Kerala - Alappuzha   

Scripting another ‘Vadakkan Pattu’ film

ALAPPUZHA: The master storyteller of Malayalam filmdom’s “Vadakkan Pattu” genre is wielding the pen after nearly 20 years. This time too, he is writing a story that will have his usual dose of Kalaripayattu, love, action and strong social messages.

Sarangapani, known for the stories and dialogues of yesteryear blockbusters from the stables of Udaya Studios, such as Thacholi Othenan, Palattu Koman, Kadathanattu Makkam, Aromalunni and Unniyarcha, had silently stood away from films for reasons of his own as Mollywood went after new trends, reality movies and modern storytelling methods.

However, a recent meeting with his old friend Navodaya Appachan has prompted the still energetic narrator of tales to start writing again.

“I last wrote for Kadathanadan Ambadi. Now, Appachan has motivated me to write and here I am, once again in the midst of “Vadakkan Pattu” characters and kalaris. The story will be based on a woman trying to prove that she has an equal position with men in society in the usual “Vadakkan Pattu” style. It should be complete in another three months,” says the 84-year-old, who lives in a small two-room house, which has thatched sheets for walls.

Sarangapani is also busy with another literary work, one that can gain a permanent position in all of Malayalam filmdom’s history depositories. The aged writer is attempting to condense the 70-year-old saga of Malayalam film-making into words.

Tentatively titled Malayala Chalachithra Puranam, the work, he says, can also be made into a television serial. Away from his old home near Udaya Studios, Sarangapani has been living in solitude, and in penury, near Muhamma for quite a few years. “I have a couple of my wife’s relatives to take care of me. I am happy. I never came to the cinema world to make money,” he says.

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