Santosh Sivan's Urumi gets an international version

Santosh Sivan's tri-lingual
(Malayalam-Hindi-English)
historical epic Urumi has just
got a new twist in its tale.
Having completed and released
the lengthy Malayalam version with songs, dances, drama and
action, Sivan is now doing an
English-language version,
which would not only be
discernibly shorter but also
contain extra characters and most, importantly, would give
a completely new perspective
on Vasco Da Gama's invasion of
India. Additionally, according to
information available with
Businessofcinema.com, the item
songs by Tabu and Vidya Balan
are being done away in the
English version of the tale. Sivan says, “Yes, we're working on an English version
of Urumi, which would be of
course much shorter — approximately 110 minutes, as
compared with the Malayalam
version, which is 2 hours 45
minutes long — and with different content. I wouldn't
like to speak much on the
English version at the moment
because it's still work in
progress.” Prod him further to ask if
Vidya Balan and Tabu's item
songs that were shot with so
much fanfare are being
abandoned in the English
version of Urumi, and Sivan informs, “We're retaining Vidya's song because it's an
integral part of the narrative
but Tabu's song may go. I've
ideologically opposed our
song-and-dance formula for
an international audience. But Urumi is a subject that is
inherently Indian in a
flamboyant and dramatic way.
It is formatted as fable. I want
to retain that flavour for the
English version. There are traditional devices in my film
from Indian folklore-like
characters singing in the
ballad style that I would like
to take to the Western
audience.” The cinematographer-
filmmaker is convinced the
Western audience is open to
songs and dances. “Provided they are integral to the plot,
why not? It's when our
protagonists in Indian films
start singing in their fancy
jeans and jackets that the
Western audience gets tickled.” Sivan says the main difference
between the Indian and the
international version of Urumi
is in the perspective. “So far Vasco da Gama has been seen
as a discoverer.The English
version of my film will show
him as an invader, and a
savage one at that. Do you
know that da Gama went to brutal lengths to keep the
Muslim traders out of the
pepper trade? At that time
pepper was as precious as
petrol in world trade. To
maintain a Portuguese monopoly on pepper trade
from Kerala, da Gama went to
brutal limits. When a Brahmin
priest was sent to him for
negotiation he cut off the
priest's ear. This is a side of Vasco da Gama that I'll show
to the West for the first
time.” The Malayalam version will be
much gentler on da Gama's
character. Interestingly, Sivan
is undecided on the version of
Urumi that he'll show to the
Hindi audiences. “It could be a blend of the Malayalam and
English version. That whole
perspective on Vasco Da Gama
as an invader and plunderer
that I'm doing in the English
version makes for some visually stunning drama which I
want the national audience to
see. The English version will
also have several added
Caucasian characters besides
da Gama.” Sivan is undecided on where
the international version of
Urumi would be premiered. “I have offers from several
international festivals. I'm yet
to take a call. Like I said, the
English version is not fully
complete yet.” The film's script was
sponsored and approved by
the Hongkong International
Film Festival, though Sivan is
not obligated to let Hong Kong
have the first dekko of his film.
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Urumi-Maker Santosh Sivan In Conversation

Brandishing an Urumi, Santosh
recreates interest in an untold
and forgotten story in our
history | By Laya
Just prior to the release of the
historical blockbuster Urumi, a freewheeling Santosh Sivan, in
an exclusive and uninterrupted
chat with Yentha. Urumi casts
Prabhu Deva, Prithviraj, Tabu,
Vidya Balan, Genelia D'Souza,
Nitya Menon, Jagathy Sreekumar and an array of other talented
artists. Y: Urumi is your much talked about movie in Indian cinema
circles for a variety of reasons.
How did you come across this
movie? And Kelu Nayanar - the
protagonist? S.S: We all know our history. About the British coming to India,
their rule, then our freedom
struggle, etc. And for us in
Kerala, we are more familiar with
Vasco De Gama landing up on our
shores, in Kozhikode as a peppertrader. That was his first
visit. During his second and third
visits, he tried to establish some
kind of a monopoly. He opposed
the Muslims who supplied pepper.
And during his third visit, he actually burnt a ship taking the
lives of 400 people including
women and children. It can be
called the Pepper War. Our film
takes off at this juncture.
So our point is that when you end up destroying 400 lives,
there is bound to be people who
have reason to react. Kelu is the
character who represents all
these people. It is not a single
person. It is a group or mass in a way - the people, their feelings.
And, Sankar Ramakrishnan, our
Script Director has done a
fantastic job in gleaning out all
relevant details.
Armed with all these, I decided to make an interesting movie. And I
love it when different cultures
meet, the period movies so to
say. Again this movie has 3
versions of which the English
version is devoid of songs. So with a good script in hand and
with almost all the cast and crew
putting in their best, it ought to
come out as a good movie. Y: How much fantasy has been added to this movie or is it
historically correct? S.S: Like I said before, we tried to tell this story from a
different angle. See, Urumi is
basically about how the people
at that time felt, rather than
how history was on a day to day
basis. It depicts the feelings of people, their emotions against
the Portuguese. It is not history
being shot like a documentary. It
is about discovering all that
happened in the lives of these
people and Kelu represents them- their feelings, as I
mentioned earlier. It is a very
story based kind of film which
connects to a lot of people and
brings them together. Y: The 'Urumi' plays an important role in the film. Is this made of
gold from ornaments worn by
the people killed on the ship? S.S: No, it is not that the Urumi is made entirely of gold taken
from the dead. It is just that
when Kelu sees the dead bodies,
he just incorporates that also
into his emotions. The Urumi in a
way represents the people. It has an emotional appeal. Y: We understand that the film was shot in the jungles of
Maharashtra - Any specific
reason? S.S: As a cinematographer, landscape is very important to
me. To me, the landscape is a
character. You can see that in
most of my movies. I shot
'Tahaan' in Kashmir, so that's the
landscape you see there. One of the most important aspects of
Urumi would be the beautiful,
untainted air. My basic intention
was to present an unpolluted,
pristine, fresh and healthy
landscape. I also wanted the people to see this in a way
where they find everything
fresh and healthy...not trying to
glamorise it... but you should feel
it. That's what I thought. I loved
the idea of capturing things that are fleeting. So I decided to set
it in a place where there were
no buildings around and they
could feel a huge expanse of
land. And that is why I shot in
Maharashtra and in Mangalore, Chennai and in Kerala. Y: How do you manage cinematography and direction?
Specifically in Urumi? S.S: I don't see it as an effort and I feel very comfortable when
I am shooting. Here we have a
combination where I should be
telling the story and I am at
liberty to make the film the way
I feel.
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