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Healing touch: After the success of ‘Padham Onnu: Oru Vilapam,’ T.V. Chandran and Aryadan Shoukath have teamed up again for ‘Vilapangalkappuram,’ which has Suhasini, Biju Menon and Priyanka Nair in the lead roles.

The fifth floor of a private hospital situated in the heart of Kozhikode is crowded on a Thursday morning. Patients and visitors crane their necks to get a glimpse of Suhasini, Biju Menon and Sudheesh, but only a few succeed, as there are very few vantage points near the room where a scene in T.V. Chandran’s latest film, ‘Vilapangalkappuram,’ is being shot.

The scene has Biju Menon and Sudheesh engaged in a scuffle. Biju plays Dr. Gopinath while Sudheesh is Khader Kutty, a young man who has come to the hospital to visit his wife. However, the action takes place at the bedside of a very ill Sahira, played by Priyanka Nair. Sahira is the woman Khader wants to marry.

The scene has a drunk Dr. Gopinath and Khader Kutty shouting at each other. After a few takes, the director says ‘cut.’

The next scene is shot at the same place and it features Suhasini, who plays Dr. Mary Cherian, and Biju.

“Mine is a very good role and it is important in one of the three episodes in the film,” says Suhasini, who was last seen in a Malayalam film in 2002, when she acted in Kamal’s ‘Nammal.’ In ‘Vilapangalkappuram’ she plays the doctor who helps Sahira recover.

The film takes off when a badly injured Sahira, whose father is a Malayali, reaches Kerala soon after the riots. “She finds that the demons are not in Gujarat, but in Kerala as well,” says Aryadan Shoukath, the producer of the film who has also written the script.

“Sahira is a victim of the Gujarat riots and she represents those women who had to live their lives after losing their dear ones. My film is not about the Gujarat riots, but about post-riot Gujarat.

“I had visited Ahmedabad to do research for the film and I met women who could speak nonchalantly about the most gruesome atrocities committed against them or their family members,” says Chandran, who is also the script-writer. The last time Shoukath and Chandran teamed up, the result was the brilliant ‘Padham Onnu: Oru Vilapam,’ which fetched Meera Jasmine the National award for the best actor.

Priyanka is glad that she has got a powerful, author-backed role early in her career.

“I couldn’t have asked for more than a T.V. Chandran film. It is easily the most challenging role I have done so far,” says the former television serial actor who had made a mark in ‘Veyil,’ her first Tamil film.

Biju too is excited about working with Chandran. “He is a director with an eye for detail. Mine is an interesting character; he is a psychiatrist who helps Sahira recover from her traumatic past,” he says.

The cast includes Thilakan, Sreeraman, M.R. Gopakumar, Indrans, Praveena, Zeenath, Kozhikode Santha Devi and Nilambur Aysha.

M.J. Radhakrishnan cranks the camera while Beena Paul edits. M. Jayachandran has tuned the lyrics by Girish Punthencherry.

The film would be shot in Wayanad and Gujarat. ‘Vilapangalkappuram,’ produced under the banner of Clear Image, will reach cinemas in February.

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