Inter-connected lives

After the success of ‘Beautiful', director V.K. Prakash and actors Anoop Menon and Jayasurya reunite on screen for ‘Trivandrum Lodge'.

May 10, 2012 03:49 pm | Updated July 11, 2016 03:47 pm IST

METAPHOR FOR LIFE: A scene from 'Trivandrum Lodge.'

METAPHOR FOR LIFE: A scene from 'Trivandrum Lodge.'

One should really be careful while leaning on a wall or even when standing on the balcony at the location of director V. K. Prakash's (VKP) ‘Trivandrum Lodge,' the shooting of which is progressing on the first floor of an old building at Kalvathy, near Mattanchery in Kochi. Set designers have built new ‘walls' and additions made of thin sheets of plywood. These blend in so well with the existing structure that it's really difficult to know what's real and what's not – much to the misfortune of certain visitors to the set!

‘Trivandrum Lodge' is the latest film from the successful combination of VKP and actors Jayasurya and Anoop Menon, who gave us the hit film ‘Beautiful' last year.

VKP gives instructions to his crew regarding the shot and when the cameras start rolling actor Saiju Kurup begins to search for something in a pile of papers kept in a corner. Two cameras capture the sequence simultaneously from different angles and the visual is displayed on two monitors.

Feel-good film

The narrative of ‘Trivandrum Lodge' develops through various characters connected to an old lodge at Mattanchery. “It is not a conventional storyline that has a definite start, middle and an end but one that moves along while showing the lives of some characters, their relationships, and certain situations that connect them. In a way, it is a feel-good-film narrated with a humorous tint, one about love, lust, and longing,” says VKP.

Anoop Menon, who last scripted ‘Beautiful', turns scriptwriter again with ‘Trivandrum Lodge'. “The significance of the title can be explained in two ways. On one hand it is about a ‘Trivandrum' lodge situated in Mattanchery. Why it is named so is one of the sub plots, which also has a suspense element to it. On the other hand, on a larger canvas, the lodge is a metaphor for life and the different emotions that the human mind is capable of.”

Anoop's character in the film, Ravisankar, owns the lodge. “He is a hugely successful entrepreneur. The income from the lodge shouldn't really matter to him, but there may be some mysterious aspects that prompt him to keep it as such,” says Anoop.

Jayasurya, Janardhanan, Sukumari, P. Balachandran, Saiju, Arun, and a few others play the roles of those living in the lodge. “My character, Abdu, doesn't interact much with others and is perhaps sexually frustrated as well. He is not educated and does any kind of a job for a living. He rarely reveals his emotions, and even if he does it will be in a peculiar way,” says Jayasurya, as he gets ready to face the camera.

Honey Rose, who made her entry into movies with the film ‘Boy Friend' some years ago and who has been focussing mainly on Tamil and Telugu films for a while now, is the heroine of ‘Trivandrum Lodge.' She hopes that this will be her comeback film in Mollywood and has adopted a new name, Dhwani, which incidentally is also the name of her character in this film. “She is a rather bold girl, who has a style of her own and comes to the lodge to do illustrations and to write a coffee table book,” says the actor.

‘Trivandrum Lodge' is being produced under the banner of Time Ads. Pradeep Nair is the cinematographer. Lyrics by Anoop Menon have been composed by M. Jayachandran. Stills are by Sreejith.

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