Celluloid (സെല്ലുലോയ്ഡ്)

Who?

My name is J C Daniel.

OK.

I'd written a letter to Mr Phalke and I got a reply from him.

Can I meet Mr Phalke?

Please come in.

Yes? I am Phalke.

It's a great privilege to meet you, sir,

the pioneer of Indian cinema.

Please be seated.

Come, sit. - Thank you, sir.

I am J C Daniel. I've come from Travancore,

the southern part of India

OK.

How can I help you?

Sir, I want to make a motion picture.

How much do you know about motion pictures?

Not much, sir, but for the past two years...

I've only been dreaming of cinema.

I've gone through books, articles...

I really want to know more about this art, sir.

It's not easy.

I understand, sir. But can you help me?

Sorry, Mr Daniel, right now I'm busy with my shooting.

You can contact me some other time.

Sir, if it's not too much trouble, can I watch your shooting now?

Usually, we do not allow anybody to enter the shooting place.

But you've come a long way.

Come.

Thank you, sir.

Mother.

This is film.

The white man calls it 'celluloid.'

Remember the day you took me to 'Capitol' to see the movie...?

I asked you how the people moved?

That's the technique of movies.

When the Lumiere Brothers first screened their cinema in Paris...

people ran for their lives, thinking the moving train was real.

Janet, cinema is a wonder.

That's what we're going to make.

Somehow, I don't feel confident. Have you really studied it?

Yeah, I have been studying it.

Thirty years have passed Since films were shot in...

Europe and America.

Fifteen years back,

Dundiraj Govind Phalke made a movie in Bombay.

In Madras, Nataraj Muthaliyar and others have made films in Tamil.

To this day, no one in Travancore and Cochin has been able to do it.

That is what this J C Daniel is going to make.

You wait and see.

Your J C Daniel will become Malayalam's first film maker.

May God help you.

But then, won't you need lots of cash?

Certainly.

Have to buy a camera and other equipment, hire actors and crew.

Will require about a lakh.

Then you can just lie on your back looking at the sky...

and hope angels rain you with cash.

I'm going to sell our property At Neyyattinkara and

Agastheeshwaram.

Didn't you sell part of it for your timber business?

Mother won't allow it again.

It's Papa's share of ancestral property.

Your brothers also will not allow.

Whoever agrees or disagrees... I have already decided.

Won't you agree? This is my great dream.

It's when we dream a lot that one of them comes true.

I am willing to sacrifice my life for you, Lord.

No, Peter.

I am telling the truth to you and to your friends.

Surely, this night before the rooster crows,

you will deny me thrice.

No, Lord, I will never deny you.

If I have to die with you, I will not deny you.

It's a play for the church feast, 'The Life of Christ.'

It's a long time since I saw you, Daniel.

I was on tour.

This is Sundara Rajan, my relative, Dr Mathias' nephew.

Owns three four shops in the Chala.

I am Johnson. Have we met before?

Your face looks familiar.

You had a play at Chala last April.

Didn't you keep your props in my shop?

I had told you then that you excelled as John the Baptist.

That's it. Nowl remember.

So, Daniel, how are things?

Hurry with your rehearsal.

I have a certain matter with you.

My God, make a film!

Only Englishmen know it.

Is it a job meant for us?

Why can't we?

I've come from Bombay and Madras after seeing and understanding it.

It is not like staging a play.

It uses camera and other equipments.

What do you say about it?

I too had doubts when I first heard about it.

But then Daniel convinced me that if the Hindi people

and Tamil people can do it, why not us?

We can, Johnson.

Both of you should be with me.

Think it through. It's an expensive affair.

Not like staging the 'Life of Christ.'

Once I decide, there's no going back.

You know how I am.

What Papa got as his share,

and what's in Janet's name will exceed 100 acres...

- of palm groves, homesteads and fields.

If it's 1000 British 'Chakras' for an acre,

I will get a minimum of one lakh.

As soon as the cash comes in, I will start, my dear Johnson...

Travancore's first motion picture.

Someone has come to see you from Travancore.

Who?

Don't know. But he's been waiting for quite a while.

Tell him there's no role right now.

It's not that. It's about some production matters.

What production - criduction?

Hello sir.

Where did you get that Krishna? Good-for-nothing!

Hello sir.

Hey director, who is Krishnan, who is Kuchelan?

The person acting God must have the looks.

He greets me even as he acts.

How can the film be good?

Take one more. - Ok.

What shall I tell that person?

Ask him to come. - Ok.

Good morning sir. Okay.

Do you know Tamil? Yes.

Then speak in Tamil.

I had come here a few days back, but couldn't meet you, sir.

Come to the subject. I am coming from Travancore.

I have hopes about cinema. I want to make a movie.

What should I do? What equipment should I buy?

What will be the budget?

I have come in order to know all about it from you.

Do you have the money? You will have to spend a lot.

Yes sir. I have enough money.

Cinema is not vegetable business.

It is for those who know about it.

I know a little.

Perumal, take this person to the manager.

Tell him to give the information he needs.

Is it okay? - Thank you sir.

Sir, can I also talk to your cinematographer Mr. William Derek?

When you talk about an Engishman, you can't talk in Tamil?

You can talk to him during the lunch break.

Come on, have some. Thank you.

Here and in Bombay we use Debri cameras.

In Hollywood... they have introduced

- an advanced version of this Debri...

but it is not available here.

So, where can I get a camera from?

You can get it directly from London, or you may go to Calcutta.

There is my colleague Mr Samuel John who has a photography shop.

He can help you get the camera and the accessories as well.

I have a request.

Could you wield the camera for my film?

Oh sorry.

I am going back to London after finishing this film.

Mr Samuel John will help you find some other cinematographer.

All right. Thank you, sir.

Is it true that you are going to make a movie, Daniel sir?

True. Isn't it why I became your disciple?

I just know how to run this film,

but I have no idea about the technique behind making one.

When are you starting?

The camera and the film have all been booked.

Will start as soon as they arrive.

Make a movie like this, Daniel sir.

Fed up with the Raman And Hanuman movies

from Bombay and Madras

True... No mythology.

I must make my own story... a social drama like this.

When I went to Bombay,

I saw this movie at the Coronation theatre

I saw it here on the release day as well.

Can't see enough of it, right?

Yes... Yes.

His name is Charlie Chaplin.

In America, he draws more crowds than the President.

He has such a fan-base. - Really?

This is the machine used to make movies.

What's in this box?

Don't open it now. That is film.

When we make the movie we load it into the camera.

Haven't you seen photos being taken? It's just like that.

When do we start?

A lot of things need to be done before that, Sundara.

First, I need to make a screen story.

It's written in the book called 'Photo Play.'

It's called scenario.

The people from Bombay and Madras mainly make mythologies.

We don't want that. First I thought...

it should be about the history of our martial art form 'chilambattom.'

Malabar's 'kalarippayattu' is well-known even in England.

Isn't our 'chilambattom' quite as good?

Yet who other than the folks of South Travancore know about it?

If we make a movie on it we can show it to all.