Lal in Vanaprastham Money is secondary to good cinema for Mohanlal Rated as one of the greatest actors in the world by famous director Priyadarshan and the very best by Manirathnam, Mohanlal doesn't need awards to prove his acting talents. Yet when he picked up his fourth national best actor award for Vanaprastham  -- a distinction enjoyed solely by him in the nation - he made news. For, the commercially flop film was dismissed by Mohanlal's detractors as nothing but his attempt to bag yet another award. Despite their best attempts to prevent the film from getting any awards, the film went on to be adjudged the best film at the national level and won critical acclaim at the prestigious Cannes film festival. Though everyone is now singing a different tune post-awards, the film was beset with problems right from the word go. It all began when the French crew who was to shoot the film with a Panavision camera landed in Kerala to find lack of proper agreement and arrangement for themselves. They beat a hasty retreat after a few days of work, never to come back. As Mohanlal had already pumped in two crore, he roped in Santosh Sivan to shoot the film without a Panavision camera. Once complete, the film ran into rough weather again. In its home state Kerala itself, it had a poor two-week run. Despite its box-office disaster, hopes of Vanprastham  getting an Oscar nomination ran high. But those too were squashed soon. Some members of the selection jury were influenced by Parameswaran, the regional manager of NFDC who was in the panel. Apparently, he backed Deepa Mehta's Earth under pressure from his Mumbai office. Other members followed suit, for Parameswaran is the key person in acquiring telecast rights in Doordarshan for producers. After this setback, the film was not selected for the Kerala State Awards too. Even the IFFI in Delhi refused to take it in the competitive section. And though it gained an entry in the IFFI held in Kerala, it received only brickbats for its entry as director Shaji was the chairman of the organising committee. And when the film failed to get any awards, everybody seemed happy. One can understand the masses not being able to relate to the complex theme of the film, but what is surprising is the inability of film folk to not even appreciate Mohanlal's commitment. Only Kamal Haasan on losing the National award to Mohanlal said he didn't mind losing it to a better artiste. But by and large everybody was pitying Mohanlal for putting his money on such a losing project and its director Shaji Karun even heard his colleagues laughing at him. Ironically, the same film received great acclaim at Cannes and Mohanlal was particularly mobbed for autographs. As for the financial loss, Mohanlal is known for his total disregard of commercial returns when he produces a film. And with national awards coming Vanaprastham's way Mohanlal wouldn't dream of any other return. The awards are the light he's found at the end of a long dark tunnel. If anything, the wagging tails should at least now learn to appreciate his contribution to good cinema. Next>>