S
antosh Sivan's Urumi is one of
the most awaited Malayalam
films in recent times. As it makes its way to the
theatres today, scriptwriter
Shankar Ramakrishnan
Ramakrishnan shares his experience of being a
part of the historical adventure
with Paresh C Palicha.
Urumi, the first feature
length film written by you,
is releasing today. What
are your feelings?
As a screenplay writer, the
Urumi drive was a U-turn for me.
It is the culmination of an
adventure trip of two years into
a two-and-a-half-hour film reel. I am awed by the body of work
put together by some of the
finest artists and technicians in
the industry. They have brought
into reality the dream of Urumi.
As one of the members in the core team, I am happy to see my
best effort touch screens across
the state.
'I have stuck to my
imagination in creating
what is necessary for the
film'
C
an you please elaborate on
how this idea came about
and how the team got
together?
On the last day of post-
production Ranjietan's Paleri
Manikyam, Prithvi called me to
share an idea of adapting William
Shakespeare's Macbeth into the
medieval Kerala history. He had discussed this with Santosh
Sivan and was looking at a Pan-
Indian film, incorporating actors
from most of the languages and
on a big scale. I was extremely surprised
because it had been two years
since I sent him my script of
Mamankam, a period martial arts
film based on a 17th century
ritual festival. It was a story of suicide squads called Chaavers. It
was to be produced by Capitol
Theatre (of Ranjith). That film
was pending because we knew
that we would require huge
funds from a co-producer to make it look the way it should. I owe it to Prithvi for believing in
me. It was he who took me to
the sets of Raavan where I met
Santosh Sivan. Santhoshettan
was open to move away from an
adaptation idea when I told him about my take on Vasco da
Gama's impact on Kerala's socio-
political history.
What kind of research has
gone into writing the
script?
Prithvi cut me loose to Kannur
where I found access to a lot of
ballads and local historians. Shaji
Nadesan (the producer) gave me
strong support to deliver an
original cinema story for Urumi. It was Santhoshettan who
approved of creating back
stories and local flavours for
legends from our point of view,
and he provided me the
guidance to set a space-time correlative in narration. It was
then the turn of many
academicians who taught me
about the period and sent me
valuable material, helped me
develop a perspective. I have stuck on to my
imagination in creating what is
necessary for the film. Prithvi
supplemented with his parallel
inputs. We converged into the
final script after eight drafts.
'I am planning to bring out
a graphic novel on Urumi'
[pic]
H
ow authentic is the film?
The film keeps intact a
chronological history as it is
recorded but deviates in
creating composites in character
and shifting time lines for
dramatic purposes. The English version of Urumi
takes a totally different
structure from the Malayalam
version and it is as original but
entirely different in its stance.
You have been Ranjith's
associate for some time
now. Tell us what attracted
you to films after
completing a degree in Law
and post graduation in Management?
Cinema was a constant with me.
Whether I did Law or
Management or held a corporate
job. My childhood buddy,
schoolmate and friend -- Anoop
Menon (it's been 22 years together!!!) -- wanted to be an
actor and I wanted to be a
filmmaker. I joined Ranjietan (Ranjith) after
leaving my job with The Times Of
India. When he set up Capitol
Theatre in 2006 -- his dream
production platform -- he
understood my passion and let me be a part of it. Over the span of five years, we
have made a list of films, which
made a marked difference in
Malayalam cinema. I am proud to
say that a film like Kerala Cafe
happened because our audience is open to new narratives and
ideas. Capitol is committed to do
more films of different genre
and I will be a part of it to
experiment and practice cinema.
What next, after Urumi?
I am planning to bring out a
graphic novel on Urumi which will
have an independent visual text
from the film. I have been
working on it for some months
now. The research and styling is just getting over. When I started writing for Urumi,
I met Santosh Sivan, the
director. After finishing the film, I
got an elder brother in him. It is
simply overwhelming whe
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