Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | NXg | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest |

Thrill of the road

Plotting movies: Blessy.

Tighten your seatbelts for a ‘road movie,’ a suspense thriller from…Blessy! The director who is at home directing family dramas and films on social issues such as ‘Thanmathra’ and ‘Kazhcha,’ now feels that he should take on new, thrilling plots such as the road movie genre in which the story takes place during a journey. His ‘Bheemam,’ starring Mohanlal, is all set to begin shoot next month at Coimbatore. “This role offers Mohanlal as much scope to display his acting prowess as that of the Alzheimer patient Ramesan Nair in ‘Thanmathra,’” says Blessy. ‘Bheemam’ might be a suspense thriller, but it is not a whodunit or a cop-chasing-an-elusive-thief kind of film. It is a story of a taxi driver and his two classmates, one of whom has gone on to become a doctor and the other a successful stockbroker.

“The main theme of the film is revenge. The timeline of the story is just five days. So it has only a few characters and a no-frills narration. I believe this is going to be the first road movie of Malayalam,” claims Blessy.

Suresh Menon, the funny man from Bollywood, debuts in Malayalam as the stockbroker. V.G. Muralikrishnan, last seen in ‘Rasikan,’ plays the doctor. Bollywood actor Bhumika Chawla also makes her debut in Malayalam. Lakshmi Gopalaswamy plays the other important female character.

‘Bheemam’ is being produced by Raju Mallyath and Sulfikar. Blessy himself has scripted the film. “Writing the script of this film has proved to be quite an experience. When I began writing, I did not know what twists the film would take. The characters led me through the story. It was the first time that has happened to me as a screenwriter,” he says.

Blessy still finds it difficult to believe that he has become a scriptwriter, and quite a successful one at that. “After ‘Kolkata News,’ I thought I never would be able to write another script. I wrote ‘Kazhcha’ because I could not convince established scriptwriters that the story had the potential of a film. They also told me that it would be difficult to turn Padmarajan’s short story ‘Orma’ into ‘Thanmathra,’” he recalls.

But it was Mammootty, who played the lead in ‘Kazhcha,’ who gave him the confidence to grab the bull by the horns. “He told me: “You just write down what you have told me” and I did. He admits he is a bit disappointed that his last two films, ‘Palunku’ and ‘Kolkata News’ were not as well received as the first two.

“That was probably because the audience was expecting ‘Kazhcha’-like and ‘Thanmathra’-like films from me. ‘Palunku’ was about consumerism and ‘Kolkata News’ about trafficking.

“I have always wanted each of my film to be different. So I am glad that I am doing a film that has a gripping narrative. I have enjoyed watching gripping narratives such as the 1953 French film ‘The Wages of Fear’ and the 2003 Russian film ‘The Return.’ In Malayalam, ‘Thazhvaram’ remains my favourite in this genre,” says Blessy.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail