After winning several accolades in India and abroad for his short films, documentaries, and television work, filmmaker Venu Nair is readying his first full-fledged feature, titled Jalasamadhi. Scriptwriter Sethu has based the film on his novel, Adayalanghal.
Venu, who has been in the industry for 29 years, tells us he has been planning a feature debut for a long time and had approached many people with the script of the film but they all backed out because of its offbeat content. Frustrated, he finally decided to fund it himself. "It was the experiences and acclaim I gained over the years that gave me the confidence to go ahead," he says.
Based on the lesser-known practice of thalaikoothal (senicide), the film is set in a fictional village in the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border. Senicide is also practiced in some other parts of the world. In Japan, it is known as ubasute. The subject, Venu says, appealed to him because it reflects on life, death, and human nature. “When the most senior person in the family becomes a financial liability, he/she is killed by their family members. Sometimes it is carried out after making the person unconscious. Sometimes it’s forced,” explains Venu.
Jalasamadhi has noted Tamil actor MS Bhaskar playing the principal character. Venu calls Bhaskar’s performance in the film “exceptional”. “I couldn’t picture anyone else in that role. Bhaskar’s character is someone with strong spiritual leanings,” he adds. Elaborating further on the character, Venu says, “These are neglected people. As they’re not wanted or loved anymore — this happens to most of us at some point — they don’t intend to go on living. In the film, there are characters who wish to save him from it but he is not interested. It doesn’t matter to him whether he dies or not. He is of the philosophy that if his children are going to benefit from his death, then he is not going to stand in the way. He is ready to accept his fate: he has decided to go with God.”
Shyam Krishnan and Akhil Kaimal, two newcomers, play a local activist and Bhaskar’s son respectively. Both are graduates of the Revathy Kalamandir Film Academy. Likha Rajan plays the female lead. Renjith Shekhar Nair, who made his debut in the award-winning Ottamuri Velicham, is essaying a strong negative character. Renjith’s character, according to Venu, is someone who remains conspicuous throughout the film. “Renjith is an actor with so much potential. I believe he has given an impactful performance in the film.”
For the time being, Venu is planning a release only in Kerala. The Tamil Nadu release will depend on the initial reaction. “There is not much Tamil spoken in the film,” says Venu. “The Tamil lines in the film won’t be tough for Malayali audiences to comprehend. It’s not the hard Tamil. As I’m not fluent in Tamil myself, I’ve only used lines which I can understand. We are planning to include subtitles anyway.”