SABU CYRIL
Busy as can be!

He’s got youth on his side, an abundance of talent, and, not to forget, several exciting assignments on hand. Clearly, the enterprising art director is poised to attain greater success in the days to come....

TILL a few years ago, the average filmgoer of Kerala perhaps knew very little about art direction in films. But the last decade has made them increasingly aware of the various aspects of filmmaking, including the technical ones that were hitherto unknown to them. Art-directors, who had a great deal to do with the making of a film started getting their due recognition.

As regards Malayalam Cinema, there has been a long line of illustrious art directors down the years. But only those of the new generation however got the due recognition. Of these, Sabu Cyril is perhaps the most acclaimed. As an art director, he has been able to establish himself on the national scenario, working in about 50 films in Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada and at times taking up other assignments too, such as doing the stage-design for the Ms World Contest in 1996.

Born as the son of Cyril Arthur in a small town among the picturesque hills of the Western Ghats, Sabu Cyril found himself attracted to the beauty and the grandeur of nature that he was exposed to. Cyril Arthur, who worked in a tea estate, was interested in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering design and arts too. This was one of the primary influences on young Sabu. Moreover art and artistic pursuits had been a feature in his family. His maternal grandfather George Vincent was well known in Kozhikode as an artist-cum-photographer. His skill in doing portraits made him much popular.

George Vincent’s eldest son and Sabu’s uncle A Vincent is an established cinematographer and one of the veteran filmmakers of Malayalam. A Vincent’s son and Sabu’s cousin Jayanan Vincent too is one of the prominent cinematographers of Malayalam films. So, it was all there in the family. While Sabu was a middle school student in Coimbatore, he came under the influence of Rev Edward, a priest-warden who inspired him to take part in artistic and cultural activities. This helped Sabu gain a great amount of confidence. After schooling, when he got a lot of opportunities to pursue higher courses in science at the university level, he decided to tread a different track. He decided to join the Madras School of Arts and Crafts. Earlier, he had got a chance to watch a film shoot at the famous Vauhini Studios in Chennai and he was indeed fascinated by the art-work involved.

With able guidance from uncle A Vincent, Sabu took up the course for Visual Communication and Design, even taking up odd assignments in between. He rendered his services as a freelance artist and designer to many established companies, including multinationals. He offered his services to the Taj Group of Hotels, Welcome Group Hotels, TVS and Madhura Coats. He was even declared the best outgoing student in his final year.

Meanwhile he had worked on the special effects for videos and films. After his course, he started getting involved in ad films. It was in 1988 that he began working as an art director.

Sabu’s first assignment in films was a really challenging one. He got the chance to work with reputed director Bhadran as the second unit art director in Iyer the Great. But Sabu’s work bagged for him the chance to do the artwork in Bharathan’s Amaram, which again was a challenging assignment. Bharathan himself was an artist and so Sabu had to put in a great amount of effort. Snce then, there’s been no looking back for the talented young man.

To date, he has done about 50 films to date in several languages. He worked in many Malayalam and Hindi films by director Priyadarshan, including Advaitham, Minnaaram, Thenmaavin Kombaththu, Kaalapaani, Chandralekha, Muskuraahat, Gardish, Viraasat and Saat Rang Ke Sapne. He also did the art work of Girish Karnad’s Hindi film Cheluvi and others like Kalaignan, Puthiya Mugham, Pasa Malargal (Tamil) Gandeebam (Telugu), Chinna (Kannada), Sainyam, Pavithram, Manthrikam (Malayalam), Major Saab and Raja Ko Rani Se Pyaar Ho Gaya (Hindi). The enterprising art director also has more than 200 ad films and three telefilms to his credit. He is also a visiting lecture at FTII, Pune.

National awards, state awards, Kerala Film Critics’ award, Kalavedi award and Kerala Film Journalists’ award are among the many recognitions that have come his way.

And now, even when many established art-directors seem to be sitting idle, Cyril seems to be very busy with a lot of assignments on hand. His current projects include Kamal Haasan’s dream project Marudhanaayagam (Tamil), Priyadarshan’s Yeh Tera Ghar Yeh Mera Ghar (Hindi) and Devi Putrudu (Telugu). And with so many projects on hand and an unending store of talent, Sabu, sure seems poised to go places and take art direction to unforeseen heights.