In all spaces in the history of arts, there are some people who have a nose for new paths. Those paths never come under any established notions or definitions. This makes the analysis of art into a more complex and bombastic situation. In our Indian context, the above-mentioned point is more important. The debate for an absolute freedom or identity in art and artist is an ever provoking question. Whether ‘art is for art’s sake’ is an ever-lasting question and calls for endless debate….. However, the contemporary relevance of such a debate is another question. This question created some ripples at the Second International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala too. K.P.Sasi, the renowned documentary film maker and cultural activist from Kerala represents a group of film activists such as Anand Patvardhan and Tapan Sinha who have created a new ‘Third Wave’ among the art circles of Indian cinema. Sasi and co, from the early eighties, has created a new awareness like a fresh breeze for the connoisseurs of cinema.

The above-mentioned film activists have pushed the cultural continuity of their predecessors like Ray-Khatak-Mrinal Sen trio and the Adoor-Benegal-Ketan Mehta-Nihalani-Budhadeb Das Gupta group. The only difference is that, the film activists of this ‘third cinema’ wave created their sensibility in the field of documentary filmmaking, the lone forgotten cousin of the feature film, which had the mistaken identity of being boring stuff! Film activists such as Sasi, have worked to demolished this myth.

This new ‘Third Cinema’ as identified by K.P.Sasi, is not confined with any pre-conceived notions and definitions of art. Sasi himself is not concerned with those questions. His concerns revolve around marginalized people like tribes or workers on the verge of suicide.

Sasi believes that, art has no soul without any activism and vice-versa. He believes that any question about the sanctity of art is baseless. We are asking the wrong questions and spending our creative life seeking the wrong answers. He says that every movement needs some extent of art or activism. Therefore, these two are not mutually exclusive. We cannot alienate them. At the same time, we can’t mould them or define them using any quotes.

K.P.Sasi’s two recent films travel through hilly terrains from Munnar to Jharkhand to unearth the pain and anger of the down trodden. His ‘Like Leaves in a Storm’ is a film that identifies the pathetic conditions of the tea workers of Munnar and similar situations of thousands of workers from all over India. He explains how globalization has shattered the dreams of the tea-growing farmers and other agriculturists. Sasi says that monopolizing a brand is more important for corporates like Tata, rather than increasing production. Localized production and centralized branding is the mantra. As a result, the tea farmers have no option other than suicide. Sasi is wonders why these problems have no exposure or not creating any ripples in our politically conscious Malayali psyche. However, it is film activists, like Sasi, who are sharing these concerns.
Sasi also breaks another myth, the so-called untouchability of popular music in serious films and documentaries. He brilliantly uses some ethnic tunes of the Hindi heartland in his music video ‘Gaon Chodab Nahin’ to pinpoint the problem of alienation of common people from their own land in the name of development. He says that the musical idioms are a part our collective historical tradition.

This undisputed master of the ‘Third Cinema’ is intent on shaking our all-long held ‘beliefs’. Sasi and co wants us to hear and identify the political slogan of this ‘film movement’ from this generation.

The End