A group of students of the Aided Upper Primary School in Chembrasseri in Malappuram district are watching themselves on the big screen these days and getting recognised on the streets.
Lasagu , a full length feature film made by the students, teachers, and the alumni of this school, was released in major theatres in north Kerala last week and is scheduled for release across the State soon.
It was last year during a discussion for the school’s ‘Mikavu’ project, to nurture various talents of the children, that Sumod and Gopu, two old students of the school, suggested the idea of making a feature film to the teachers. They got a school-centric script ready.
Soon, a ‘chalachitra nidhi’ to collect funds for the film was formed, with the teachers pitching in with various amounts of money every month.
The management also agreed to contribute to the production.
The next task was to get the children ready. A series of film camps were conducted for the students and the actors were selected from among them.
“Except two television actors who don the roles of the teachers, rest all are done by the students, teachers, or alumni of the school. Almost 90 per cent of the technical work, except music and cinematography, were also done by the alumni. Despite it being a school project, we worked like a professional film unit.
The school even got membership in the Producer’s Association and the Film Chamber. We were able to complete the whole project at Rs.15 lakh. Though many schools have made short films and documentaries, this is Kerala’s first school feature film,” says Gopu, one of the directors of the film.
Set in school
The film is set in a school, where the normal atmosphere is disturbed when a series of questions appear at different places on the campus.
When one of the teachers follows the clues, each of the questions leads into the lives of one of the students there and highlights issues which need urgent attention.
“We took all the students for a preview show. It got released at a theatre in Mancheri, which is the nearest release centre to the school, and the people here have ensured steady collections over the weekend. They were all surprised by how so many performers ended up in the same school. The students warmed up to the camera pretty fast and they all have performed exceedingly well,” says Gopu.
