Chaayam - Scripting
Monday, July 26, 2010
I have a dream - to create a film, to visualise a concept which had long been lying in the back of my mind. Moreover I believe today, that it would be a revolution of thought and would provide a platform to showcase the skills and talents of our guys.
The thread was first shared with Sreeju on June-end and he enthusiastically supported me. We spent 2 rainy nights on the top floor of Palliyil Tharavad and gave it a better shape. The first setback came when Sreeju got placed in HSBC (Good timing!) and I was left alone to take the idea forward. Vysakh and Sreenath helped me to complete the thread. On July 10, I presented the script to Ganesh ettan - and he fanned the tiny inner sparks of possibility into fames. He was optimism personified. We named the film 'Verukal' temporarily, pegged the budget at 4000 Rs and while the world was watching FIFA World Cup, we chalked out the story thread and the blueprint for execution.
Ranthetta helped in finalising the script. We presented the script before ‘ettanmar’ on July 17 - not many were impressed. But I had faith in the cause and held my ground. I know, more homework should have been there and things should have been planned more diligently - but procrastination will only block everything and I don't think I will be able to risk more than a month behind this. Hence, I set out to make a crew from scratch. I picked up my close friends, Manu and Nithesh. Manu Madhavan worked on the narration and wrote splendid 3 pages of classic narration; Nithesh Bhaskaran had been working on the music right from July beginning. Vishnu from Alappey drew the storyboard for the first 7 min of the film (it took him 3 days and 3 bottles of beer to do that, Nevertheless he’s a genius). I caught red eye in between and ‘gifted’ it to Vishnu and co.
Dad fired me for not prioritising things and asked me to get out if I wanted to proceed with my crazy ideas, which I obediently did. Once I was ousted, I was able to concentrate completely on the task at hand. Nithesh’s house was temporarily made a workroom and we finalised the background music scores. I really don’t know what I would have done without Nithesh’s support. Manu composed a wonderful song – ‘njaanum ente swapnangalum’ which had a poetic charm to it. Mr optimism – Ganesh ettan, was busy with work at Kochi and couldn’t get physically involved for 2 weeks but kept calling every 15 min to improvise and suggest.
We are short of a heroine and have kept an alternative script without a heroine, just in case. The search for a heroine started from Kakkayur, friends and then extended to Thrissur and Kochi. We even tried to rope in a popular Tamil actress, Nima – but soon realised she was out of reach for us. Finally, Nimmi chechi helped us contact several artistes, still the search is on. We are short of manpower, as the Kakkayur guys haven’t taken the idea seriously. We are also severely short of money and have contacted Kakkayur Recreation Centre to promote and sponsor us. Shoot begins on Saturday 31/07/10 and we have just one thing with us – an unconquerable will. We hope!!
Amith PK
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Chaayam - Scripting
Friday, July 30, 2010
With one day remaining for the shoot, me and Nithesh luckily got to meet Priyanka of puthiya mukham fame(c/o Nimmi chechi). She readily agreed to join us, interested in the youth initiative. Once the heroine and the crew availability were confirmed, we swung into action. All theKakkayur guys together cleared the huge branches and leaves at aalthara. Rajesh ettan and Mani ettan helped us bring the ‘properties’ from Thathamangalam. Mithun joined us at 7pm, we arranged the vilakkukal from kaavu. Ganesh Bai was coming from Kochi and we went to pick him from Alathur. Me, Mithun and Ganesh Bai spent the whole night planning and putting up the ‘set’, boosted by black teas and you know what.
