As the epic ‘ Urumi' reaches theatres, Prithviraj, who has
always dreamt big, opens up
about the film, and his plans as
an actor and producer. 'Urumi,' the magnum opus that
reached theatres on Thursday,
is a turning point for Prithviraj
who has put his money where his
mouth is by producing the film
along with Santosh Sivan and Shaji Natesan. It is a decisive
turn for Malayalam cinema
because ‘ Urumi,' while broadening the horizons of
Mollywood, is also an attempt to
reach out to a global audience.
The lavishly made ‘ Urumi' brings together a host of talented
actors and technical personnel
from Indian cinema. Helmed by
Santosh Sivan the movie stars
Prithviraj in the lead with Genelia
D'Souza, Tabu, Vidya Balan, Prabhu Deva, Nitya Menon,
Jagathy Sreekumar and so on. The year gone by has been a
good one for the actor who
acted in some-profile releases
such as ‘ Anwar' and ‘ Pokkiri Raja.' This year will see him step
into Bollywoodwith Sachin
Kundalkar's untitled film in Hindi,
produced and scripted by Anurag
Kashyap. He and Rani Mukherjee
play the lead in the film. FridayReview caught up with the
actor on the sets of ‘ Teja Bhai and Family,' directed by Dipu
Karunakaran. Excerpts…
What was it about ‘ Urumi' that made you turn
producer?
Santosh and I used to keep
discussing a historical film during
the making of ‘ Raavan.' We wondered what was it like when
Vasco da Gama set foot on our
soil… Finally we fell in love with the project that we decided to go
ahead and make it ourselves. We
roped in Shaji Natesan, a friend
of ours, and thus was born
August Cinema. Although period films have
tasted success in Malayalam, this
must be the first film on Vasco
da Gama… It is the first film, perhaps in the
world, that explores Vasco's
arrival in Kozhikode in 1498 and
its repercussions. Shanker
Ramakrishnan, who has written
the story and script of the film, juxtaposed the aftermath of the
Portuguese explorer's arrival in
Kerala with the local events of
those times.
And you wanted it to be
set on a grand scale
‘ Urumi' is a multi-lingual film that will be released in Tamil, Telugu,
Hindi and English. The only way to
break out of the constraints of
the traditional market of
Malayalam cinema is to make a
movie with a pan-Indian appeal.
That explains the multi-
star cast?
If the film were to have a pan-
Indian appeal, it needed to have
faces who would be accepted on
an all-India level. All these stars
said ‘ yes' without any kind of hesitation as soon as Santosh
called them. They were confident
about his cinema and his
sensibilities.
And what about your
character Chirakkal Kelu
Nayanar?
He is a fictitious character who
interacts with persons who are
part of our history and reacts
to situations that happened
then. Vasco visited Kerala thrice
and he died in Kerala on his third trip. On his second trip to Kerala
in 1502, his unspeakable cruelty
against the natives is on record.
‘ Urumi's story takes off from there. Kelu sees his father,
Chirakkal Kothuval, a warrior
and commander of the Arackal
kingdom, being murdered by the
merchants-turned-conquerors.
Kelu had to wait for 22 years for Vasco to return to Kerala so
that he could avenge his father's
murder. There is speculation
about how Vasco died. The most
commonly accepted theory is
that he was killed by malaria. But if Quentin Tarantino can have
Hilter killed in a theatre, this is
our take on how Vasco died.
[smiles]
Did you have to learn
martial arts for this film?
I had to undergo a three-day
crash course in using the Urumi.
We flew in martial arts
exponents to the location. Urumi
is a double-edged sword that is
very difficult to use. I cut myself a few times during the filming.
You have also sung
(‘ Vadakku Vadakku') in the film.
That was because we did not
want to go through the hassle
of finding another singer…
Modesty speaking?
No, honesty speaking. Deepak
Dev, who has composed the
music of the film, is a fantastic
sound engineer. So, what I sound
like in the studio is not how it
sounds in the final version.
Why was Malshej in
Maharashtra the main
location of the film?
It is very difficult to find a place
in Kerala that would resemble
the sixteenth century. Santosh
is a perfectionist and he wanted
frames untouched by modernity.
‘ Raavan' was also shot near this place. But this time, we went
further into the heart of the
mist-laden Western Ghats. The
mist that you see in the film is
not artificial. All of us had to use
a car, a four-wheel drive, a tractor and then walk to reach
the location every day. The
logistics was quite something
else. So we went for a multi-cam
set.
When will the other
language versions, including
the English version, be
released?
Although we had planned on an
all-India release, due to elections
we decided to postpone the
Tamil and Telugu releases. Song
writing is in progress for the
Hindi version. But the English version will have a completely
different look and narrative. The
screenplay and dialogues are
being done by Santosh himself.
We had shot separately for that.
But it would be difficult to say when it would reach theatres.
Forthcoming films
‘ Manikya Kallu' is a film I had committed to three years ago. It
was due to date problems that I
got to do the film only now. Then
there is ‘ Indian Rupee' with Ranjith, P.T. Kunjumohammed's
‘ Veera Putra,' Roshann Andrews' ‘ Mumbai Police,' and Johny Antony's ‘ Masters,' a dark film, in which I work with Sasikumar
(of ‘ Subramaniapuram' fame).
You gained the sobriquet of
an action hero last year…
Two of my films – ‘ Anwar' and ‘ Thriller' were action oriented; I do not become an action hero
because of that. But, then again,
if I came across a script that I
felt was right, I would go ahead
and do it, even if it was an
action oriented film. I also worked in ‘ Veettilekeyulla Vazhi,' which I thought was an excellent
work. So, I don't think I have
ever been shackled by an image. They are many directors I have
worked with and I would like to
work with them again and again.
These are directors I have never
worked with but would love to
work in the future – Sathayan Anthikkad, Srinivas (really enjoy
his sensibilities), Priyadarsan,
Ashutosh Gowariker. ‘ Anwar' is one film I plan to add to my select private collection of
DVDs. It is a movie I would like my
grandchildren to watch. Anwar Rasheed and Amal Neerad,
both good friends, have agreed
to make two films for August
Cinema. I may or may not star in
it. Hopefully, I plan to direct my
first film next year.
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