A flower named Chezhiyan: Sreekar Prasad remembers the filmmaker whose final film heads to Tokyo

Chezhiyan R. had many films in him. Whenever we met, he would talk about more than one script idea at a time, and I would suggest ways of developing them. There was always another story he wanted to tell, another possibility he wanted to explore. I never imagined that one day these conversations would come to an abrupt end.

His sudden passing this Julyleft us shaken. It is then, at once, heartening and particularly poignant to see his last directorial Kaakithamalar(The Paper Flower) posthumously make its way to the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival’s Asian Future section later this week.

I first met the shy, quiet young man at a screening of Sri Lankan filmmaker Prasanna Vithanage’s With You, Without You (2012) in Chennai. Then cinematographer P.C. Sreeram’s assistant, Chezhiyan said he liked my work in Alaipayuthey (2000) but asked about my realistic, minimalist and precise approach in editing Vithanage’s Sri Lankan films Akasa Kusum (2008) and With You, Without You. We struck an instant rapport.

From what I could observe, he wasn’t happy working in a commercial cinema setup, and would often tell me that he wanted to make a realistic film. He believed that that is cinema. For that purpose, he had to also sacrifice his earnings as a cinematographer. He even worked for free on a few projects. But his producer-wife Prema stood by him.

World cinema propelled the cinematographer towards directing. He was mesmerised with the reality and simplicity of Iranian filmmaking, especially the work of Majid Majidi and Asghar Farhadi. Kieślowski’s philosophical and deeply human storytelling, Bresson’s radical minimalism, Bergman’s raw emotional and psychological truth, and Tarkovsky’s poetic, meditative visual language shaped Chezhiyan’s artistic vision. When Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf visited Chennai in 2005, an eager Chezhiyan wrote about their chance meeting in the Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan.

A voracious reader and writer of Tamil literature (short stories), the Katha Award winner (Harmoniam, 2004) also used his 2005-2007 series in the weekly magazine to introduce the Tamil public and young filmmakers to world cinema.

For the two of us, cinema is a work of art meant for posterity. Chezhiyan was a great believer in serious cinema and went a step ahead to start his digital Chezhiyan’s The Film School after the COVID-19 lockdown, to impart his cinema knowledge to people from all walks of life. Each month saw a fresh batch. Of his 100-plus students till date, 34 announced their independent features on a common stage recently. Among them was a cop-turned-filmmaker, Kottairaj.

First encounter

It was in 2017 that he came to me with the script of a low-budget indie, To Let.The film is about the futility of finding a house on rent in Chennai for a middle-class, upcoming film professional whose family is forced to vacate their current home. I was sold on the story because even I had faced a similar experience. I helped him by editing the film. Chezhiyan had a structure in mind while shooting, but was flexible about pruning shots to get the required emotional impact.

He began considering me more as a mentor because by then many of the films I had worked on had gone to international festivals. I told him that, at global festivals, one is competing with films that tend to let emotion simmer beneath the surface. We Indians are emotional by nature, but the drama must arise from the situation rather than the performance. Fortunately, he understood subtlety, and we could get the film on the right note.

To Let (2017) travelled to many festivals and won several awards, including the National Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil in 2018. We eventually released it in Chennai theatres, where it did well and resonated with the audiences. Yet, Chezhiyan wasn’t celebrated enough back home.

By 2024, he began working on his next film, Kaakithamalar(The Paper Flower). By April 2026, he had completed the film, merely a few months before he would leave us.

Inside the book fair

Kaakithamalar(The Paper Flower) was shot entirely at the Chennai Book Fair, where, incidentally, Chezhiyan’s books — his compilations on world cinema — were being sold. He obtained permission to shoot during the 15 days of the fair. We initially called the film ‘15 Days’.

The shoot, by his longtime collaborator Pitchu Mani, was mostly hand-held guerilla filmmaking, with a hidden camera. Besides the two main characters, nobody else was acting. It was almost as if we were documenting the whole thing. A love story, it begins with the protagonist catching a glimpse of a girl he feels he knows from his past. He tracks her down. They warm up to each other only for him to learn that she is engaged.

I found the film difficult to edit. It had a lot of documentary-like material but Chezhiyan didn’t want to make a documentary, he only wanted the ambience. This is where a director who’s also a cinematographer scores. When shooting in real locations, Chezhiyan could conceive shots with minimal gear, keep the camera inconspicuous and create the right lighting. Chezhiyan and Mani were like brothers on a set, communicating with their eyes.

An image speaks a thousand words

As a filmmaker, Chezhiyan had an extraordinary sensitivity to light, space and silence. In The Paper Flower, the protagonist’s memories of a girl are expressed through drawings, not dialogues.

To Let had a different kind of realism, with pathos and antagonists adding drama. The Paper Flower is subtler; about a character’s feelings, experiences and encounters. There isn’t much conventional dramatic value.

A ray of sun

In the last few years, Tamil indie films have travelled to international festivals — Pebbles, Bad Girl [Rotterdam], and so on. But these are one-offs; there is still no real ecosystem for independent cinema in Tamil Nadu. The problem is finance and distribution. OTT platforms, too, are looking at stars and previous successes. Many films simply disappear. Of five films, perhaps one gets selected at a festival and sees the light of day; the others remain unreleased.

While Tokyo will watch The Paper Flower this week, Chezhiyan’s students will continue to carry forth his legacy. Before he left us, he had registered another 23 scripts with the Screenwriters Association in Mumbai.

When I think of Chezhiyan today, I recall an unassuming, passionate filmmaker who wanted to make what he believed was good cinema.

The writer is a veteran film editor who has worked across languages.

As told to Tanushree Ghosh (tanushree.ghosh@thehindu.co.in)