The flickering light from the candle looms large, revealing the sullen faces of a woman and a boy who seem to be crowded with thoughts, as they quietly await their man’s return. The man’s sharp eyes pierce into them — with an apologetic gaze — when he arrives with a copper utensil, which, the boy opens with great enthusiasm. He is heartbroken when he finds it empty yet again and seeks comfort in his mother’s lap as she tries to pacify his hunger.
They have not had a proper meal in days, perhaps, months. The routine continues the following day as the father leaves with his copper utensil, in search of meat — in this case, rodents. This gut-wrenching scene of a famine-hit family in an abandoned village in remote Tamil Nadu is what the short film Uraiyur Eli throws light on.
“I was trying to improve and learn the craft of filmmaking. That is how I made this short film, which happens to be my second,” says filmmaker SK Gobinath, who worked under PS Mithran during the filming of Irumbu Thirai.
Gobinath has a fascination for cinematography and was looking for an opportunity to wield the camera. Which is why he decided to experiment with light when his friend (Selvamuthu Kumarasamy) shared the script of Uraiyur Eli. “The story is what drew me because I have read about rat eaters, which is a hobby for some, but for others, especially in a state like Bihar, it is a matter of survival,” says Gobinath, 30, who travelled to Meenakshipuram in Tuticorn with a five-member crew to shoot his short.
The village, according to him, faced the worst famine sometime around 1995, forcing people to migrate. But Gobinath came across an elderly person who decided to stay back, in memory of his wife. What stands out in Uraiyur Eli, apart from its larger politics, is the cinematography; the images are pensive and penetrative and there are tonnes of camera movements — something you do not normally find in short films. “Landscape is the main character in the film. The village itself has such a tone and we enhanced the visual quality in DI,” he adds. The short film has gone to a couple of festivals in India and abroad.
Strongly influenced by M Manikandan’s brand of cinema, Gobinath says he wanted to portray the everyday struggles of a family from a marginalised community. “The film gets a happy ending towards the end but we do not know whether they would get their meal tomorrow.”
Uraiyur Eli is available on YouTube