THIRUVANATHAPUARM: He is happily taking the bouquets and brickbats. While some feel the comedy has fallen flat, there are others who say they have had a hearty laugh. Whatever it be, the final verdict for Radhakrishnan Mangalath is that he has tasted success with his directorial debut ‘Sakudumbam Shyamala’.
‘‘A few people have told me that the comedy has gone overboard in some scenes. But, then, Urvashi’s character is such that it has all shades of a caricature,’’ Radhakrishnan clarifies. In fact, he started working on the film (originally titled ‘Shyamala Vasudevan SSLC) through caricatures (made by Subhash, a friend who works for a film magazine). ‘‘ I sent them through Kalaranjini chechi to her. She was more than happy to do the role. When I told her that the role would require some physical strain too, she had absolutely no problems.’’ And he even made use of SMS jokes for pre-publicity of the film.
Urvashi plays Shyamala, who is at war with her elder brother (Nedumudi Venu), the district collector, and her ultimate aims are to defeat him and also to get her son married to an NRI’s daughter. She ends up in politics, becomes the Revenue Minister. But, to her dismay, her son marries against her wishes.
Radhakrishnan is among those serial directors who have shifted to big screen. Krishna Poojappura, who wrote for his serials, all of them comedy works, has written the script for ‘Sakudumbam Shyamala’ too. ‘‘We get along so well, personally and professionally. We both are particular that we should give clean entertainment for the audience. He was the one who gave me a good producer in Gopakumar.’’
As everything fell into place, the shooting was over in 35 days and the film was ready for release on the 51st day. ‘‘Things got over so fast. Perhaps, because of my experience in serials,’’ he says. He would now like to do a film for the youth, again with Krishna Poojappura. Meanwhile, he has no qualms about returning to serials.
The inclination for the craft has got a lot to do with Poojappura where he lives. ‘‘This place is home to many big names in the industry. Like Mohanlal, Padmarajan, Priyadarshan, Sukumari, Jagathy Sreekumar, Padmini-Lalitha-Ragini trio, Poojappura Radhakrishnan, Poojappura Ravi...,’’ he says.
It was in film critic and director Vijayakrishnan that he found his guru. ‘‘I started off as a clap boy for his serial ‘Kathasamgamom’ aired by Doordarshan and by its 13th episode I had become his associate. In between, I did art direction too. My inclination towards drawing and painting came handy there,’’ he says.
He has done art direction for around 25 films and 200 serials. The films in the list are ‘Susanna’ (T V Chandran), ‘Oru Cheru Punchiri’ (M T Vasudevan Nair), ‘Karunam’ (Jayaraj), ‘De javu’ (Biju Viswanath) and ‘Mamma’ (Rajeev Nath), in addition to some commercial films.
By the time he took up direction, he had done enough homework. ‘‘Biju Viswanath taught me about art direction, Baiju Devaraj gave guidance in editing, Devanand was there to teach me about camera work and C R Chandran helped with sound recording. And, of course, there was Vijayakrishnan Sir with whom I went around learning the fine nuances of the craft.’’
Before all that happened Radhakrishnan had such an important phase of his life, which, he believes, moulded him as a person. After completing his BCom from University College, he did a course in Automobile Engineering and got a job at Development Centre on Mental Retardation at Jagathy in the city. ‘‘From 1990-96, I taught automobile engineering to those mentally retarded children. I realised that of all the disabilities, mental retardation is the most painful one. The pains and troubles we complain about are nothing when compared to the condition of those children and the mental state of their parents,’’ he says, adding, ‘‘I am a little short of hearing and my friends have told me many times to use a hearing aid. But, having worked with those children, I felt this is no disability at all.’’
He used to do light and sound shows for these children, taught them plays and became one with them, before resigning due to personal reasons. ‘‘The experience has been so overwhelming that all the title songs of my serials have been dedicated to children.’’ Perhaps, that’s why the song ‘Kannum neetti varumo’ from ‘Sakudumbam Syamala’ picturised on the two child artists has come out so well.
It was Baiju Devaraj who encouraged him to do an independent work on the miniscreen. ‘‘Tear-jerkers were ruling the roost and he asked why I can’t experiment with humour. I started off with ‘Indumukhi Chandramathi’ and followed it up with comedy serials ‘Sathi Leelavathi’, ‘Koottukudumbam’, ‘Akkare Akkare Akkare’ and ‘Thiruda Thirudi’.’’
Radhakrishnan has the best critic and support in his wife Lathika, a school teacher. ‘‘She has clear cut opinions on everything and that is the best thing about having her as my life partner.’’ Their sons Krishnanunni and Unnikrishnan make the family complete.
The success of his film has given him a sweet Onam, even though he is still coming to terms with a personal loss, that of his ‘valiammachi’, his mother’s elder sister. ‘‘She had no children and she was the one who brought me up. Before I could get over it, I had to start shooting for the movie. Though we didn’t celebrate Onam this time, the audience has given me a sweeter and memorable Onam,’’ he says.
athira@expressbuzz.com
