What happens when a true-blue revolutionary enters the life of the downtrodden, that too in the turbulent 1940s? Anil V Nagendran’s ‘Vasanthathinte Kanal Vazhikalil’ chronicles precisely that, and this cinematic take on history will be re-released in more than 60 centres from Friday. The film, which unravels an episode in communist icon P Krishna Pillai’s life, was taken off the theatre a couple of days after its release in March due to Lok Sabha elections. “The film is set in a period when farm labourers were exploited and abused by feudal lords. P Krishna Pillai arrives in a village disguised as a vendor and tries to organise them,” director explains the basic premise.
Anil says that the film involved nearly six years of research alone and it stars more than 3,000 artists. “Labourers selected from six districts were cast in the role of farm labourers,” he says. While Samudrakani plays P Krishna Pillai, Mukesh, Siddique, Ritesh, Sudheesh, V K Baiju, Devan, Prem Kumar, Devika, Ullas Pandalam, Surabhi, KPAC Lalitha, Urmila Unni, Shari and P K Medini also appear in key roles. “The film also has a solid technical team and you will find many internationally acclaimed names among the crew,” he adds.
The film opens through the memories of 88-year-old Chirutha, a farm labourer played by P K Medhini. “The film records all their pain and suffering during the period,” he says. Anil says it took more than two years to create the set which spreads over 6 kms. “We had to erect an entire landscape removing all signs of modernity. Mud roads, paddy fields and various phases of cultivation were created for the film,” he says.
The music of ‘Vasanthathinte Kanal Vazhikalil’ is scored by eight composers including M K Arjunan, Preumbavoor G Ravindranath, A R Reihana, James Vasanthan, P K Medini, Anchal Udayakumar and C J Kuttappan. “More than 20 singers including Yesudas and K S Chitra have sung the songs. The songs have already become popular during the past months,” he says.
