At a time when civil society is debating tougher laws, even the death penalty, for rape and other heinous crimes, filmmaker S.P. Jhananathan’s multi-starrer, ‘Purampokku’, he says, will question the relevance of capital punishment in a democratic and free society.
The crucial portion of the film, which is set in a jail, will be shot inside a massive set erected at Binny Mills in the city, starting from next month.
S.P. Jhananthan, an avowed Marxist, says that the arbitrariness of capital punishment and lack of spotlight on life inside jails will be the focus of his film.
“The uneducated and underprivileged form the largest chunk of people who fill up jails. How will they have means to fight their case? Also, when I did my research, I was surprised to find that there were no proper official records of those sent to the gallows so far. So, who knows how many have been put to death in India? These were the some of the issues that nudged me to write this film.”
The jail sequences, he says, will focus on what has been traditionally edited out of filmic narrative.
“For example, there are jails where the inmates even do farming. In films, however, jails are often portrayed as a place that houses hardened criminals, but we are seldom told that it is also a place that shelters those who are psychologically scarred for life. This film will try to break away from such past representations.”
For the first time since the production began in January, the prison sequences will have Arya, Vijay Sethupathi, Shaam and Karthika Nair, coming face-to-face.
‘Purampokku’ is being produced by S.P. Jhananathan's Binary Pictures in association with UTV motion pictures.
There’s never a dull moment at the Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram these days.
The State government body, established with the purpose of promoting the traditional arts of Tamil Nadu, is now headed by two dynamic personalities from the Tamil film industry - music director Deva and comedian P. S. Sachu.
The two are on a tour of Malaysia along with a troupe of artistes from June 17 to June 27, Ms. Sachu says. What distinguishes them from the usual cultural troupe that goes abroad is that this unit comprises completely of rural folk artistes who perform, among other arts, Karagam , Kollattam , Mayilattam , Oyillattam , Kavadi , Kaliyaattam , and Kaalayattam .
(Reporting by Udhav Naig and Ramya Kannan)
