Mollywood calling

Three debutant directors test their luck at the box office this week.Saraswathy Nagarajan

Scene from T.D. Dasan Std. VIB

Three filmmakers make their debut in tinsel town with three different themes for the Vishu season. If Mohan Raghavan's ‘T.D. Dasan, Std VI B' takes you into a child's world, Mammas Chandran's ‘Pappi Appacha' revives the golden pair of Dileep and Kavya Madhavan while Anil Nair's ‘Pulliman' is a Kalabhavan Mani-starrer. Moreover, among the big stars of Mollywood, only Dileep has a release for Vishu.

Heavyweights like Mohanlal, Mammootty, Suresh Gopi and Jayaram are taking it easy for this season. While some of their films reached theatres in the two weeks before Vishu, some will hit screens in the last week of April.

However that vacuum might prove to be of help to the three debutants who are all experienced hands in Mollywood. Mohan, for instance, has worked with stalwarts like K.P. Kumaran, Anil has worked as Lal Jose's assistant while Mammas has put in a number of years in filmdom assisting various directors.

Mohan's film underscores the truth that children, whether they live in a village or in a city, have the same emotional needs and concerns. Without the props of loud music, fisticuffs or item dances, Mohan narrates the story of Dasan, who longs to know more about his absent father.

Striking a chord

“Dasan's story can strike a chord in the heart of every parent and child. It is the longing for acceptance by his peers and friends,” says Mohan.

With unusual skill he juxtaposes the narrative with the struggle against a multinational bottling plant (Plachimada?) and the life in a village. Biju Menon, Swetha Menon, Valsala Menon, Suresh Krishna, Jagathy Srikumar, Jagadish and Mala Aravindan play the lead characters while Dasan and Ammu are sensitively enacted by Alexander and Teena Rose. The only song by Rafeek Ahammed has been tuned by Carnatic vocalist Sreevalsan J. Menon. What stands out in the film is the director's sincerity. In fact both Sreevalsan and cinematographer Arun Varma came on board after reading the script and meeting the director.

“Arun said he would decide after reading the script but once he heard the story he became enthusiastic about the project. It was a struggle at every stage – finance, dates, getting the right cast… But we did it. The entire film is narrated from a child's perspective and how each person reacts to a letter Dasan writes to his father,” says Mohan. The film has been produced by Paul Vadukumcherry and Paul Valikodath.

Mammas Chandran's ‘Pappi Appacha' is a comedy about a pompous, nouveau-riche father-son duo (Innocent and Dileep) who run the village of Ithirikandam like their fiefdom. Sparks fly when Annie, a school teacher (Kavya Madhavan), reaches the village and is aghast to find the village run by the father and son.

Says Mammas: “My dream was always to get Dileep and Kavya to play the lead roles. Moreover, I feel, Dileep and Innocent are a terrific pair. They had acted together as father and son in ‘Butler.' The film is about the happenings in this small village and its denizens. Vidyasagar has composed the music for the film.”

Clippings of Dileep in myriad colourful outfits for a song had already made news. Is it an inspired version of ‘Meesa Madhavan'? The director replies in the negative.

“It is a fun film starring Dileep and Kavya. The resemblance ends there,” adds Mammas.