PALAKKAD: ‘Elves and the Shoemaker’, a famous fairy tale, has seen several theatrical productions over the years. But that did not stop 30 students of two divisions of Class 4 of ALP school at Mathur West village, 20 km away from Palakkad town, from attempting to recreate their own version. And that too in English. Students of this aided Malayalam medium school, who were involved in the making of the film, hail from the lower strata of the society.
“We made all students of the class, including two who were slow learners, a part of the film. This was our second English film. The first one was ‘Seed of Truth’ which was the first chapter for our students,” said P V Sashi Kumar, director of the film and class teacher.
“The first was a 14-minute film and ‘Elves and the Shoemaker’, which is the second chapter, was 17 minutes long. We have adapted it in such a way that the students not only learn their lessons but also enjoy seeing them on screen performing various characters,” said Sashi Kumar. “Therefore, we have also included a poem titled ‘Work while you work and play while you play’ and wove it into the storyline to create an independent script.”
Completed shooting in 10 days, says student
“Some of my friends including K P Rajesh, a GST officer, and Sangeetha Krishnakumar, a skills trainer who is engaged in training teachers of schools to make dramas for kids in Coimbatore, worked for the film without charging any fee.” The story is about a shoemaker who does not have the money to buy leather. He could make only one pair of shoes one day and went to sleep leaving it unfinished. Two elves arrived at his store and finished the shoes at night.
The next morning, the shoemaker and wife found the shining pair of shoes, which fetched him a high price from a customer. This went on for several days and couple became wealthy. One day, the shoemaker and his wife hid in the store and stayed awake at night to see who were helping them. They saw the two elves entering the store at night and meticulously working on the shoes.
The storyline was changed and scripted independently. The moral of the story is that sincere and hard work pays and helps one become wealthy, said Sashi Kumar.“’Elves and the Shoemaker’ is a popular fairytale. I was invited to finetune the script written by the students. I helped the children also practise the dialogues in English. They had a heavy Malayalam accent initially. I gave them voice training as they seemed to be not comfortable in English. It was difficult but the students grasped the expressions and modulations taught smartly,” said Sangeetha.
“They were an enthusiastic lot. I also helped them in their audition and dubbing,” she said. She said the teachers of the school needed to be lauded for their efforts as little time is given to students for fine arts these days.“It was a great experience. The headmaster, V Krishnanand, and class teacher Sashi Kumar groomed us for this drama. Since it was our second short drama, we could improvise. We completed the shooting near the school, at a leather shop in Kottayi and in the rock garden in Malampuzha in 10 days. Then, Covid-19 outbreak and subsequent lockdown came. We could complete the song recording and dubbing only now,” said V Manya, who donned the shoemaker’s character, wrote the script and was the assistant director.
Fairytale theatre
The film is an adaptation of ‘Elves and the Shoemaker’, a famous fairytale which has seen several theatrical productions over the years