Talent finds meeting point
S.R. ASHOK KUMAR
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JOINT VENTURE Two mega projects involving Tamil and Malayalam heroes are moving at a brisk pace.
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Casting coup: Mohanlal, Shruti Haasan and Kamal Haasan (right) Mammootty and Sarath Kumar in Pazhassi Raja
News that is hogging attention of late is the Tamil-Malayalam joint effort on a big scale — Kamal Haasan and Mohan Lal on the one side and Sarath Kumar and Mammootty on the other.
Rajkamal Films International in collaboration with UTV Motion Pictures is making a bilingual, ‘Unnaippol Oruvan’ in Tamil and ‘Eenaadu’ in Telugu.
There are several firsts credited to the film: Rajkamal International has gone into co-production with another company, Kamal Haasan and Mohanlal are coming together, Shruti Haasan is scoring the music, the film is shot with RED cameras in 4K resolution, two Tamil writers Ee.Raa. Murugan and Manushyaputhran are writing the dialogue and lyrics respectively and Manoj Soni, a Bollywood cinematographer, has been roped in.
Change in content
“It is based on ‘A Wednesday,’ but the content has been changed, for the better I’m sure, to suit both languages,” clarifies Kamal. “We have finished Mohanlal’s portion, and he is doing dubbing. We may finish the film this May. But it is for the director Chakri Toleti to decide about the release,” he adds.
Talking about release, wouldn’t August be appropriate, because that is the month way back in 1959, ‘Kalathur Kannamma’ was released, thus making it Kamal Haasan’s golden jubilee in cinema? “Well, we are working towards it. Shooting is likely to end this month and post-production in the next couple of months. Let’s see,” observes Kamal. Mohanlal has gone on record to express his happiness about the project and so has Shruti Haasan, who is thrilled with the opportunity to score music for her father’s film. For Chakri Toleti, a student of the Florida film school, this is his first directorial venture.
Cinema, however, is not new to him (remember the boy in ‘Salangai Oli,’ who promises to take photographs of Kamal Haasan and makes a mess of it?) Also he is Kamal’s American friend in ‘Dasavatharam.’ Thota Tharani who made his debut in Tamil films with Kamal Haasan’s ‘Raajapaarvai’ is the art director for ‘Unnaippol Oruvan.’
In five languages
‘Pazhassi Raja’ starring Sarath Kumar and Mammootty, is being made in five languages. It is the story of the 18th century warrior prince, Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja, a ruler of Malabar (North Kerala). Very little has been recorded about this brave soldier, who was the ‘first warrior of Indian Independence.’
Pazhassi fought the British from the forests of Wayanad with the help of the adivasis there. Anxious that it would trigger a chain reaction, the British dismissed it as a minor revolt and buried all the information.
Gokulam Gopalan presents Sree Gokulam Movies ‘Pazhassi Raja,’ directed by National Award winning director Hariharan. The script is written by M.T. Vasudevan Nair. Ilaiyaraja has scored the music and Resul Pookutty is the sound director. Editing is by Sreekar Prasad.
Mammootty plays Pazhassi Raja and Sarath Kumar his general, Edachena Kungan. Suman, Nedumudi Venu, Thilakan and Manoj K. Jayan are doing important roles. Major part of the work is over, according to the director, Hariharan. Pookutty, whose hands were full, accepted the assignment after listening to the story.
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