The first story of Oru KadhaiPadattuma Sir opens with a woman longingly looking at the waves crashing on the shore. A couple of fishermen stops by, and asks her what she’s doing there all by herself. “ Avar varuvaar (He will come),” she tells them.
The story cuts to flashback — about how she married a fisherman, and how their days of togetherness pan out. They do not want to spend their first night without knowing each other; so, on a whim, they take a stroll to the beach. A melody, ‘Kaadhal Vaasam’, plays out as they spend time chatting late into the night.
A day later, he’s at sea and she’s home, awaiting him. He might even take two days to come back, depending on the catch, and she bides her time waiting for him to be back. There’s a sense of yearning as she looks into the deep blue, and a song plays out. Once he’s back, they crave for some physical intimacy. Another song plays out.
The story goes on, told in a musical format. This 20-minute film, directed by Mithran Jawahar ( Yaaradi Nee Mohini , Kutty ), will be the first among 40 musical short stories to be aired in Colors Tamil from today.
Different genres
One of the men behind this unique first-of-its-kind initiative is lyricist Madhan Karky, whose online music portal DooPaaDoo is putting together the content. “We first pick a good story, then pen the lyrics and then compose tunes for it. We’re doing everything that used to happen in the film industry many decades ago, when MSV and Kannadasan were ruling the roost. But since our initiative is just 20-plus minutes, it’s akin to the quick, T-20 format of consumption for audiences,” he explains.
Karky describes this as an Indianised version of a Broadway musical, with all the films having minimum dialogues. While there are some films that will have to be told musically, there are some in which the story itself lends itself to a musical element. “For instance, we’re doing a film about a rock band that goes to a village, and challenges the local musicians for a musical joust. The rural musicians end up performing at a city pub while the rock band performs at a village. This kind of story easily lends itself to music.”
People associated with the stories in Oru Kadhai Padattuma Sir are mostly upcoming talents, be it directors, actors or lyricists. Forty films falling under different genres have been scheduled for the forthcoming weeks. “We wanted it to be short and crisp. Even if you miss one, you can catch another one the next day without worrying about continuity. That way, it’s easy for audience consumption.”
While most stories are those that will be rooted in culture and throw the spotlight on local tales, there are others that will be quirky and fun. There’s a film on time travel; a group of Rajinikanth fans time-travelling to the day when the actor, then Sivaji Rao Gaekwad, met director K Balachander for his first audition. There are other interesting films; one tells the story of a gaana war happening in North Madras and another tells a story from the point of view of a tea glass.
A platform for all
The co mmon thread to all these films are that they’d all be musical in nature, with songs connecting the dots in the narrative. How does Karky hope for such a concept to work at a time and age when films themselves are cutting down the number of songs? “The main reason people walk away is that songs do not fit into the structure of the story. The other is that they’ve already heard the song, or think that they have the opportunity to catch it later, on TV or the Internet. But here, we’re trying to tell the entire story using the song as a device.”
Karky himself isn’t writing for any of the stories. “I’d like to take up the role of a mentor and guide young lyricists and believe this will be a great platform for them, apart from giving opportunities for aspiring directors and composers.” He singles out a song that he was personally attracted to, about the story of a father taking his young son to their ancestral village. “When they go there, nothing from the past exists... except a grandmother who narrates tales. There’s a song, ‘Gramatha Kaanum’, that really caught my fancy.”
Oru Kadhai Padattuma Sir will be aired on Colors Tamil, Monday to Friday at 8.30 pm
