Behind the trees, a documentary by Prahlad Gopakumar and Thomas Oommen, follows the growth of modern architecture in Kerala through the life and work of architect Oommen Thomas

There was a time when architecture was an alien term to most people in Kerala. “It was considered to be a job wherein a person was called in to ‘beautify’ a house, to make it look fancy,” recalls Professor Oommen Thomas, a graduate of the first batch of the Department of Architecture at College of Engineering Trivandrum(CET), after the screening of Behind the trees, a documentary, at CET.

Today architecture is much in demand as a profession and a course for studying. But Professor Oommen’s son and architect Thomas Oommen believes there has never been an attempt to study or discuss post-independence modern architecture of Kerala. The documentary Behind the trees that he directed along with his friend Prahlad Gopakumar, a faculty at film and communication department at National Institute of Design, aims at filling that hole. ... Footages from the discussions Thomas and Prahlad had with several senior architects, including Prof. Oommen form the bulk of what is in the documentary. Although a journey through the life and work of the senior Oommen, Behind the trees, in fact, traces the history of modern architecture movement in Kerala.

So viewers are treated to slices of information about figures like Alexander and Laurie Baker as well. Those phenomenons that have shaped modern architecture in Kerala through the decades, like modern literature, political movements and breaking up of joint family concept to make way for nuclear families, too find a space.

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