KOCHI: After his much-acclaimed maiden feature film Kaliyachan, director Farook Abdul Rahiman is making a comeback with his second effort — Pori Veyil. National award winner Surabhi Lakshmi and state award winner Indrans are playing the leads in the film, which will release on December 2. Rahiman, who was in Thiruvananthapuram recently, sat down with The New Indian Express to speak about his passion for movies.
Kaliyachan came out around seven years ago, after efforts that date back more than a decade. Kaliyachan, released in 2015, won the National Films Award for Best Music Direction (background score) for Bijibal. And now, Rahiman’s second film Pori Veyil comes after a long break in the director’s career.
Rahiman’s wife died in 2016, shaking up his world. He confined himself to his home and stayed away from his passions. But his friends in the industry, the late veteran cinematographer M J Radhakrishnan, music director Bijibal and lyricist Rafeeq Ahammed compelled Rahiman to return to the world of cinema. They have joined hands with their friend to conceive Pori Veyil, a family drama.
“The film,” Farooq says, “touches on the struggles of a common man and represents the marginalised people in society.” “The main challenge was to correctly convey to viewers about the real plights of these people, who are unaccounted for in society. My lead character, Appu, played by prolific actor Indrans, is a representation of such people,” says Farooq.
Farooq has roped in award winners as cast and crew in his film. To the question of why, he quips, “I think the universe conspired to involve all of them in my film.” “My friends like Radhakrishnan and others forced me to come up with this project. It was interesting to explore the actor in Indrans and delve into various shades of ordinary life through him. Pori Veyil is a film, which irrespective of language, region and generation, touches the nuances of life of a common man,” he adds.
According to Rahiman, the discussion of the film was held long back in 2005 with actor Indrans who was then working as a celebrated comedy actor. “I happened to meet Indrans during the shooting of R Sharath’s directorial Seelabathi. At that time, he was excelling in comic roles. But I had an intuition that the role of Appu would be safe in his hands. Indrans and Surabhi are representations of ordinary people in our films. They always give so much to their roles and are experts in making them real. They can contribute more than what the director wishes for,” Rahiman says.
Appu is the sole breadwinner of his family, which includes his wife Lalitha and an adolescent daughter. Lalitha gets paralysed below the hip. The film’s trailer released on YouTube shows how Appu struggles mentally and financially as a father and husband.
Rahiman is in awe of his lead actors, especially Indrans. “It’s interesting how Indrans and Surabhi never show any reaction while reading the script. However, when they are in front of the camera, we will be awestruck. I was filled with wonder seeing the output, how Indrans entered the skin of Appu effortlessly. He lived as a commoner, so there is no need to guide him on how to behave the same,” Rahiman says.
As his film is about to hit theatres, Rahiman is grieving the loss of one of his pillars of strength, who cranked the camera for Pori Veyil. With teary eyes, he shares one of his favourite scenes that struck a chord with him.
“There is a scene where Appu explodes with mixed emotions of anger, benevolence, love and helplessness while taking care of his wife. Radhakrishnan conceived the shot beautifully, revealing the ace cinematographer in him. This scene was emotional for me, as it is something I had experienced in real life,” says Rahiman.