What will an elderly mother do when denied the love and attention she deserves? In V R Gopinath's Devasparsham she conjures up a companion, a young girl who lights up her autumn days. Based on the director's short story Njan Sahakuntala, the film explores the lives of two individuals – an idealistic filmmaker and his paralysed mother. “I believe in making meaningful films, films that activate the virtue of individuals who watch it," says the director. Devasparsham follows Raghutaman, an alumni of Pune Film and Television Institute. “He wants his debut film to be a classic and his ideas of a good film are unacceptable for the market. He is financially dependent on his wife Megha, a software engineer,” says Gopinath who adds that many of the incidents in the screenplay are his own experiences.
Finally Raghuthaman meets someone ready to bankroll his film and he can see his dream coming true. “While he is all set to start his film his mother falls ill and he decides to take care of his paralysed mother instead of pursuing his passion,” he says. But Savithri, his mother, is not happy with the string of home-nurses employed to take care of her. “So her mind creates this character, 18-year-old Shakuntala who treats her with love and compassion.”
Another highlight of the film is the presence of Bollywood actor Shatrughan Sinha who will appear in a small sequence. “He plays himself in the film. In the film he will be seen addressing the students of Pune film institute, talking about the true purpose of art. He acted in the film without any remuneration,” he says. The film has Manu G Nath playing the lead and the director says it's also a woman-oriented story. The three key female characters will be handled by Dr Keerthana Anand, SiOf ji and Anupama Pournami. “All the three come from different fields. While Keerthana is a doctor, Siji has done her post-graduation in in Audio-Visual Communication and Anupama has just joined Chennai IIT for her M Tech. In fact it's a pleasure to see such people coming up to act in films,” he adds.
Pune film institute and Thiruvananthapuram are the main locations of the film while Nedumudi Venu and Sethulakshmi are also part of the cast. “Through the film I want to convey the message that mother, the element of divinity in any individual's life, should be his or her priority. It's an ode to motherhood,” he adds. Devasparsham is produced by Madhu Anand, Nalin Kumar, Malini Kurup, Meena Anil and V R Gopinath under the banner of Drishyam Audio Visual Entertainment.