‘Karyasthan’, the movie directed by debutant director Thomson, has arrived in theatres with enough ingredients to make a family entertainer. And a highlight of this Dileep-starrer is the song ‘Mangalangal..’ picturised on almost all the leading serial actors and a couple of singers of Malayalam industry.
Thomson, who has been an associate director, is excited about this Deepavali release which is also Dileep’s 100th film. “This is my first independent work. I wanted to bring in something different in this film and so this song.” Thomson is the brother of Sibi K Thomas, who has scripted the movie with Udaykrishna. The duo had recently given the hit ‘Pokkiri Raja’.
The film is about two warring families, Puthezhathu Tharavadu and Kizhakkedathu Tharavadu, headed by Madhu and G K Pillai respectively. Dileep who plays Krishnanunni falls in love with Akhila who belongs to the Puthezhathu Tharavadu where he is employed. The song comes in during the marriage of the girl of the family, played by Vandana, to a serial actor, Rajiv Roshan.
An array of serial stars step in to wish the couple. This include senior and new stars on the miniscreen. Ravi Vallathol, Yadukrishnan, Krishnaprasad, Beena Antony, Maya Maushmi, Rajeev Rangan, Sajan Palluruthy, Archana, Sreekala, Kalabhavan Navaz, Nadirshah, Sonia, Priyanka, Kaviraj, Guinness Pakru, Tini Tom, Subi Suresh, Razana and Sreekala are some among them. Singers like Jyotsna, Rimi, Afsal and Biju Narayanan join the lot in shaking their legs to the song composed by Berny Ignatius and written by Kaithapram.
Ace choreographer Brinda has choreographed this number. “We shot the song at DD Villa in Kochi. It took nearly three days to complete the shoot because it was not possible to get all the artists on a single day. Over 60 serial artists were part of this song, in addition to the singers,” says Thomson.
‘Karyasthan’ team is all praise for the support rendered by the Association of Television Media Artists (ATMA), the umbrella association of Malayalam serial artists. “K B Ganesh Kumar, the president of ATMA, was more than happy to render the cooperation of the serial artists for the song. This happened even before we cast him as one of the characters in the movie,” says Thomson.
Having worked with Berny Ignatius before, they were Thomson’s first choice as music directors when he thought about the film. “When we were told about this particular song, we immediately remembered the song ‘Deewangi Deewangi’ of ‘Om Shanti Om’ which featured the top Bollywood artists. We made the tune first and Kaithapram wrote lyrics for that. We were given all the freedom to work on that. Even the lead singer, Benny Dayal, was our choice. The director, producer (Neeta Anto) and scriptwriters rarely interfered in the work,” says Ignatius of the Berny-Ignatius duo. The song was recorded at Ernakulam and mixed in Chennai.
Akhila, a VJ, makes her debut as heroine in the film. Vandana plays another female lead. The cast also has Suraj Venjarammoodu, Jagathy, Siddique, Biju Menon, Janardanan, Suresh Krishna, Ganesh, Baburaj, Sadique, Manoj, Harisree Asokan etc.
‘Karyasthan’ has six songs in all. It also marks the debut of Subin, Ignatius’ son, as a playback singer. He has sung the duet ‘Malayalippenne...’ with another debutant Delsy. “He sang for the film not because of me. Actually, he had sung a song for ‘Christian Brothers’ also scripted by Sibi-Udaykrishna team. But that song could not be included. So, it was their decision to give him a song in ‘Karyasthan’ and thankfully people have liked his voice and the song,” says Ignatius.