The journey filmmaker K Rajagopal (Raja) has taken over the span of almost three decades reminds us that filmmaking does not always run on a steam engine and instead can be a more personal experience that takes time to mature and unfold. Raja first hit the local film scene by being winning the Special Jury Prize at the Singapore International Film Festival Silver Screen Awards three years in a row with his short films ‘I Can’t Sleep Tonight’ (1995), ‘The Glare’ (1996) and ‘Absence’ (1997).
Over the years, while
he was also engaged in theatre and television work, he would wander back into
the film scene with new short films that would extend the exploration of issues
like memories, identity and displacement, often seen in his films.
Collaborations like ‘The Lucky Seven Project’ and ‘7 Letters’, where he was one
of several directors making an omnibus feature film, also brought Raja back
into the thick of the filmmaking buzz that had hit Singapore over the past
decade.
He finally completed
his feature film ‘A Yellow Bird’ early this year. The film competed at this
year’s Cannes Film Festival for the Camera d’Or award for feature film debuts
and was also screened at the same festival’s La Semaine de la Critique segment
(International Critics’ Week). At this year's Singapore International Film Festival, it will compete in the Silver Screen Awards for Best Asian Feature Film. The film’s story is simple – a man released from
prison after eight years tries to reconnect back with life and his family, just
like the way he likes his filmmaking process to be. Raja relives this journey
with Jeremy Sing in an interview.
What does the ‘Yellow Bird’ in the film title symbolise?
The idea
came from my mother. She once said, if you see a yellow bird, it means you will
meet someone nice or hear some good news. This came to my mind again when I was
writing the script. I felt it represented the story I was telling.
How did the idea for the film come about?
I was
reading ‘The Stranger’ by Albert Kamus about a man who is drawn into a murder
and later sentenced to death. I felt I related to the questions about morality
raised in the book, such as what is right and wrong, who is to say whether you
are right or wrong or how you live your life. ‘The Stranger’ itself is also
influenced by other books like ‘Crime and Punishment’ and ‘Notes from Underground
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. So one book inspired the other and I felt there were a
lot of interesting connections from one writer to the other, which I found
compelling.
In the light
of what I read, I was looking at the context of Singapore and exploring the
idea of alienation. As you know, my films have always been about alienation, displacement,
the minority, so all these ideas came together in that way and that’s how I
started writing the script.
What’s your process in scriptwriting?
I started
by writing the story, then I broke it down into different scenes and tried to connect
them. I also worked with Jeremy Chua, who was my collaborator in developing the
script. We would talk the scenes through and I would share with him what I see
in each scene and what I think the different characters would say. Having
decided on how the different scenes are set up, he would help write it out in
words.
With my
initial script, we were invited to a pitch at the L'Atelier programme at Cinéfondation with 15 other directors. I presented my script
to many people and one of them who read it eventually became my co-producer
from France. We also presented our script to Cinema Du Monde, the World Cinema Fund.
So the script really went through many pairs of eyes.
Your cast is quite a mixed bag, with the leads being a local actor and two very accomplished actresses in their own circles, Huang Lu and Seema Biswas. How did you find Huang Lu and Seema Biswas?
For the
role of Chen Chen, the prostitute Siva encounters in the film, I needed a
professional actress who has acted in films of a more independent nature and I
held many auditions. I came across Huang Lu having watched her in films like
‘Blind Massage’ and ‘Blind Mountain’. She is in fact a prominent film actress
whom many independent directors like to work with and has been appearing in
numerous independent films over the last 10 years. So I just sent her my script
and I remember Huang Lu coming back to tell me ‘I am the Yellow Bird’. That was
her reply.
As for
Seema Biswas, she has always been very selective with her film projects. Her
biggest claim to fame was ‘The Bandit Queen‘, directed by Shekhar Kapur in
1994. She has acted in a few Hollywood films and she is also a theatre actress
as well. For Seema, she always decides with her heart, and she felt she
identified with the story. So she came on board as well.
I heard you made Siva, the lead actor, sleep on
the streets to condition him for his role. Could you share more about this
little adventure?
Yes, I did
‘put’ him out on the streets for two nights in which he was not allowed to go
home. He basically camped at the HDB block where we filmed, sleeping on
cardboard. I wanted him to feel comfortable in the role. If he went into the
role cold, it would have been difficult.
Also, Siva
had a different work process with me from the other cast members. I did not show him the script but only feed it
to him in parts. I wanted him to slip into the role without having to plan or
anticipate too much and this was also possible because dialogue was minimal in
his role. I felt it was important for his characterization to unfold
organically because that’s how life is – we never know what will happen to us
in the next hour.
The film’s trailer reveals a considerable
portion of the story unfolding in a forest, could you share, without providing
spoilers, the significance of this in the film?
For me, the
forest space is a metaphor in the film. The first half of the film is rather
claustrophobic as it is set in the city area with a highly dense living space.
So compared to the first half where everything is concrete and defined, the
second half takes place in a more loosely-defined space with water and trees.
In the story, Siva is being asked to leave his house by his own mother, so there
is a force pushing him away from his natural habitat to somewhere unknown.
There is in fact also a scene in which someone from the National Environment
Agency comes to shoot the birds out of the trees in a sort of visual parallel
to what Siva what experiencing.
I would
like to add that the decision to shoot in the forest actually arose out of
constraints. It was not supposed to be but in the end, I felt it turned out
better for the film.
What kind of feedback have you received from
audiences so far?
Actually,
the film has just started to travel in the film festival circuit. After Cannes,
it went to the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea and the Pacific Meridian International Film Festival in Vladivostok, Russia.
We have also received invitations
to several other film festivals around the world.
I would say
I have seen a whole spectrum of reactions to my film. Speaking to people in
Cannes, some really liked it while others found it too intense and dark. Some
have commented that the film is ‘relentless’ in a way that it grips you and
does not let go.
One of the
most unforgettable responses I had was from a Japanese lady in Cannes. She came
up to me after watching the film and started weeping. She said she identified
with Siva’s character because she has also been on this journey trying to find
connection with people and she feels very displaced, living in France. The film
deals with the search for what is true to you and it spoke to her. I actually sat down with her, not to console her,
but to hear her speak her heart out, even though some meaning got lost in her patchy
English (she was more Fluent in French) and I thought that was a really
beautiful moment.
Huang Lu
also shared that she cried watching the film because she identified with how
her character was fleshed out in the final cut as well as the language of the
film. Thankfully, she also commented that the Mandarin spoken in the film was
rather authentic!
What do you think are the greatest challenges
in filmmaking in Singapore?
For me, my
personal challenge has always been in developing a full script. Before this, I
have made several short films and directed for television. For television work,
there is usually a certain standard style, even though sometimes we try to
deliver something a little more out of the box. For my earlier short films, I
did not have scripts. It was often a very instinctive process and I could do
them relatively quickly.
It is
different when it is a feature film, and a debut feature at that. It is
certainly a bigger responsibility. The fact that it’s your first, I ended up
getting into a knot a bit for a while, perhaps out of a certain pressure I put
on myself. Then I realized it didn’t work for me. I needed time to think about
the story. So in the end, it took me three years to hone the script. I wanted
to be very sure that this was the story I was going to tell. While the challenges
of producing, working with actors and technicalities are always there, this for
me was the main challenge - you must be sure about the story you want to tell.
Of course,
there were also other challenges and the industry is not mature. But for me, I
knew ‘A Yellow Bird’ was meant to be a simple film and I did not intend it to
be anything more. It was something very close to my heart and I did not like to
rush t and treat it like a project. For me filmmaking is always something very
personal. I have to be in the right frame of mind and emotional space to do it.
What kind of doors have opened for you since the completion of ‘A Yellow Bird’?
One of the
best things that arose from this journey has been knowing my collaborators and
having the opportunity to work with them. I would say my meeting with Claire Lajoumard, my producer in France, through the L'Atelier programme at Cinéfondation has been the starting point of many other collaborations. For
instance, she introduced me to the sound designer and colorist. When I first
met them, I just knew they were the right people to work with. They were not
just interested in the technicalities of making the film. They were really
interested in the core of the story, the emotions and the characters. Even in
post-production, I enjoyed the work process thoroughly as no one treated it
like a job. I made so many good friends and I am still in touch with them.
In
Singapore, I am also fortunate to have met some good collaborators. Upon
completing the film, I have invited by many people do take on more film
projects here. So undeniably, I have felt a certain sense of acknowledgement, and
I view every opportunity that has come by positively. I mean, you never know
when they will come again.
Interview by Jeremy Sing
The same interview was published in the 12th issue of arts magazine Art Republik.
Keep up with the latest happenings on the 'Yellow Bird's' journey in the international film festival circuit in its Facebook page here.
Keep up with the latest happenings on the 'Yellow Bird's' journey in the international film festival circuit in its Facebook page here.