From ‘Vilkanundu Swapnangal’ to ‘Varavelppu’, ‘Arabikatha’ and the most recent ‘Diamond Necklace’, a number of films have been based on the premise of the travails of Malayalis seeking greener pastures abroad.
‘Akkare’, a satirical take on the life of a government employee, released in 1984, is one such movie which was selected to the Indian Panorama and was screened at various international film festivals that year. The director of the film, K N Sasidharan, who had taken a nearly three-decade-long sabbatical from mainstream cinema is back with his latest outing, ‘Nayana’ starring Anupam Kher in the lead. This is the veteran actor’s second Malayalam outing after Blessy’s ‘Pranayam’.
An alumnus of the Film and Television Institute, Pune, Sasidharan had completed his second feature film, ‘Kaanathaya Penkutti,’ in 1985. Later, the director helmed a handful of documentaries, ad films and corporate short films.
“I have never been completely absent from the scene. I take up films only when I feel truly drawn by the subject. After ‘Akkare’ and ‘Kaanathaya Penkutti’, I turned my attention to television. That was in the late 80s, when TV had just entered the scene and had a tremendous social impact. I found it interesting to associate with this new medium,” says the director.
Short films on Mahakavi Kumaran Ashan and Justice V R Krishna Iyer are among the noticeable works of Sasidharan.
‘Nayana’ narrates the intricate and unlikely relationship between an aged person and a small girl. Having ophthalmic disorders, a septugenarian retired IPS officer gets admitted in a hospital, where he meets the girl who is also a budding artist. The director, who has also penned the script says that the juxtaposition of the two characters makes for great story-telling. “The old man, a Kashmiri, is a loner at heart. He is in need of a companion post the death of his wife and son. The man has always been aggressive and his friendship with the young girl for two weeks brings out the better person within him.”
Baby Anikha, who was seen in ‘Kadha Thudarunnu’ plays the girl’s role. Mia and Prakash Bare don the role of her parents. “The film has a socially-relevant theme. Female foeticide is an issue in the backdrop too, through the girl,” explains Sasidharan. “The girl was born after the couple had aborted their first child when they found it was a girl. They have been repenting over their past deeds when they watch the girl struggling to paint with her poor eyesight,” he says, adding that he has attempted to deal with the social stigma attached to the girl child in our society even today.
Siddique, V K Sreeraman, Jagadeesh and Kalpana will also be seen in key roles in the film. Major parts of the film have been shot at Ahalya Hospital, Palakkad. The songs of the movie have also been written by Sasidharan, and set to music by Mohan Sithara. The songs have been rendered beautifully by K S Chithra and Jassie Gift. The film, currently in the post-production stage, is set to hit theatres soon.