With her insatiable craving to live the American Dream, a naive girl who hasn’t set foot outside Kerala, touches down in the land of safari and wildlife. Meet the beautiful Shubha, who is in search of a husband with deep pockets working in America. That forms the premise of the upcoming movie ‘Naku Penta Naku Taka’ helmed by Vayalar Madhavan Kutty. “Shubha, like a lot of girls, wants to marry a person who is settled in America. She wants to get out of Kerala and explore the land of opportunity,” says the director.
The handsome Vinay, an engineer who Shubha and her family believe to be working in America walks into the life of the girl as her ‘Mr Right’. Like any happily married couple, they fly to the States with a few days’ halt in Africa. Shubha’s dream soon crumbles when she finds out the truth that her husband is actually settled in Africa and not in America. This forms the crux of ‘Naku Penta Naku Taka’. “The story is inspired from a real life incident which takes place in the backdrop of Africa. The movie is a realistic take on what happens to the girl who, with her high hopes, gets cheated. How she deals with the situation and evolves from it forms the rest of the story,” explains Madhavan Kutty. With a humorous flavour throughout, the movie will also have a dash of a family thriller.
Indrajith and Bhama essay the roles of Vinay and Shubha in the movie.
The name of the movie, which was in the headlines from the beginning, is a Swahili phrase. Ask the director about the title, he says, “Naku Penta Naku Taka means ‘I love you, I want you’ in Swahili. As the story takes place in an African backdrop and narrates a mysterious love story...an unspoken love that is not expressed through words or actions, we felt ‘Naku Penta Naku Taka’ is an apt name for the movie.”
The movie is extensively shot in the locales of Kenya and will see native people of Kenya with members of the African Masai tribe and other African professional actors playing key roles. “The story also shows the vibrancy of the land, its ethnic culture through the African tribal life, their rituals and unadulterated way of life,” says Madhavan Kutty.
Sharing the stories from the exciting shooting days in Kenya, the director says, “The African tribal people are a misunderstood lot. They are a raw mix of tribal people who are extremely loving if we abide by their rules and rituals, but at the same time ferocious if we cross them. Time is an important factor for them. We had to shoot both interior and exterior sequences in a Masai home. As per plans, the shoot had to be finished by 5 pm but we couldn’t. The loving and caring tribals that we saw in the morning started to scold us for not sticking to the time limit. We wrapped up the shoot in a jiffy, all the while fearing their wrath.” “But on the final day they gave us an emotional farewell, rendering a song about us in their language,” adds the director.
Murali Gopi as a Sri Lankan emigrant and yesteryear actor Shankar as B K Iyer will be playing pivotal roles in the movie, along with Anusree, Sudhir Karaman, Sunil Sugatha and Sethulakshmi. Another highlight of the movie are the three songs composed by Gopi Sundar. “One song is a hardcore tribal situational song. Other two songs are a mix of Swahili and Malayalam lyrics. The title song ‘Hari Om Hari Om’ uses motion graphics,” adds the director.
The script is penned by Jeyamohan and Krish Kaimal has wielded the camera. The film, produced by Gokulam Gopalan, will hit the screens this Friday.