Movie editor to auto driver: how Narayanan drove past cinema

Saturday 18 November 2017 07:45 PM IST

by Our Correspondent

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Movie editor to auto driver: how Narayanan drove past cinema

Narayanan bought the auto rickshaw to take Darshan to school and back.

Peringom: K Narayanan’s life has been an unkind cut from editing spools to auto rickshaw wheels. The auto driver’s passengers may not realize that they are being led by the nimble fingers that took them on a fantastic journey several years ago.

Narayanan helped edit blockbuster Malayalam movies from ‘Minnaminunginte Nurungu Vettam’ to ‘Thenmavin Kombathu’ before he switched jobs to be with his son who is suffering from a rare disease.

Darshan was born with the disease that crippled him for life. He needs constant support. He can barely walk or talk.

Narayanan bought the auto rickshaw to take Darshan to school and back. The talented editor then started offering rides during the school hours. The vehicle named ‘Darshan’ eventually became his livelihood.

Before the cut

During his successful career as a film editor, Narayanan has assisted in the editing of many notable movies, including ‘Vaishali’, ‘Chithram’, ‘Kilukkam’, ‘Vandanam’, ‘Midhunam’, ‘Aye Auto’, ‘Lal Salaam’, ‘Aayirappara’, ‘Ponthan Mada’, ‘Dany’, ‘Mankamma’ and even a handful of Hindi movies directed by Priyadarshan.

Narayanan left for Chennai to learn movie editing soon after he finished the tenth grade. With a little lift from his brother, production controller ‘Seven Arts’ Mohan, Narayanan found a job as an assistant editor in the Vijaya Vahini Studio. He associated with many movies in Malayalam and Tamil.

Narayanan’s big break came in 1987 with ‘Oru Minnaminunginte Nurunguvettam’, directed and edited by Bharathan. After working directly under the legendary moviemaker, Narayanan became a sought-after editor.

Narayanan said that the thought of becoming an independent editor did not occur to him because he always had his hands full as an associate editor. After all, frames were still cut and paste manually in that era.

He married Balamani in 1995.

Second half

Narayanan’s career ground to a halt when his son was diagnosed with the rare disease that affected cell growth. Chennai was still the center of moviemaking but the associate editor shifted to the Chitranjali Studio in Thiruvananthapuram to be closer to his son.

He was all set to survive the shift to digital moviemaking but fate had scripted another course for him.

He took a long break from cinema in 2001 to return to his house in north Kerala. He had to accompany his son on his daily trips to school and frequent visits to the hospital. The MRCH Special School at Payyannur was 20 kilometers away from his house. He bought an auto rickshaw for his son. He spent his working hours riding the auto rickshaw and doing odd editing jobs in studios in Payyannur.

He returned momentarily to the cinema world in 2008 when Babu Tiruvalla, the producer of ‘Oru Minnaminunginte Nurunguvettam’, asked him to edit ‘Thaniye’. The choice was not without reason. Narayanan was picked by a television channel as the best editor of the year for his work in ‘Thaniye’.

The auto driver could not stay on in the movie business. He was in no position to test the waters again. He had amassed a huge debt for the medical treatment of his son. The auto rickshaw offered him a steady income.

Narayanan found himself in the limelight again when his friend Sreejith blew his cover on social media. Nowadays, even youngsters stop by to have a word with the former celebrity.

The auto rickshaw driver, however, is on the move.

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