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PHOTOS: VIPIN CHANDRAN

WEARING MANY HATS From films to journalism, cooking to acting, Ranji Panikkar has manifold interests.

The black and brown hep pairs of shoes you see on the steps of his Ambady Retreat home in Kochi, the well fitted jeans he wears and the man minus the flab. This spells a new avatar of Ranji Panikkar, a good 10 kg down, that you confront now. It isn’t clear if he’s aiming at a six pack! This makeover, one learns, is not as intentional as it seems. “I took to jeans because while directing a movie, the mundu is cumbersome. But my leaner physique is hard earned. Three months of dieting and workout plus the physical exertion that one undergoes for directing a film. His ‘Roudram’ was released exactly a year earlier, in the beginning of 2008.

He is not writing a script, no, he is not looking for the new socio-political subject either. Today, Ranji Panikkar’s whole being is consumed by the tabloid newspaper he is editing, and managing, ‘Metro Vaartha.’ He started out after his studies as a scribe but this was short-lived as he ventured into filmdom, scripting ‘Dr. Pasupathy,’ a totally different kind of movie from his cop types. “That did not have my story,” he reminds you. When he found his footing in the fire-spitting dialogue-ridden movies that depicted topical political malaise and mimicked popular incidents, Keralites lapped it all up.

Riding on these scripts, Suresh Gopi, the actor was moulded in the angry-cop image. One of the most famous one-liners ‘Orma undo ee mukham?’ from ‘Commissioner’ was created by Ranji Panikkar and delivered by Suresh Gopi. Now, ask him about the latest in movies or some leading hero’s phone number and he might give you a quizzical look. But ask him about the day-to-day happenings and he will hold forth in his clear voice, in chaste Malayalam and ask you how you like the paper or its make-up package. “Every day, I write an editorial. Late in my career, as a newspaperman, I am getting used to some kind of discipline. This is good training for me. I am fully occupied from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Now I get up at the same time, and attend to my duties in the office. I have learnt to respect the deadline. When you are writing a script, there is no hurry and you tend to put it off. But here, I cannot do that. I have also learnt to do business, something alien to me hitherto.”

Talking of training, he remembers the best kind of training he got when he did a mountaineering stint in Darjeeling in his student days, from the NCC. The business he has done was limited to being a producer for his own films, ‘Bharatchandran IPS’ and ‘Praja.’ But what he misses now is the evening and long drives he loves.

But it’s not as if it’s ‘hasta-la-vista’ to films. “After the elections, something will come up,” he says with a secretive look. Ranji, who used to be a member of the Congress in his youth is not active in the political sphere now, he tells you. “My membership has evidently lapsed,” he adds.

What of the character called Naran in his script, later shelved, that was given to Mohanlal in Joshi’s movie, with his consent? “That is something I have forgotten and the script was anyway only half done. I discarded it later.” Anyway, Joshi’s movie was a totally different one.

No books in the offing? There is no spark now, he laughs. Sparks there were aplenty in his book of poems, ‘Mathivarathe,’ published a few years ago, which dealt with various subjects from ‘Amma’ to lives lived on the streets. Ranji’s pen has shifted from scripts to poems and also lyrics. He wrote the song ‘Chillujalakathile...’ sung by Sujatha in ‘Rudraksham.’

There’s no time to cook either. Yes, Ranji can cook! Chicken, fish and any Central Travancorean dish comes easy to him.

You cannot miss the ‘ekamukhi rudraksha’ adorning his neck. He has been wearing that for nine years. “Well, I am a devotee of Shiva but I do not adhere to the strict code that wearing an ekamukhi demands, neither do I believe in those things,” he explains.

What about acting? He has done a small role in ‘Mafia,’ after all. With this leaner look, is he considering acting?

“Well, why not?” he retorts, with a 70 mm smile.

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