A Shylock’s story
P.K. AJITH KUMAR
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Mammootty plays Parunthu Purushu, a ruthless moneylender in the movie.
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PICTURE OF RUTHLESSNESS: After an interval, Mammootty plays a character with negative traits in ‘Parunthu.’
Mammootty, dressed in a white dhothi and a short-sleeved blue check shirt, is riding a vintage Bullet. He stops the motorbike in front of a house where a family is being evicted by goons.
The scene, being shot at a housing estate at Chevayoor in Kozhikode, speaks a lot about Mammootty’s role in ‘Parunthu.’ Mammootty plays Parunthu Purushu, a Shylock-like character.
“He is ruthless in his dealings with loan defaulters. In this scene, he is shown recovering dues, through strong-arm tactics, from Abraham (Balachandran Chullikad),” explains the director of the movie M. Padmakumar, whose last film, ‘Vasthavam, had fetched Prithviraj the State award for the best actor.
In the scene, Purushu shouts at Abraham and shows little mercy when the latter pleads for more time to repay the loan. There is a scuffle between the two, watched by Abraham’s hapless wife, played by Rema Devi.
The scene is finally canned after a couple of takes. The next scene shows Lakshmi Rai, the actor who starred in ‘Annan Thampi’ and ‘Rock N Roll,’ arriving on a scooter.
Dressed in a long floral skirt and an orange top, the chic actor plays Rakhi, a bold girl who confronts Purushu. She stops the scooter in front of the house and rushes to help Abraham’s family along with newcomer Chinmaya, who plays Abraham’s daughter. An angry Lakshmi, confronts Mammootty and ticks him off.
“This is a crucial scene as it is the first time Purushu and Rakhi come face to face. Rakhi is the daughter of a Gujarati-born businessman settled in Kozhikode (played by Jagathy Sreekumar). She decides to take on the Shylock and the story takes off from that point,” explains scriptwriter T.A. Razak. But, Purushu and Rakhi do not fall in love.
No heroine
“Mammootty has no heroine in the film. It’s after a hiatus that Mammootty plays the role of a man without scruples,”adds Razak.
Off camera, Mammootty is all smiles. He cracks jokes with his fans, most of them children and women, and signs autographs.
Lakshmi is busy mugging up her dialogues for the next scene and checking if her make-up is perfect.
“I love my role in this film; it’s different from my first two Malayalam films. I am playing a bold woman and the role is more intense than the characters I did in ‘Rock N Roll’ and ‘Annan Thampi,’” she says.
The film stars Jayasurya, Cochin Haneefa, Devan, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Sreelatha, Saiju Kurup, Mamukkoya, Sabitha Anand, Abu Salim, Kalyani and Jayan. It is produced by Howly Pottoor under the banner of Dream Team.
Cinematography is by Sanjeev Shankar and editing by Ranjan Abraham. Lyrics by Vayalar Sharath Chandra Varma, Anil Panachooran and Kanesh Poonoor have been tuned by Alex Paul. Boban is the art director and stills are by Sunil Guruvayur.
‘Parunthu’ has been in the news because there were reports that its storyline, that of a moneylender, is similar to ‘Madamby,’ a Mohanlal-starrer that is being filmed.
“I don’t think the two films are similar. Scriptwriter Razak and I decided there was no need to change the story of our film though there were some requests,” says Padmakumar.
‘Parunthu’ will reach cinemas in July.
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