THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Filmmaker Krishand RK was on cloud nine. On Friday, Krishand reached the capital early morning to attend an event as a guest at Mohandas College of Engineering and Technology where he had studied. His evening schedule was to attend a screening of his movie ‘Avasavyuham’ (The Arbit Documentation of an Amphibian Hunt) at Lenin Balavadi. It turned out to be a celebratory moment as the news that ‘Avasavyooham’ has been adjudged the best film of the Kerala State Film Awards 2021.
The movie also fetched Krishand the award for the best screenplay writer. Riding the high wave, Krishand said it is completely a magical moment. “It’s a crazy feeling. I see the journey of the film and I am amazed. I am happy and excited. I wanted to create a superhero movie and it manifested into this,” says Krishand. The movie speaks about environment, its degradation, developmental crisis and how it affects the humanity. In ‘Avasavyooham’, the protagonist, Joy, transforms into a frog. This absurd manifestation sets in motion a chain of events.
Set on the island of Puthuvype in Kochi, the movie is narrated in a disjointed oral biography style. Puthuvype island and the environmental issues that local residents are facing are brought to the fore in the movie. The film which had its debut screening in the international competition category at International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) had won many awards at the festival. The film is the second work of Krishand, whose first movie, ‘Vrithakrithyilulla Chathuram’, also had its debut screening at IFFK.
On the screenplay, Krishand says: “It’s like me speaking. We also improvised on the set. Everyone said dark humour won’t work in Malayalam. But that’s not true. ‘Tamaar Padaar’ was a crazy inspiration for me in the dark humour. There is politics in dark humour,” he said.
Krishand is working on a series about the criminal gangs in the capital. “Criminals also have classes. I grew up in a place where there were a lot of such marginalised settlements. When I was younger, I was acquainted with those who used to commit minor crimes. So, I had seen how they changed. We are telling the story from their perspective,” he said.