Alumni get-togethers are “in” with various batches of colleges holding them at least once a year. While most alumni members come, attend and leave, some like the 1995 batch of NSS College of Engineering, Palakkad, decided to keep the flame of friendship alive by making a movie.
Says Biju Kesavankutty, a former student of the 1995 batch: “After leaving college, only a handful of us were in touch with each other. When Abdul Gaffur, a batch-mate of ours who is an instrumentation engineer in Dubai suggested a reunion via an email to an email group we had created before we left college, we jumped at it.” The friends met up in 2005 in Bangalore, 10 years after their graduation. They then met up every two years.
However, the group was unsatisfied with their meetings; they wanted to meet more often. So, when Sajith Kumar, a batch mate of theirs working in Dubai as a quality engineer, suggested they take up a project that would require them to spend more time together, they agreed wholeheartedly. The problem however, was to zero in on the project. “We wanted a meaningful project; one that would contribute to arts or society.” After several brainstorming sessions, a few of them came up with the idea of making a film. “Most of us were part of our college theatre. We had directed and staged plays then, so when a film was suggested, we felt it was a natural progression,” says Biju who works at Cognizant, Bangalore.
A feeler on the project was emailed to the rest in the group. When they received a positive reply, they decided to go for it. “The next was to raise the fund for the movie.” Again, a mail was sent to all with details of a bank account that had been set up for the purpose. When they had garnered a significant amount for the project, a few members of the group who are based in Kochi, met up with a couple of people from Mollywood for ideas for a movie. They heard several stories before deciding on a story by ad filmmaker Sunil Ibrahim.
Chapters , says Biju, is a new-generation film. “It is a tale about a group of regular people whose lives are linked together. It is on how every person has a story.” KPAC Lalitha, Sreenivasan, Nivin Pauly, Gouthami Nair and Hemanth are some of the actors starring in the movie. With none of the members involved in the film industry, do they feel at sea in Mollywood? “Not really, we are learning on the job. In fact, some of our batch-mates in the UAE made a short film titled Back and Beyond . It was screened at theatres in Sharjah recently.”
Chapters , which is being directed by Sunil Ibrahim and produced by Shafeer Sait under the banner of Qurbani Films, will hit theatres in October. Kris Kaimal is the cinematographer and Mejo Joseph is the music director.
