Shyam Bhatia wants to revolutionise the use of sets for Malayalam TV shows
Shyam Bhatia
Kochi:It is 6pm when we meet Shyam Bhatia for a chat in a hotel lobby in Kochi. We are surprised to see a young architect-cum-art director from Mumbai talking so knowledgeably about Kerala.
Malayalis may not be familiar with his name, but everybody must have admired the beautiful sets he had created for Malayalam reality shows. For one so young, Shyam has big shows and events such as DID, Bigg Boss and MasterChef India, apart from the national and international clients to his credit. He is in Kochi to discuss his next project.
For Shyam, Kerala is second home. He loves God’s Own Country for its greenery, simplicity and architecture. “Mumbai is a concrete jingle, but here one can enjoy the sight of greenery, which soothes the mind,” says Shyam. In fact, he plans to build a small house in Kochi facing the Azhikal Beach near Aroor.
Shyam entered the Kerala television scene with the sets he designed for the music reality show Indian Voice. Since then, there has been a steady flow of work such as,Veruthe Alla Bharya, Midukki, and the latest being Idea Star Singer Season 7 and D4 Dance.
Shyam’s hard work and ability to take challenges in his stride has earned him a reputation here. “In the beginning, it was difficult for me to work here as I had no idea about Malayalam reality shows. My first effort was to grasp the Kerala style of shooting. Things such as number of cameras used and framing are entirely different here compared to Mumbai. If they use 14 cameras, in Kerala they use nine. Now that I have learnt the ropes, my last project was hasslefree.”
Shyam has fallen in love with Kerala’s architecture. Architecture in Kochi was one of his subjects during his architecture studies which made him delve into its roots. “In Kerala, you find wooden grills and balconies in buildings because of the humidity of the place. Here, if you build a house, windows must be placed around the building for easy flow of wind because direction of the breeze changes due to the presence of trees.”
Shyam wants to take the architecture of Kerala to the next level by experimenting with a blend of traditional and contemporary. He is already working on a project for a college here. According to him, unlike in other places, Keralites have managed to retain their architecture despite invasion from other regions. He admires its wooden and brick works and loves going to temples here.
“I have been to Ernakulathappan temple and Sree Padmanabha temple. I love the way people have retained the sanctity of the place and equality. I love walking on the cobbled pathways with unfinished stones, watching diyas and listening to the chanting. I was here during Onam last year. I was gifted with a mundu. I like wearing it,” he says smiling.
Shyam has a lot of fond memories about his shows too. One of them happened during the time of Comedy Festival. “It was a bandh that day and we lost a lot of time, so we worked through the night. Most of the guys were dozing. To escape my sight, they wore sunglasses while working at midnight. You can see the photo taken at 4 am with all of them in sunglasses at the Manorama office,” he says laughing.
At the same time, Shyam feels that Malayalam reality shows have a long way to go. “It’s time to change from the comedy-dance-music equation. Instead of imitating national shows, we can develop authentic themes such as Veruthe Alla Bharya. All we need is to dig more to get more. I would also like to try hand of fiction here. In Mumbai, we use sets for soaps too. I want that to come here too,” sums up Shyam.
( Source : dc )
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