Far from the maddening crowd, nestled in the heart an idyllic high-range, is the little hamlet of Vellimala and its curious mix of people. ‘Jawan of Vellimala,’ Anoop Kannan’s directorial debut starring Mammootty in the lead, zooms into village naiveties while trailing the strange life of its hero Gopi Krishnan (Mammootty), a military man who had to quit his service halfway. “Gopi Krishnan, the lead character, works as the watchman of Vellimala dam. He comes across as a brave jawan during day time, but is scared of darkness,” says Anoop.
According to the filmmaker ‘Jawan of Vellimala’ is a tale told in a breezy format with the right accent on humour. “The film doesn’t perfectly fit into any particular genre. The storyline is simple and straightforward, but there is a strong undercurrent of suspense,” he says. Sreenivasan plays another key character, Varghese, an executive engineer with KSEB. Asif Ali plays Koshi, a representative of the career-oriented Gen-Y youth, who enters the scene with some ulterior motive. Mamta Mohandas appears as Anitha, a camp officer at the dam site.
Though the mention of dam might spark off many a speculation, Anoop says the film is purely a work of fiction and has no reciprocity with any recent development. “The story is set in the fictional village of Vellimala. The villagers don’t see the dam as a pile of rocks. It’s part and parcel of their lives and they are emotionally attached to the structure,” he elaborates.
The film has a stellar cast featuring many A-listers in Mollywood. But the filmmaker says ‘Jawan of Vellimala’ is no attempt to bank on Mammootty’s stardom since the film has a solid story to back it. “It was not planned as a huge project, but as the script evolved we felt no other actor could play the character convincingly.” Anoop insists Gopi Krishnan is leagues apart from the umpteen military roles played by the superstar in the past. “His character in the film has an all-new flavour to it. You won’t be able to spot any resemblance between him and the actor’s previous military outings.”
Anoop says location hunt was the biggest hitch since the story demanded a perfect setting. “We wanted a village that gels into the plot completely. Since the dam has a special significance in the film we checked out more than fifty dams in Kerala. After much research and wandering around we zeroed in on Chimney dam in Thrissur,” he says. To match the high-range geography, parts were shot at Idukki, Vagamon and Malampuzha too. “Another challenge was to light-up the wide dam area for night shots. We have used the most advanced technology Malayalam cinema has seen so far.”
“Another highlight of the movie is that it’s Mammootty’s first production venture. The film is being produced under the banner of Play House,” he adds. ‘Jawan of Vellimala’ has its story and screenplay by James Albert while Satheesh Kurup cranks camera. Bijibal scores music to the lyrics penned by Anil Panachooran, Venugopal and Santhosh Varma.
