To be blind is not miserable; not to be able to bear blindness, that is miserable, says John Milton. Raghavan, the hero of Roopantharam, is born blind, constantly tied to an island of darkness. He decodes the world through sound and touch, creating his own perception through the sensory inflow. One of the three Malayalam films to be screened in the Indian Panorama section of the 47th IFFI, Roopantharam is directed by M B Padmakumar. “Raghavan gave me an opportunity to break free of my routine comedy roles,” says the actor.
Woven around the blind slum-dweller, Roopantharam has Bharat playing another key role - Abdulla, a hearing-and speech-impaired boy. “Raghavan picks him from the street and brings him up as his own. Like any other youngster Abdulla reaches a stage where he wants to go on exploring the world outside,” he says. But he is not prepared to leave behind a blind Raghavan and coerces the elderly man to have a corrective surgery. “Raghavan undergoes the surgery which partially restores his sight. But now he feels like a complete outsider as he is unable to fathom the sights. It’s the first time he is introduced to a world seething with injustice and insensitivity,” explains the actor. Roopantharam puts forward the idea that sight and vision are two different things as Raghavan decides to go back to his early dark days. The film basically examines the concept of vision as the hero realises eyes are mere organs.
Raghavan doesn’t resemble any other onscreen hero, adds Kochu Preman. “I didn’t do any particular homework to play the blind man. Since the man has no clue what sight is, I thought it would be better if I don’t stick to any available template. He moves around comfortably within his colony and is quite popular among kids,” he says.
Apart from the lead characters, Sona Nair appears in another important role as an Ophthalmologist. Roopantharam is Produced by J Saratchandran Nair under the banner Chand Creations. The banner is keen on bankrolling quality low budget films in an industry where mainstream is all-powerful.