Chapter-4

The Madras central railway station greeted me with a cacophony of sounds, a kaleidoscope of colors and a blend of different type of stinks. I was excited. I could not help shouting “Madras, I have come!” Pasha, who was walking a few steps ahead me stopped and turned. “Enna?” he asked. I shrugged my shoulders.” nothing.” He took me straight to his house in an autorikshaw. It was a small house, with more members than it could accommodate. I had a bath and changed my clothes. It was obvious that I cannot stay there and from the attitude of his father, it was clear that I was not welcome there either. So my first priority was to find a place to stay. With Pasha’s help I located a lodge at Mambalam in T.Nagar. It was called Sathya Lodge. I opted for a dingy single room. Pasha bid me farewell and made good his escape. I have never seen him again to this day.

I went to Chetpet to meet cameraman U.Rajagopal. I gave him the letter of recommendation. He read the letter and looked up at me. “So you want to learn cinematography?” “Yes”, I replied eagerly. “Do you know the basics?” he asked again. I told him I had learned the entire book “How to Film” by heart and I also owned a yashika 35mm camera and that I have experimented with different lighting conditions and so on and so forth. He did not seem to be impressed. I opened my mouth again to lecture on apertures, f stops etc, when he cut me short. “I cannot take an inexperienced person as my assistant’. My face fell. My jaws sagged. I was wondering whether I could get the rent advance paid at Sathya lodge and catch the next train back home, when he spoke again. “But I can enroll you as an apprentice at a busy film studio. My face brightened. “That will do sir”, I said. “Once you have gained enough experience I will take you as my assistant” he assured me. I jumped with joy.

Next day he took me to Sharada studios (lessees of Majestic studios) at Vadapalani The general manager was an old man called Chettiar. He introduced me to Chettiar and told him about my wish.Chettiar did not raise any objections. Mr.Rajagopal had told me that I should put a hundred rupee note in an envelope and keep it ready. He told Chettiar “Ayub wants to give you a small gift”. Chettiar’s face lit up. I took the envelope from my pocket and politely offered it to him. Chettiar accepted it happily and said I can join immediately. After all hundred rupees was not a small amount in 1968. It did work wonders for me. After Rajagopal left, Chettiar took me personally to the camera department. He entrusted me to the camera chief Babu Sait and told him to take care of me. I was assigned D floor. Apprentices were considered only above light boys. But my, proximity to the general manager gave me an edge over the others. Every morning when Chettiar went on his round around the floors, everybody used to say “Vanakkam Sir” to him, wth folded hands. But he used to say a cheerful “Good morning” to me. Later I found out that the Camera department was a dumping ground for the ‘good for nothing’ sons of the studio staff. Most of my co-apprentices were thrown to the camera department as punishment for repeatedly failing the SSLC exams. And here was I! Coming as a voluntary inmate! That too paying hundred rupees! But I did not mind. While others were there against their wish, I chose to be there, because I was fascinated by the subject, I wanted to learn. In every way I felt I was a cut above the rest. I was more educated (Pre-degree, you know!) Since I was still not familiar with Tamil, I spoke English. And I dressed well too. All these coupled with the special favor of Chettiar, made me stand out among the apprentices. So naturally the other apprentices were jealous of me. During shooting, food for the entire crew is provided by the producer. But they never told me that I can have food along with the unit. Since I was new, I was not aware of this practice and I always had my lunch and breakfast from outside hotels, paying from my pocket. It was after quite some time that a friendly camera assistant told me that I could also have food with other unit members.

I saw many film stars here including Dilip kumar,Shivaji Ganeshan, N.T.Ramarao,Raj kumar, Prem nazir etc. I had the good fortune to work in the films of great directors of south India. I was very enthusiastic in my work and took pains to learn by working hard and also clearing doubts from senior camera assistants. There were four floors in the studio. I was assigned to a particular floor. Mostly Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films were shot in that floor. A Kannada film, directed by Puttanna Kanagal and starring Raj Kumar was entirely shot on the sets of D floor, and I worked in the entire film. I was fascinated by Puttanna’s directorial genius. Though I belonged to the camera section, I watched his work keenly. I learned a lot by watching his work. I became friendly with his associate director, Krishna Urs, who cleared many of my doubts. Still I yearned to work in a Malayalam film. Though names of camera apprentices never appeared in the credit titles, I could go home and tell my friends that I worked in that film or this film. Then one day Producer-Director Kunchacko came to our floor to shoot his film “Susy”, with Prem Nazir and other leading actors. I was thrilled. There was no other Malayalee in the studio staff except me. But the problem was that I did not look like a keralite. I wanted the director to know that I am a Malayalee. At that time, my job was pushing the camera trolly. Though the camera man had given me correct marks, I asked Kunchacko in Malayalam “Sir, is this the final mark?” He turned and looked at me. Suddenly I was scared. A camera apprentice is not supposed to talk to the director. He said “Oh, you are a malayalee? “Yes sir”. I said enthusiastically. “Yes, that is the mark”. He said. I watched Prem Nazir, Adoor bhasi etc act. I also keenly watched Kunchacko directing. He used to shoot an entire scene in one single long shot and then take close ups. He shot in our floor only one day and the next day left for Kerala.

Gradually I made friends with a senior camera assistant. He took me along for loading and unloading films. Camera department had a dark room for this purpose. He taught me how to load and unload film rolls in the magazine. He also taught me tape focusing. The heavy Mitchell camera was used in the studio floors. There was no dubbing in films at that time. Live sound was recorded during shooting itself, which was later used in the final sound track. In normal cases an apprentice will not be allowed to touch the camera for months. He just stands and watches the shooting. Then he can push the trolley. Focusing and film loading will take years to learn. But my proximity to the general manager, (he always used to ask me how I am progressing, in front of others) gave the impression that I am his candidate. So, Padmanabhan, the camera assistant, went out of his way to teach me the technicalities, perhaps to be in the good books of the general manager. It was a very busy studio. Major parts of a film were shot in the studio floors in those days. Outdoor shooting was limited to songs or other rare sequences. Moreover Sharada studios catered to the entire south Indian film industry. So I had the good fortune to work in films of all the south Indian languages. Once, during the shooting of a song in a club sequence, I saw the beautiful heroine Vanisree dancing with a tall hefty man. There were many other goonda characters also of the same size. But when he started singing and dancing with the heroine, I was surprised. I asked Padmanabhan, who it was. He said it is N.T.Ramarao, the telugu superstar.

Every day after shooting, I used to catch a bus to Mambalam and go to my room. I did not have any friends in Madras. Two young men in the adjacent room were Malayalees. They were working in a bank. I was in good terms with them. It was during this time that C.N.Annadurai, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu died. The whole city of Madras came to a standstill. There was a hartal like situation. All the shops and restaurants were closed.

We were closeted in the lodge for the whole day without food and water. In the evening I ventured out with my Malayalee friends. We went to our regular restaurant, which was also owned by a Malayalee. It was closed. We went to the backside of the hotel through a narrow lane. We met the owner and told him that we were starving since morning. He asked us to come to the backside late night to collect food parcels. We paid him in advance for the night food and went back to our lodge. We spent time counting the minutes. We were so hungry that we couldn’t wait beyond nine o clock. We ventured out again. The streets were dark and deserted. We only saw occasional group of ruffians moving around with sticks to ensure that no shops were open and no vehicles were plying. We managed to reach the backyard of the hotel. We requested the hotel owner to allow us to eat our food there itself. But he was scared. He urged us to take the packet and leave immediately. We walked back to the lodge with the food packets in our hands.

We saw a gang with sticks and iron bars coming our way. We tried to hide the packets. But it was too late. They grabbed the packets from us and demanded where we got it. We did not want to betray the hotel owner who had helped us. So we told them we got it from a friend’s house. They snatched the packets from us. “We haven’t had anything since morning” one of them said. Though we tried to protest, one of them raised his stick and threatened to strike my friend. We gave up meekly and walked back to our lodge. That night we slept on empty stomachs.

One day, out of the blue, my uncle from Bangalore landed in my lodge. He was accompanied by his brother-in-law. His wife’s house was in Madras. He was on a visit to his in-laws, and may be on father’s instruction, had came to look me out. When he heard about my ordeal on the day of Annadurai’s death, he insisted I should shift immediately to his in-law’s house. I assured him I was happy there and Annadurai cannot die again. But he was very adamant. He insisted that a young boy like me should not live alone in a city like Madras. My protests did not have any effect. Finally I settled my accounts at Sathya lodge and went to stay in uncle’s in-law’s house in Triplicane. Uncle’s brother-in-law, Sardar, was a couple of years older than me. He was a nice fellow. But living as a guest in somebody’s house had its own limitations. In the lodge, my dinghy little room was my empire and I was the master of my will. But here I felt very stiff and formal. It Was also far away from Kodambakkam and I had to commute by two buses to reach the studio. But Sardar and his friends were good company. We used to go for movies on my off days. One day we were returning home after a movie. I was pillion riding on Sardar’s Bicycle. The cycle had no light. As we turned a corner, a policeman appeared before us.

He stopped the cycle. Pillion riding on a cycle was against rules and we were riding without light at night. That was the second offence. He charged a petty case and took the cycle into custody. We had to appear in the court the next day. We went to the Guindy court early next morning and waited for the court to convene. There were many petty cases. One by one the names were called. When our names were called, we stepped forward. Our offence was read out. The judge asked us whether we committed the said offence, we said yes. We were fined rupees twenty five. We paid the fine and recovered our cycle. That was my first appearance in a court and to this day the last.

One day after shooting, there was some footage left in the magazine and Padmanabhan wanted to take a test. In those days there was no computerized grading. A test shot was taken at the beginning or end of each magazine. This test shot was used for grading before printing the rushes. That day as all the actors had left, Padmanabhan asked me to stand before the camera. He took a shot of mine in the same lighting as the camera man had lighted up. I had forgotten about the incident after that. But a couple of days later, Padmanabhan came and slapped me on the back. “Hey! You are very photogenic!” He said. “I have seen the rushes. You should be before the camera, not behind it.”

I had been watching all those good looking people acting in front of the camera. I had nursed a secret dream that one day I would also become an actor. But my passion for film making (photography and direction) was so strong that I pushed my acting ambitions back. Now Padmanabhan had rekindled those secret aspirations. I started dreaming about an acting career. It is true that I had never acted before, except for a brief appearance in a fancy dress competition in school. But now the acting bug had bit me real hard. But first I wanted to complete my education. I felt uncomfortable not being a graduate. It was time for the college admissions for new academic year in Kerala. I wrote to my father expressing my desire to continue my studies. He told me to come back.

I immediately packed my bags and caught the next train to Cochin.