Rajesh Touchriver, the director of the filmPrathyayam has approached the subject matter with a complete sense of realism. This film is inimitable in its story, direction and cinematography. All the actors in the film have been able to give it their best. Rama Tulasi, the cinematographer of this film has been successful in translating the vision of the director onto the screen. He has been able to skillfully incorporate a tone that the course of this story and its situations demand – Don Max, the editor of Prathyayam affirms.
Though I have done editing for more than 30 films by now, to me this film is a heartrending one. Those who catch glimpses of the film will for sure be urged to watch the entire film. I expect the film to be well received by the audience.
After proving his mettle in ad films and television channels, Don has carved a niche for himself in the world of feature films, leveraging the possibilities of innovations in technology. This young editor, a native of Anikkad in Kottayam district in Kerala, had started his experiments with animation from his undergraduate days at St Thomas College, Pala. He has received Kerala state Cine Critics award 2006, Mathrubhoomi Vanitha award 2010, Kalainjar TV award 2011
“Initially, my focus was on animation. Then I realized the possibilities in editing. On experimenting with it, my interest turned into involvement. I then joined Kethan Mehta’s Institute and then worked in the Prime Time channel in Dubai. My editing work started in Kairali.
I did trailers for more than 50 films. During those days, opportunities were fewer and technical sophistication at a nascent stage. Some distinctive editing techniques used in television were tried out on videos, and it turned out to be a success. Those days, the price of editing software used to be 2,000,000 INR. For the same reason, the experiments were done using basic softwares.
My debut was through Shaji Kailas’s Tiger. It was Mammootty Sir who gave me an opening in Kairali Channel and provided opportunities in films. I experimented with doing editing at the location; which is becoming a norm these days.
I did editing for V K Prakash’s Moonnaamathoraal, the first digital cinema in Malayalam. Cube came much later. I have been able to learn a lot and technically stay updated ever since.
It is in action films that one gets to try out unique techniques in editing. Jump cuts and fast cuts are common these days. I had the support of youngsters for my experiments in Malayalam films. I started to earn a name as an editor and won appreciation from directors and audience.
Most of my work has been in Tamil films like Aadhavan, Sura, Jaggubhai,etc.I have worked with many leading directors there. Though I have worked for films that were dubbed from Telugu to Malayalam, my direct debut in Telugu is through Pratyayam.
I have always tried to make stunt scenes more appealing. I have tried to explore ways of making the entry of heroes more powerful especially starting with Tiger. If there is a lot more leeway for experimentation in Tamil, it is certainly due to budget availability.
A recent film in Tamil Ponnar Shankar was for many reasons a novel one. Prashant plays double role in this film directed by Tyagarajan based on ex-Chief Minister Karunanidhi’s composition. The camera operators were from Australia. Just the daily rent of camera was 600,000 INR. Malayalam cannot afford such films. A high speed camera called White Cam was used in this.
Excellence in editing depends on the quality of visuals. Editing can make things two fold better than the original quality of visuals shot” – clarifies Don.
