Kerala - Kochi   

Scripting a new trend

Publishers are cashing in on the demand for screenplays of blockbusters

Early this year, all 3,000 copies of the first edition of a Malayalam book were sold out within a month of its release. The strange thing is, its author had not meant it to be a book in the first place. In fact, he says he is not an author at all.

Film director Blessy finds it hard to believe that he has written two bestsellers in Malayalam; and he certainly did not expect that the screenplay of Thanmathra, his second film, would need a second edition so soon. He is happy though that screenplays are becoming popular among Malayali readers. Kerala's leading publishers are even happier, having scripted an unexpected success story; they are competing with each other to turn more and more films into books.

"There never has been such demand for screenplays in Malayalam before," said Noushad, publications manager, Olive Publications, Kozhikode, which has published 11 scripts so far. "We became aware of the possibility of a market for screenplays when we came out with Blessy's Kazhcha in late 2004. The book was released within 50 days of the film's release, which, I would say, set this new trend. We were pleasantly surprised by the readers' response. The book is now into its third edition."

While Olive Publications is set to release the screenplays of two more recent films, Vadakkumnathan and Achanurangatha Veedu, the latest entrant in the field, Kairali Books, is celebrating the twin success of Sreenivasan's Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala and Vadakkunokkiyanthram.

Established players like DC, Current and Mathrubhumi have been publishing screenplays for many years, but they are now taking this market much more seriously. "We will release the screenplay of Rasathanthram next week," said A.V. Sreekumar, manager, publications, DC Books. "The sales of screenplays have picked up over the last one year or so. That is why we included Neelakkuyil and other screenplays of Uroob when we published a collection of his entire works recently. We are also planning to come out with a selection of the screenplays of some Malayalam films that have won national awards. It is really interesting to note that nearly 50 screenplays in Malayalam were released during the last one year; earlier, there would be just five or six in a year and none in some years."

Till recently, it was mostly the screenplays of M.T. Vasudevan Nair and P. Padmarajan — who between them wrote some of the classics in Malayalam cinema — that were in demand. Now there are also takers for purely commercial films, like New Delhi and Aavanazhi.

Why, suddenly, do Malayalis want to `read' a film, besides watching it?

"Because they are curious about its making," said Blessy. "It's heartening to note that screenplays are readily available now, unlike earlier times."

"One reason is that cinema is being studied seriously by the students community," said K. Sandeep, marketing manager, Olive.

"Of late, it's not just scripts that are being sold, but studies about films as well," said M. Sidharthan, regional manager, DC Books, Kozhikode. "Many more youngsters today want to learn about and make films; it's not that expensive to make a short video film after all."

P.K. Ajith Kumar

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