THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The making of an ordinary Malayalam mega serial is apparently a grand democratic affair. It is the will of the audience, not the creative urges of the director or the writer, that decides the course of the serial. The will of the audience as supposed by the producer, that is.
So, to begin with, five to six ‘pilot episodes’ are made. Based on the response, the supposed response, to these pilots, another set of not more than ten episodes are made, most probably with the importance of characters shuffled. The supposed response to the second set of episodes spurs the third set and so on.
Not just the characters, the writers and even the directors keep changing. And by the time the serial celebrates 100 or more episodes, it will be just the title that connects the latest episodes to the earliest ones.
Noted director P. Suresh Unnithan has dared to break the mould. He has created a record of sorts in mega serial production. For the first time in the history of Malayalam mega serials, a director has shot 100 episodes in a single schedule.
``The schedule extended for 75 days. And since it was shot at a stretch in a single schedule, the serial not only has a better flow, but has better performances and technical perfection like in films,’’ Unnithan said.
The serial, ‘Thulabharam’, will be aired on all weekdays from Monday to Friday starting May 25. The serial, based on novelist P. Ayyaneth’s popular work ‘Vegatha Pora Pora’, has been adapted for the small screen by noted theatre writer Pradeep Panicker. The serial is produced by Padma Udayan under the banner Udaya Padmam Film Creations.
``I am trying to revive creative writing in serials. Most of the serials lack a writer’s creative contribution and also the continuity of artists. Only commercial concerns matter, the rest are given the short shrift’’ Unnithan, a director who has made critically-acclaimed films like ‘Jathakam’, said.
Unnithan also hopes to set new trends in set-designing. ``We have painstakingly erected sets for court and hospital scenes, the kind unseen and unthinkable in Malayalam serials. Normally, serial makers mount court scenes on hurriedly patched-up sets. Costs are a factor. But, for ‘Thulabharam’, we have decided to go ahead and take the risk,’’ Unnithan said.
The 100 episodes have been made with a budget of Rs 75 lakh to Rs 80 lakh.
Unnithan said he was emboldened to take the plunge because of what he did during ‘Swami Ayyappan’, his hit serial. ``For ‘Swami Ayyappan’, I had shot 60 episodes at a stretch. The main plot, the beginning and end, was canned before we went on air. We found that this had added to the quality of the serial. It was only certain intermediate sub-plots that we shot and included later,’’ Unnithan said. Suresh Unnithan will think of the 101st episode only after ‘Thulabharam’ gets a fair run.
trivandrum@epmltd.com
