“I encountered a lot of hardships every step of the way. The very idea of building a sculpture on a 1000 ft rock and bringing construction equipments up the hill without any road facility posed a major challenge. I could have easily given up, but I chose not to. I knew I had the blessings of my Guru. That’s all I needed”.
Rajiv Anchal
Rajiv Anchal – the name needs no introduction to a common Keralite. From the Director of award-winning movies to the sculptor of much-acclaimed master-crafts, his contributions to the enrichment of the socio-cultural sphere of India has been well-appreciated and lauded, internationally. It was his dream and vision to sculpt something so very unique, a masterpiece of the kind no one has done before in Kerala, that led to the creation of the Jatayu Earth’s Center.
Movies with serious art value, entertainers with hilarious commercial elements – he has done it all as a Film Director. That’s why when you take a look at his filmography, you can’t tag him as representing a particular group or genre. He started off his movie career as an Art Director for the movie ‘Chillu’ directed by Lenin Rajendran. A few movies and 5 years later, he made his Directorial debut with the film ‘Enikkum Enikkum Idaykku’. His 1997 movie ‘Guru’ received international attention and acclaim when it was selected as India’s official entry to the Oscars for the Best Foreign Language Film Category. Some of his other movies include ‘Butterflies’, ‘Kashmeeram’, ‘Rishi vamsham’ and ‘Beyond the Soul’. As an Art Director, he has won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Art Director for ‘Njan Gandharvan’. His movie ‘Beyond the Soul’ won him the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival awards for best director, best screenplay and also won the grand jury prize for the best feature film.
Over and above everything else, Rajiv Anchal considers himself to be a sculptor. He received his training from the College of Fine Arts in Thiruvananthapuram, during which he was inspired by the lives and works of many noted sculptors in history. He followed his passion and dream of emulating the masters and went on to make many priceless contributions to Kerala’s Statuary. ‘Sakhambari’, one of his master creations at Alappuzha stands 40 feet tall. He was involved in the building of the ‘Parnashala Lotus’ at the ‘Santhirgiri Ashram’ in Thiruvananthapuram and has also contributed to the temple wall murals in Kerala. In 1977, he won the Award for the Best Sculpture from the Kerala Lalitha Kala Academy.
It was Rajiv’s years-long dream and vision to build a master sculpture unlike anything before that culminated in the sculpting of Jatayu – the fallen warrior bird from the Epic of Ramayana. When this dream was combined with the idea of giving life to a complete eco-tourism project that included various activities, Rajiv Anchal gave it the final design and still oversees the entire range of programmes.
In his own words “It was an ambitious project and required a lot of painstaking effort on the part of my team. Without any roads alternative ways to the peak, building materials had to be carried up, sometimes several times a day. It wasn’t easy to find labourers who could help me with the sculpting as it was such a laborious task. We
had to brave adverse climate conditions including torrential downpours, storms and harsh heat. To give the workers some much-needed encouragement, I myself stayed up there with them throughout the task. Somehow, we managed to overcome all the odds and get it done. For that, I am deeply thankful to all my team members who worked day and night, relentlessly”.
The initial investors were all his friends. Rajiv himself had used much of his savings for the smooth completion of the project. Then came in more people confidently, just because the team had Rajiv Anchal in command. When someone stands up to give his life and blood for a cause, everything else turns in his favour. Needless to say, Jatayu
Earth’s Center owes it all to this man.
Rajiv has big plans in line for the Center which will all unfurl soon. His vision is to make the Center one of the most-visited tourist destinations in the world; and under his competent leadership, there’s no doubt as to how great the center will soon be.