit, most of them telecast on various channels. He received the Kerala State Film Award for three consecutive times. Eight of his documentaries have received State award. Beyond or Within, a documentary on occultism received a National Award in 2003. He also has three feature films in his credit. A documentary of renowned painter Raja Ravivarma, BEFORE THE BRUSH DROPPED received the Kerala State Award and NALACHARITHAM ANCHAM DIVASAM, based on Kathakali, received the prestigious Kerala KalamandalamAward. His first feature film KARAYILEKKU ORU KADAL DOORAM bagged 35 awards including Film critics award for the best debut director and Radio Mirchi award for the best debut lyricist. His second feature film OTTAMANDARAM was based on a true life story and has bagged five Film Critics awards in various categories including the direction. His third feature film PRIYAMANASAM was a Sanskrit movie and it is the third Sanskrit movie in the history of world cinema and bagged the prestigious National Film award for the year 2015. PRIYAMANASAM was the 17th century keralite poet Unnayi varrier and his masterpiece composition Nalacharitham and it was the opening film in the Indian Panorama section of International Film Festival of India. The film has got entry in to almost all the film festivals of India and has bagged special jury award for the direction in the Rajasthan International film Festival. His latest feature film KAMBOJI is a musical thriller in malayalam. The last songs of the Jnanapeeth award winner and famous Malayalam poet late O. N. V. Kurup (Who died before the shooting began), are in this movie. More than one thousand articles and seven books were in his credit. His latest book KARAYILEKKU ORU KADAL DOORAM is a Novel and this is the first time a film is becoming the novel. He was the jury chairman and member in many national and international film festivals and award committees. His latest documentary NITHYA KALYANI ORU MOHINIYATTA PADHAM is a research work in the origin and development of Mohiniyattam, a lyrical dance form and tracing this art form from 6th century to 19th century. This documentary has bagged the Prestigious Kerala Kalamandalam award for him in the second time is a rare incident and also bagged 2 National film awards and one kerala state govt. award. Film Kambhoji is his latest feature in which he is the script writer, director and co lyricist with late O. N. V. Kurup. He just finished his new Tamil feature film Nitya sumangali. The music and dance stage show RITHUBHAHAR which toured in USA in 2015 was a great hit and Vinod Mankara was the show director.
Filmography :
