Painting the portrait of an artist on screen

Cast of Susmesh Chandroth’s upcoming film Padmini interact with artists at Nanappa Art Gallery

ON A ROLL:Actor Anumol, who plays the role of artist T.K. Padmini in an upcoming film, with artists of the Nanappa Art Gallery in the city on Sunday. Director Susmesh Chandroth, actor Sanju Sivaram and artist T. Kaladharan are seen.— PHOTO: BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

For the bunch of young actors, it was an attempt to get as close to their subject as possible and to share their experiences reliving the life of T.K. Padmini, a prodigy who created her own distinctive style in art.

At the Nanappa Art Gallery here on Sunday, the cast of Susmesh Chandroth’s upcoming film, Padmini, interacted with artist T. Kaladharan and the participants of a workshop organised in memory of the woman artist.

Grooming

According to Susmesh, Kaladharan played a crucial role in grooming actor Anumol as Padmini, the central character.

“Films about artists should not come badly unstuck when it comes to the central plot — recreating their paintings. Hence, we took the trouble to provide authentic training to Anumol, under Kaladharan maash , so as to get her to enact the painting scenes effectively,” the director said.

The five-day long workshop at Nanappa Art Gallery was attended by 10 women artists from different parts of Kerala, whose paintings will be exhibited at the Durbar Hall Art Gallery from Monday onwards.

The film, scripted by the director himself, was shot in three schedules spanning eight months. The plot revolves around the journey of a girl from Edappal, who walked ahead of her time and who left the scene at the age of 29, long before the world could fully appreciate her genius.

“It was T.K. Gopalan, Padmini’s relative, who entrusted me with this project and it took me nearly a year to complete the basic research,” said the director.

The cast has an array of young actors like Sanju Sivaram and new faces including Ayillyan, son of renowned artist C.N Karunakaran, who will be depicting his father on screen. Amudha portrays the young Padmini while C.N. Sumesh dons the role of Edassery Govindan Nair, another lead character.

The music composed by Sreevalsan J. Menon plays an important role in story-telling as it hurtles through strange and new paths. The film is currently in the post-production stage and is intended to be screened at film festivals around the world.