John Paul (Kunchacko Boban) of Kuttanadan Marpappa has never even been to the Vatican, but he bears about him the halo of a saint in his rustic hometown in Sreejith Vijayan’s directorial début.
“To begin with, our hero, who’s a well-intentioned but bumbling photographer, is a far cry from the real marpappa (the Pope), except for sharing the name,” says cinematographer-turned-director Sreejith (32) over phone about Kuttanadan Marpappa , all set to hit theatres today.
Sreejith, who cranked the camera for Salim Kumar’s award-winning film Karutha Joothan , himself wrote the script for Marpappa and he credits his “good friends” comedians Ramesh Pisharody and Dharmajan Bolgatty for the inspiration . “ I once narrated the storyline to Pisharody, who told me it had the potential to be made into a good movie. He encouraged me to pursue the project and soon Dharmajan put me through to Kunchacko,” says Sreejith.
Set in the verdant locales of Kuttanad, Sreejith promises that Marpappa will be an out-and-out family entertainer with a generous dash of “situational humour”, something the film’s trailer seems to vouch for.
The humour is brought forth via an exploration of the relationship between a proud single mother, Mary Paul, (Shanthi Krishna) and her idiosyncratic son (Kunchacko). Enjoying her second innings in Mollywood after a commendable comeback with Njandukalude Nattil Oridavela , Shanthi seems to have eased into the role and even handled the dialogues and dubbing with poise.
“She’s not a Malayali but she did not refuse to do the dubbing herself despite the big challenge of getting the Kuttanadan nasrani dialect right. It was very challenging for her, but she pulled it off with aplomb,” explains the Ernakulam-based director.
Shanthi, in fact for the first time, has even sung a lullaby, Eden poove kanmani... , which has gained notice.
“I had heard her hum and sing casually before. She had learnt singing when she was young. When I suggested that may be she could croon the lullaby, she was more than willing to give it a try. Much to my surprise, she learnt the song by heart in two hours and soon was on song,” reveals Sreejith. Another track, Sa re ga ma... , a fast dance number, too has received much appreciation. Music for Marpappa is composed by Rahul Raj, while Vinayak Sasikumar penned the lyrics, with Rajeev Alunkal writing one of the songs.
Although the focus is on the mother-son duo, Sreejith says romance does not take a backseat. “Aditi Ravi (as Jessy) plays the love interest of Kunchacko and her role is as important as the hero’s in taking the story forward. There are four-five shades of romance portrayed in the movie and it’s hard to bracket it. It’s not the usual head-over-heels type of romance. You will realise that when you watch the film. As much as parental love is central to the storyline, romance too plays a key role in Marpappa ,” says Sreejith. Veteran actor and comedian Innocent plays Jessy’s father.
Others in the line-up include Dharmajan, Ramesh Pisharody, Aju Varghese, Salim Kumar, Soubin Shahir, Tini Tom, Hareesh Kanaran, Dinesh Nair, Mallika Sukumaran among others. With the cinematography handled by ace Tamil lensman Arvind Krishna, Sreejith assures some arresting visuals of Kuttanad.
