Was at the right place, at right time: Kannada classic Samskara’s Australian cinematographer Tom Coven

BENGALURU: Nearly 50 years since it was made, pathbreaking Kannada movie, Samskara, was once again revisited by it’s Australian cinematographer, Tom Coven, at a session at the on going Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFES) on Monday. Giving the VK Murthy Memorial Lecture, Coven says, “I think I was just a lucky fellow who was at the right place and at the right time and pointed the camera in the right direction.”

Coven worked in the Australian Broadcasting Commission and the joined the Commonwealth Film Unit. It was during this time that he came to India and got involved with the project. “I was with Pattabhi in Chennai and we discussed the project then. We did not have much finances, but Pattabhi said he wanted to do it,” he says.  Tom says that although he is a cinematographer, his skills as an editor were very helpful for Samskara.

“The film has a very strong character conflict. In cinematic terminology, it’s the contrast between the foreground against the background and the character against the background,” he says.    

Coven made his first film at the age of 19. It was a short neo-realist film about “a lad waiting for a girl in the streets of Melbourne.” His second film was a documentary, for which he spent a lot of time in the editing table. “Work done in this movie was extremely helpful for me in Samskara,” he says. 

Making of a classic 
A half-an-hour documentary called Revisiting Samskara was also screened, which spoke about various aspects of the movie from the point of view of the film’s crew. It was produced by Nandana Reddy, daughter of the film’s director, Pattabhirama Reddy, and actress Snehalata Reddy. “I was not a part of the film when it was being made. So I made this documentary, because I felt I needed to be part of it,” she says. 

In the documentary, Nandana visits the shooting location of the movie with Coven and several other crew members, and looks back at various scenes from the movie and the rationale and inspiration behind its various aspects. Interviews of Girish Karnad, art director SG Vasudev and actor CS Sihma are included in the movie.

A number of anecdotes around the location, such as small conflicts between Karnad, Vasudev and Pattabhi and the lack of food during filming, makes it a light, yet interesting, watch. In one part of the documentary, Karnad says, “We all could have walked out of the movie, but we didn’t. We knew that this kind of a project was never, and probably would not be, attempted in a long time,” he says.

Must-watch films on February 27 
N Vidya Shanker, artistic director, BIFFES, 2018, tells CE his recommendations for some must-see movies today. 
l    Pomegranate Orchard (Azerbaijan) directed by Ilgar Najaf, 9.40am, screen 4
l    Atsu - So Be It (India, Marathi), directed by Sumithra Bhave, Sunil Sutkthanker, 2.30pm, screen 4
l    A Fantastic Woman (Chile) directed by Sebastian Lelio, 5pm, screen 5
l    Father and Son (Vietnam) directed by Luong Dinh Dung, 7.30pm, screen 6
l    Directions (Bulgaria) directed by Stephen Komandarev, 5pm, screen 8
l    Beauty and The Dogs (Tunisia) directed by Kaouther ben Hania, 4.30pm, screen 10