Adoor enters Criterion Collection: Malayalam cinema finds place in world’s finest film archive

The Criterion Channel, a US-based streaming platform of films, announced a new addition to its collection of global classic films in November from India. They described the addition as Adoor Gopalkrishnan’s Chronicles of Kerala.

Needless to say, this is indeed an honour to not just Adoor as a filmmaker, but to Malayalam and Indian films, as very rarely a living filmmaker gets into the collection of Criterion from India, which streams exclusively in the US, but sells the DVD, Blu Ray, and 4K copies of its collection of films across the globe. There are 99 additions in the India list of Criterion, but with the feature films of late Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Uday Shankar, and the rest being films made by non-Indians about India, and a few documentaries, including Celluloid Man made by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur.

Introducing Adoor in its collection of films of the global maestros, Criterion said: “A living legend of Indian cinema, Adoor Gopalakrishnan is a major auteur whose psychologically penetrating films often take the form of parables or enigmas exploring the relationship between the individual and society, in particular the conditions of life in his home state of Kerala. Taking inspiration from the parallel cinema pioneered in Bengal by directors like Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak, Gopalakrishnan brought a new seriousness to Malayalam-language filmmaking, helping make Kerala one of the most exciting centres of art cinema on the subcontinent. Working in a unique, minimalist yet poetic style and highly attuned to the impact of sound, silence and colour, he acknowledged masterpieces like Elipathayam (Rat Trap) and Anantharam (Monologue) are the work of a consummate artist deeply committed to his own vision”. Nizhal Kuthu (Shadow Kill) is also part of the Chronicles of Kerala.

There are 99 films in the India collection, which includes those by global maestros namely Ingmar Bergman, A Ship to India and River by Jean Renoir. Ray's films included Apu trilogy, Devi, Nayak, Home and the world, The stranger, Teen Kanya, Elephant God, along with Ghatak’s Meghe Thaka Tara, and Titas ekthi, Nadir naam. Uday Shanker’s lone experimental film, Kalpana (1948), also forms part of this coveted archive. There is also Paayal Kapadia’s All we Imagine as Light, thanks to her Cannes Film Festival honour. The rest of films in the collection are documentaries on India by the likes of Louis Malle, apart from a few Indian ones.

“As you know, it has taken a lot of effort and persuasion to get Criterion to add Megha Dhaka Tara and the three films of Adoor on their channel alongside the films of Satyajit Ray, All We Imagine as Light, and a few documentaries. Criterion’s online distribution does not allow viewers outside the United States to watch the films online. But, it is a significant platform that mounts the works of filmmakers like Ray, Ghatak, Adoor, and Kapadia alongside films of Antonioni, Bergman, Eisenstein, Fellini, Godard, Kurosawa, and other greats of world cinema. It will allow the American viewers, scholars —not just in film festivals—(but individually) to compare and appreciate works of the Indian parallel cinema”, pointed out US-based Anil Srivastava, a techie and son-in-law of Kalpana Banerjee, who acted as mother of Apu in Ray’s Trilogy. Anil is an old film society activist of India, before he immigrated to the US, and played a key role in ensuring Adoor’s selection to this prestigious digital collection of films.

For both 86-year-old Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Malayalam films, it is their first entry into a global depository of classical films on a prime American streaming channel. Criterion publishes home video releases, including DVDs, Blu Ray, and 4K discs, and thus its collections reach film connoisseurs globally, not just to the streaming audiences in USA.

The criterion addition of Adoor’s films assumes considerable significance, as there was a recent talk in Kerala that Malayalam films are no longer marked across the world by Adoor and Aravindan alone. Aravindan's film Kummatty is in the pipeline for the Criterion Collection, according to Film Heritage Foundation of India, which recently restored it. This selection has proved again that it is indeed not the local claims that matter, but the national and international recognition that makes a film and its maker great. In a way, the world will have easy access to Malayalam films and the Malayalam language and culture through these films for the first time through a public depository of meaningful films. Just as Ray and Ritwik marks Bengali –Indian films in Criterion, it will be Adoor and possibly Aravindan who will represent Malayalam-Indian films in the collection. Criterion is ranked as the leader of the streaming channels for classical films globally.

Adoor’s three films, Elipathayam, Anantharam, and Nizhal Kuthu, after the selection process of the Criterion, underwent fresh technical scrutiny and were remastered and modified to suit the parameters of the channel. Since the original celluloid negatives of Adoor's films were deposited at the National Film Archive (NFAI), the remastering was fairly easy, unlike Aravindan’s films, which were digitally remastered from available prints. Adoor accessed the negatives of the films from NFAI and Prasad Laboratory at Chennai, digitally remastered to meet the technical standards set by Criterion. General Pictures, which produced two of the films, will also be paid for its streaming rights by the US depository.

“We aim to reflect the breadth of filmed expression. We try not to be restrictive or snobby about what kind of films are appropriate. An auteur classic, a Hollywood blockbuster, and an independent B horror film all have to be taken on their own terms. All we ask is that each film in the collection be an exemplary film of its kind. Of course, we can’t just pick movies and put them out. The process of getting the rights to release a film can take years. Even if we want a film, we can’t work on it unless the film’s owners grant us the rights to do so,” the Criterion website proclaims about its selection process. Though anyone can suggest a film for the collection, Criterion has its panel of experts to evaluate the claims and scrutinize global recognition of the films and the filmmaker, before its final selection, ensuring exclusiveness and aesthetic value are preserved for generations.

Criterion has an extensive classic and art-house films library and a website that publishes commentaries on films, often with video discussions of filmmakers. On Ghatak, they have a video discussion of the late Kumar Shahani and Saeed Mirza. With a higher subscription rate, they have kept their films as a connoisseur’s delight. Kanopy is yet another channel for classic films, but it operates through film libraries at universities.

A quick Google search on streaming platforms of classic films says this:” For pure classic film buffs, The Criterion Channel or Turner Classic Movies might be your go-to.

• If you want a mix of old and new, try Netflix or Disney+.
• Horror fans should definitely check out Shudder.
• And for those who want to combine movie-watching with language learning, Lingopie is an absolute must.”

The Criterion Collection is a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films on home video. Their editions often include restored film transfers along with commentary tracks and other kinds of supplemental features, which they pioneered with the release of their first laserdiscs, Citizen Kane and King Kong, in 1984. Ever since, Criterion has been working closely with filmmakers and scholars to ensure that each film is presented as its maker would want it seen and published in an edition that will deepen the viewer’s understanding and appreciation of the art of cinema, the Criterion website claimed.