His world of words

Short story writer Santosh Aechikkanam on re-scripting Bharathan's Nidra

DEBUT IN MOLLYWOOD Santosh Aechikkanam

N idra directed by Siddharth Bharathan couldn't have been more different from the original directed by his father, the late auteur Bharathan. If the original was a dark tale of a man's degenerating relationship with society, the just-released remake is an exploration of humanity's deteriorating relationship with nature. At least a small measure of credit for brilliantly reworking what is essentially one of Malayalam cinema's cult classics rightly goes to Santosh Aechikkanam, the scenarist of the film.

Huge challenge

In his first screenplay in Malayalam, the 2008 Kerala Sahitya Akademi award-winning short story writer of

Komala , who also writes for popular daily soaps on Malayalam channels, has successfully managed to turn the story of Raju (played by Siddharth, who is reprising Vijay Menon's role), a troubled youngster boxed in by the expectations of a materialistic world, into a wholly contemporary setting, without taking away the essence of the character.

“It was never an easy task to redefine as solid a character as that of Raju or think from the perspective of a genius like Bharathan. The challenges were huge. When he made

Nidra 28 years ago, the milieu was completely different; the formula for a commercial cinema was completely different. In those days madness as a subject for cinema sold. Nowadays, the subject has no sale value from the commercial point of view. In the original there were a lot of aspects that Bharathan sir had left unsaid such as the bonds between man and nature – how Raju's sanity cannot cope with the loss of nature – and we took off from there. Nature is a character in the new film because it works for the present milieu. And although there is an undercurrent of madness throughout the film, it is never evident,” says Santosh, who signed up for the film after his other project with Siddharth – Mithram – fell through.

“We made our film in our times; Bharathan sir made his in his times. We were never under the delusion that our film would be a super-hit. We just wanted to make a good film. I am sure Bharathan sir would have liked what Siddharth has done with Nidra ,” muses the famously reticent Santosh, who seems to be on a high after the critical success of the film.

Hearing him talk about the industry, it's as if he knows the tricks of the trade. “After all, I write mega serials for a living...,” says the 40-year-old from Kanhangad, Kasaragod, bursting into laughter. In fact, his career as a scriptwriter is chock full of hit serials such as

Akashadoothu (currently on air on Surya TV),

Makal Marumakal ,

Manthrakodi , and so on. “Plotlines for serials may be a bit far-fetched and seem like a factory churning out one scene after another. But each kind of writing has its own individuality. As a writer I don't believe in sticking to one form of writing. If you call yourself a writer, you should be versatile and should be able to write poems, short stories, dramas, cinemas... the whole works,” says Santosh, who for a while, worked as a teacher in Kanhangad following a B.Ed degree from N.S.S.College, Ottapalam.

Over the years Santosh has written quite a few short stories and novels in Malayalam. His popular short story Idukki Gold (2010) is being adapted into a film by director Aashiq Abu. And is it an ode to the most expensive of marijuanas? “(Laughs). Not quite. Although the main character is introduced to Idukki Gold – a top quality marijuana – at one point in the story, it is actually a tale of childhood friendships; the tale of a septuagenarian, retired encounter specialist, and his friend from elementary school, a fraud named Behanan,” says Santosh.

Also upcoming for Santosh, is the film Meenathil Chandran , and another yet-to-be-titled one with Asif Ali in the lead and set in the backdrop of a B.Ed college., to be directed by Eshwar Santosh, an associate of director Jayaraj.