Question of questions

Pullikaran Stara has Mammootty playing a teacher who follows his own school of thought in the classroom

Syam Dhar (left) with Mammootty on the sets of Pullikaran Stara

Syam Dhar still can’t get over the fact that he directed none other than Mammootty in

Pullikaran Stara, the filmmaker’s second venture. “Just imagine, he was a super star in 1986, the year I was born. He is a legend I grew up with. I was in awe of him and was terribly nervous when I went to narrate the story to him along with scenarist Ratheesh Ravi. But, contrary to all the rumours I had heard about him being short tempered and taciturn, he was extremely patient and cooperative with newcomers like us,” he gushes.

He recalls how Mammootty never interfered in the film’s shooting or tried to call the shots on the sets. “Even when he wanted to make a suggestion, it was a suggestion!”

Syam had made a mark with his debut film 7th Day some three years ago. Since, it was a thriller with a lot of twists and turns in the plot, Syam got a number of offers to direct similar films. But the youngster did not want to jump into something similar and waited till he got a story that appealed to him. That was what he found in Ratheesh’s story of a school teacher from Idukki.

Interesting name

“Even the name Rajakumaran piqued my curiosity. He is someone who lives by his own rules. He comes to Kochi to implement a government scheme called ‘Lalityam’ to bring about changes in the system of teaching in schools. He holds that instead of teachers asking questions and students answering those, students must ask questions for teachers to answer. That is the way, according to him, to awaken a child’s interest in academics. Rajakumaran’s close friend is Kuriachen, played by Dileesh Pothen. The characters in the film have been well fleshed out by Ratheesh. Asha Sharath is in the role of Manjari Muraleedharan, a teacher, and Deepti Sati as Manjima, a techie. Innocent appears as Omanakshan Pillai. No one has been overshadowed by the star and that is one of the attractions of the film,” insists Shyam.

The right content

Alencier, Maniyanpillai Raju and Sunil Sukhada are also in the cast. The youngster is confident his movie has the right content to appeal to family audiences of today and that it will deliver a message without preaching. “Everyone will find something to relate to in the film, right from children to parents and elders,” says Syam.

M. Jayachandran has scored the music and Gopi Sundar has composed the background music. It has been produced by B. Rakesh under the banner of Universal Cinemas and filmed by Vinod Ilampally.

“It is a family flick, a feel good film with a lot of lighter moments,” says Syam.