Depicting socially relevant topics on screen should be developed as a ‘culture’ rather than undertaking them as a challenge, says writer-director Babu Janardhanan, who is coming up with his new venture ‘God for Sale’ (Bhakthiprasthanam). The same belief might have prompted him to opt for a satire that will take a dig at the self proclaimed godmen. “T Damodaran Mash, who passed away recently is one of the scriptwriters who influenced me a lot. He eschewed lovey-dovey moments in his script, and instead focused on societal concerns and conflicts. I like that pattern of writing and believe that it is not a liability but a moral responsibility of a script writer to identify a subject that is socially significant,” says Babu.
So what is ‘God for Sale’ all about? “See in 2007, nearly thirty fraud monks, pastors and maulavis were arrested from various parts of Kerala. But still, here and there, we see such godmen and there are people who still believe that visiting these self styled human gods will give them much-needed solace. My film deals with a fraud sanyasi, Poornananda aka Prasannan, his name in the poorvasrama. Prasannan who hails from Kozhinjampara village ends up wearing the godmen’s robes. What forces him to do so forms the crux of the film,” adds Babu.
A novel touch to the project is that Kunchakko Boban will be playing the role of Poornananda in the movie, another image makeover for the actor. “I spoke about this idea to Kunchakko some three years ago. He was pretty interested in the theme. I believe that his cute looks will be an added advantage. The audience will be in for a surprise as they would never expect such a character from Kunchakko,” Babu says. Apart from Kunchakko, Suraj Venjaramoodu will be seen in a double role in the film. “Suraj will play the roles of Prasannan’s father and brother. Anupama (‘Ivan Megharoopan’ fame), and Jyothy, who paired opposite Unni Mukundan in ‘Bombay March 12’, are the heroines.
Babu says that he did not want to call his movie an ‘experimental’ one. Is it because his movie, ‘City of God’, for which he penned the script, got rejected by the audience for being too heavy? “The story of ‘City of God’ dealt with relationships of individuals only. The experimentation was mainly in the way the film was narrated. But apart from experimenting with camera, we can also experiment with the subject. My earlier scripts like ‘Achanaurangatha Veedu’ and ‘Thalappavu’ were also experimental. But it is the director who should decide whether we must experiment with camera and editing. I prefer experimenting with subjects,” says Babu. Produced by Salim under the banner of Green Advertisers, the shooting of ‘God For Sale’ will begin by April 20.