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The silence that speaks

It is a common enough sight in all the major book shops of thecity - a simple poster of a mother and child, and impressed onlookersmilling around it.

The poster has been signed by P C Sriram, one of India's mostacclaimed cinematographers (Agninakshatram, Nayakan, Anjali).But it isn't the signature that attracts the crowd. It's the disturbingquality of the picture, the powerful emotions it conveys and themany questions it throws up.

The covered back of the veiled mother, in unpretentious black-and-white,is an uncompromising image of stark reality that forcibly reachesout to you. And you wonder - does her life have no colour? Isitso wretched? But the sleeping baby, depicted in brightcolours, conveys the feeling that brightness, optimism and hopeare just round the corner. Tomorrow, the poster seems to say,everything will be fine. And you conclude that Sriram is one ofthose who believe that reality is dark; that the future holdsmore promise than the present. That the man who directed and wieldedthe camera for the much-acclaimed Tamil movie,Kuruthipunalis, in fact, an optimist.

''Me, an optimist?" The raised eyebrows signal serious doubt."I don't think so. And no, today is not always dark. Exceptfor the common man who has been denied the opportunity to ownand enjoy any form of art. We have confined art and music to theupper strata of society."

Art, he holds, especiallyhis art, should be availableto everyone. Which is why he has priced his now-famous posterat just Rs 400. ''People tell me that my image will suffer becauseof this. I think that's pure nonsense!" he grins.

Posters, obviously, are his latest passion. ''Unlike other countries,art in poster form is not very popular in India," he saysmatter-of-factly. "So I tried to think from an average Indian'spoint of view. What would make him buy a poster? A kid, of course!See, everybody is a kid at heart. I also wanted to give warmthto the picture. And what other better way than have a mother init?"

AfterKuruthipunal (which was India's nomination to theOscars last year), Sriram went on a year-long hibernation - workingnon-stop for 14 years was a little too much even for someone likehim. ''I wanted to spend some time with my two children. And Ibadly wanted to catch up with my reading."

It was then that he came across an old pile of still photographswhich he had snapped over the years. Many were damaged. And, ashe worked at restoring them, he was mesmerised by the appeal ofthose photographs. So, for the next 15 days, he spread the hugeprints in his room and scrutinised them in detail.

''As far as art is concerned," says Sriram, "mentalexercise is not a favourite pastime of us Indians. So I choseonly those 19 photographs which, I felt, would make direct contactwith the people and their lives." The mother and child picture,now such a rage all over Madras, is the first of these. The restare on exhibition in Madras.

Sriram's flirtation with the camera began a long time ago. Itstarted with a Brownie camera his grandfather gifted him whenhe was just nine. "And my very first trial with it,"Sriram says, "was disastrous." After shooting variousnature scenes in Cubbon Park (Bangalore, where his family waslocated then), he opened the camera and took out the film.

And got the shock of his life when he saw the blank negative!It was the first mistake of the amateur and the disappointmenthe experienced was intense. He mourned his loss until his grandfatheragreed to supply him with one more roll. This time round, successwas at hand. "It was like magic. The pictures came out theway I wanted them to do. It was simply amazing! I kept on experimenting...shooting all kinds of pictures at all sorts of shutters speeds,you know!"

Soon, though, it was people, in their varied moods, life stylesand expressions, that appealed to him more than nature. His passionto register on film everything that caught his eye took him tothe Pune Film Institute. "My years there provided me withan opportunity to see some of the greatest cinematic works inthe world, created by the greatest masters of all time,"he says.

What does Sriram feel about cinematography dominating other aspectsof film-making in south Indian cinema? For instance, about thebeautiful picture postcard shots which often distracted the viewerfrom the storyline.

"In south India, the awareness about technicalities is toostrong. Suddenly, people want good sound. And the aim behind seeinga movie today is good photography - which is definitely an unhealthytrend. Actually, we should not be aware of the camera at all.We should only be aware of the film. Did you seeSense andSensibility? A beautiful film. Did anything in the film standout? No. I didn't even know I was watching a film! That's theway it should be. And that's what I like about Hindi cinema. Theydon't bother much about technical aspects like cinematography.Faces and dances are more important to them. Their audiences goto see a movie to see the star."

Despite his hectic cinematic schedule, Sriram has made it a pointto be in constant touch with his still camera. ''I grew up onstill photography," he affirms, "I identify the worldthrough it." For the still camera, and the 'reality' he snapswith it, is Sriram's way of compensating for the fantasy he createson screen.

P C Sriram's photograph: Sanjay Ghosh