To see or not to see, that is the question. Well, ‘see' could be the answer. Shakespeare is back amidst us again, in Creativeland Pictures', ‘Karmayogi', (an adaptation of Hamlet) which V. K. Prakash, the ‘Freaky Chakra' guy directs, after ‘Gulmaal'. But the genres are as different as chalk and cheese, one realises after a preview of ‘Karmayogi'. Emotions get to be on centrestage and Prakash has left the adman in him way behind on the track and touched the finishing line triumphantly with the tag ‘movie director' written all over him. ‘Karmayogi' is scheduled to be released sometime in mid-July. This is the movie which got Riza Bava the award for best dubbing artiste and special mention by the jury for Thalaivasal Vijay in the State Film Awards. Riza Bava dubbed for Vijay.
Shakespeare fan
The writer, Balram Mattannur is a die-hard Shakespeare fan, for he also wrote ‘Kaliyattom', where Suresh Gopi plays the Othello-type character in the background of Theyyam, where this art form was ideal to portray the qualities of Othello. In ‘Karmayogi', it's Rudran Gurukkal and the background is Kalari and Kelipathram, a ritual that has its home in north Kerala. Balram, who is from Mattannur is familiar with all these art forms and rituals. Poorakkali is the equivalent of the play, The Murder of Gonzago within the play, in ‘Hamlet'.
The adaptation is limited to the storyline and characters. The ambience and situations are completely Indian and something that is original. “It has been 14 years since I wrote ‘Kaliyattam',” says the writer, who is planning two more Shakespearean scripts in Malayalam, ‘King Lear' and ‘Macbeth', with different directors and totally different milieus.
Prakash is actually ready with two movies. The other one is ‘Three Kings', a comedy. Prakash has made a couple of movies in Malayalam, after his noteworthy ‘Punaradhivasam', which won awards at the National and State level. A School of Drama product, he drifted into the ad world with success and today, has one leg in advertising and another in movies, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada, besides Malayalam. “Karmayogi is a movie which has elements of both theatre and cinema in it. I have tried to use the actors' eyes to advantage. The difference between an ad film and a feature is that I have to say something in 30 seconds in one and I get two and a half hours for it in the other.” Prakash agrees that in ‘Mullavalliyilum Thenmavum', the adman stood out. In ‘Karmayogi', the hurry isn't there; the story and emotions are allowed to sink in with élan.
‘Desi' Hamlet
Indrajit, the protagonist, plays the ‘desi' Hamlet called Rudran. He is a picture of indecision and procrastination and gets to portray an enviable range of emotions and action. He wields the ‘urumi' with success, as his brother did in the movie with the same name.
Nithya Menon is Ophelia personified; the mystery and beauty intact, someone to watch out for. Saiju Kurup, Thalaivasal Vijay, Padmini Kolhapure, M. R. Gopakumar, Ashokan, Manikuttan, the seductive, sultry Kani have all been cast intelligently. Manikkuttan as a soldier does well in his cameo role. Sajive Nair, of Creative Shop, an ad firm and Vachan Shetty, are the producers who made ‘Karmayogi' possible through Creative Pictures. Says the Mumbai-based Sajive, “All those Malayalam movies we grew up watching in the eighties influenced me to enter the film world.” Vachan Shetty from Bangalore is the man who financed ‘Rithu'. “I am always open to good cinema,” says Vachan.
He is also the producer of Prakash's Kannada movie which has five plays of Jayaprakash Kuloor, woven into a whole, a la ‘Kerala Café.'
With R.D. Rajashekhar's camera (‘Ghajini', ‘4 the People', ‘Khakka Khakka') being steadfast to the theme and story, without ‘overdoing' things to attract attention, there are memorable sequences in the fight scenes and also romantic reels. By the way, the fight scenes are very realistic, no ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' copycat moments. Cuckoo Parameshwaran's costumes keep up with the period-fairytale style.
‘Karmayogi' is a fairytale presentation of a period story which can well turn topical, theme-wise, as all Shakespearean writings are.
