It is said that every person has a story to tell, and it is one such story that has been brought to the big screen by K. Gopinath, in his debut venture as a director. The movie, titled Ithra Mathram , is an adaptation of the eponymous book by Kalpatta Narayanan.
Among the many prominent members of the cast are recent State award winners Shwetha Menon and Malavika, along with Biju Menon, Nedumudi Venu, Siddique, KPAC Lalitha and Anoop Chandran.
Newcomers Rashi Bharadwaj, Gayathri and Vinu Joseph are also part of the cast.
Memories
Ithra Mathram tells the story of Sumitra (Shwetha Menon), a homemaker based in Wayanad. The narrative unfolds with her death and the memories she has left behind, which the other characters relive at her funeral.
This unconventional plot mechanism of living the fragmented memories of a life that has ended, through which the lifestyle and routine of the society is revealed, is the crux of the movie.
Says director Gopinath: “I would not label the film an entertainer. It is about the life of a person who is just like any of us. How she interacts with other people in the community, her relationship with her husband and daughter as well as the socio-cultural environment of Wayanad a few years ago are addressed in the film. It is something I believe the audience can relate to personally”.
Gopinath, a professor of Philosophy at the University of Calicut, has been associated with films for over 25 years. He won a State film award for his book Cinemayum Samskaravum in 2005.
According to him, Kalpatta’s detailed and descriptive writing is one of the reasons that inspired him to adapt the book to film, the script for which he wrote himself.
“Kalpatta Narayanan is a very accomplished writer and I found that writing the script for the movie was a pleasure as well as a challenge. The novel has a strong visual language and has an episodic narrative that I have tried to preserve in the film, giving each section its unique feel,” he says.
Ithra Mathram is produced by A.I. Devaraj and P.K. Santosh Kumar. Cinematography is by K.G. Jayan, with music by Jaison J. Nair and lyrics by Rafeeq Ahmed. The movie is set to release on August 17.
