Short, sweet and subtle - Kuloorian plays generously ooze wit and satire, not to forget the hard-hitting message brilliantly spun in between. ‘Poppins’, V K Prakash’s star-studded outing, beautifully blends six popular plays by Jayaprakash Kuloor. The film traces an aspiring filmmaker’s journey, unravelling each story at some point. “But the film is not episodic as all separate storylines are well woven into the main narrative,” says Jayaprakash who has penned the screenplay. The film also has intersecting timelines as each story is placed in a different milieu.
V K Prakash, who is still basking in the success of ‘Trivandrum Lodge’, says the film will be the coolest entertainer in recent times. It zooms into the life of six couples and Shankar Ramakrishnan who plays the filmmaker, is the one who links them all. The director also adds that ‘Poppins’ will be entirely different from his previous films in terms of theme and visual parlance. “I don’t want to repeat myself, so this film will not have the faintest resemblance to my early films. ‘Poppins’ explores the dynamics of man-woman relationship in a sleek and sweet style. Just like the candy it comes in different colours and flavours,” he says.
The mood and setting vary for each piece and most of the actors have undergone a thorough makeover for the film. “If one story has acute drought in the backdrop another is shot amidst torrential downpour and the third one is set on a rocky terrain. If one has a retro flavour, the other is strictly contemporary,” says Jayaprakash.
The film might not fit into any particular genre, but humour ranging from dark to slapstick will be the common streak of all the stories. “Shankar plays a government employee who decides to pursue his passion for cinema. One of the stories, ‘Payasam’ revolves around a newly-wed couple. It has limited conversations but is loaded with soliloquies. ‘Chorana Koora’ featuring Padmapriya and Indrajith tells another delightful tale.”
He adds that since stage and celluloid are two different media, original script was slightly altered to suit the screen version. “The film retains the quintessential character of the plays. At the same time it hardly has any limitations of the theatre. Instead of talking volumes about the scorching weather you can pan your camera to the blazing sun,” he says. The film also stars Kunchacko Boban, Nithya Menon, Indrajith, Jayasurya, Anoop Menon, Meghana Raj, Mythili, Ann Augustine, Padmapriya, P Balachandran, Sreelatha Nampoothiri, Master Dhananjay and Baby Nayantara.
Apart from its spectacular cast, tunes set by Ratheesh Vega is another highlight of the film. The film produced by DimacCreations will hit the screens this weekend.