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Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup

Artist-turned- director: R.Sukumaran.

“Although I loved watching films, not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be directing one myself,” says Sukumaran, who was in Kozhikode recently, scouting for locations for his ambitious project, ‘Yugapurushan,’ a film based on the life of Sree Narayana Guru, with Mammootty playing Kerala’s greatest social reformer. According to the director, Mohanlal is likely to play the role of Swami Vivekananda.

‘Yugapurushan’ is only the third film of Sukumaran. The last film he directed, ‘Rajashilpi,’ was released 15 years ago.

Explaining the reasons for the long interval, he says: “Because I did not take up all the offers that came my way; I did not want to do a film I was not comfortable with. Besides, painting has always been my first love. I would have remained a painter but for Augustine,” says Sukumaran.

Augustine actually had a script with him. “It was about impersonation and required a double act by the hero, but I didn’t like it. Then Augustine asked me to find a story myself,” reminisces Sukumaran.

The painter, after going through a few books, decided to go back to a short story he had written a few years before. It was based on an incident that happened in his village, Thengamam, near Adoor.

Titled ‘Mulluvelikal,’ the story was about a young man who was ridiculed by the people in his village, because he was born out of wedlock. That he looked exactly like his father, who had another family, made things worse for him.

“I didn’t know how to write a script, but I knew how to draw. So I drew about 1,000 sketches, the scenes of the film, in a week and my script was ready. The homework helped, as the film, ‘Padamudra,’ based on the story of ‘Mulluvelikal,’ was shot in just 18 days,” says Sukumaran.

The film, ‘Padamudra,’ released in 1988, was noticed. Last year, its script was published. “I was glad when writer Kamala Suraiya and the late music director G. Devarajan wrote glowingly about the film,” he says.

Sukumaran’s next film ‘Rajashilpi’ came four years later. The film was about a sculptor in Thanjavur and his relationship with a beautiful dancer. “A few years after ‘Rajashilipi,’ I began working on the script of ‘Yugapurushan,’” says Sukumaran.

The shooting of the film is scheduled to begin early next year, says the director.

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