Here is a list of interesting lesser-known facts and behind-the-scenes trivia from Malayalam Cinema for all those movie enthusiasts out there.
1. Have you wondered what the “Ilama Pazham”, the outlandish fruit from the film Guru, was made of? The mouth-watering edible version of the luscious fruit that Mohanlal voraciously ravage right before going blind was carved out of a papaya!
2. Thilakan who is well known to have acted as husband to maximum number of characters played by Kaviyoor Ponnamma had debuted in Malayalam Cinema playing her son in the 1973 P.J. Antony film Periyar.
3. K.P.A.C. Lalitha was not physically present for the filming of the iconic toilet scene in Manichitrathazhu where she breaks into a hilarious argument with Mohanlal over the partition wall. It’s the dubbing later that animated the scene to posterity.
4. The enormous well that traps the bull in Lijo Jose Pellisserry’s eccentric Jallikattu right before the film cuts for interval was not an actual pit dug into the ground, but a 25 feet tall structure built above ground.
5. Vincent Gomas from Rajavinte Makan was a character originally written for Mammootty by screenwriter Dennis Joseph but was eventually played by Mohanlal. Mammooty had refused owing to his differences with director Thambi Kannamthanam who produced the blockbuster himself selling every last bit.
6. The 1986 crowd-funded Malayalam film Amma Ariyan directed by John Abraham is the only Malayalam film to feature in the list of British Film Institute’s Top 10 Indian Films polled in 2002. It is in fact, the only south Indian film to share the honors with Pather Pannchali, Pyaasa and Sholay.
7. The acclaimed film Take-off faced severe censorship in almost all countries except India. It was banned in Kuwait just hours before the show; almost 10 minutes of the film was censored in the UAE; the IS flag had to be blurred for the UK shows; and in Saudi Arabia, there was a Fatwa against the film for “representing the country as terrorist sympathizer”!
8. The Mohanlal classic Kireedam was first named “Gunda” and then renamed as “Mul-kireedam” before finally assuming the existing name. The film’s screenwriter A. K. Lohithadas had originally used the name “Kireedam” for his previous screenplay, which got made into the film Mukthi directed by I.V. Sasi.
9. The shocking climax scene of Nirmalyam was filmed inside an actual temple in Edappal where the Velichapad played by the non-Hindu actor P.J. Antony was sneaked in through a side door (while a body-double dressed as Velichapad was brought in through the main entry for diversion) on the final day of filming on location. However the idol of the deity he spits on was created inside a movie set.
10. The role of the unforgettable Nandini in Kilukkam was originally offered to actor Amala, which owing to her prior commitments, eventually went to Revathy who owned it like a world champion!
11. The rip-roaring comedy Nadodikattu was saved by the breadth of a hair from being shelved owing to the production hell it went through with non-stop reschedules caused by unwell actors, plagiarism allegations and accidents to mention a few.
12. The childhood of Karuthamma and Pareekutty that was filmed for the 1965 National Award Winning Ramu Kariat film Chammeen was edited out of the final cut by editor Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
13. Screenwriter Lohithadas had initially written the mute sister of the singer siblings in Bharatham as the daughter of Nedumudi Venu. She was later reimagined as their sister since a young son was pivotal to the climax where the news of his death is accidentally revealed during the funeral rites.
14. Mammootty film Manu Uncle which went on to win the National Award for the best children’s film of 1988 was inspired by Enid Blyton’s children’s adventure novels Famous Five and Secret Seven.
15. 16 years before the dizzying visuals of gravity fight scene inside the spinning corridor in Christopher Nolan’s Inception held audience under spell, it was created in the visionary 1984 Malayalam 3D film My Dear Kuttichathan where the kids walked on the walls set inside a rotating room to bring around the same effect.
16. The climactic action between Sethumadhavan and Keerikadan Jose in Kireedam was not choreographed by a stunt coordinator nor rehearsed. Sibi Malayil shot it as an impromptu brawl where both Mohanlal and Mohan Raj, improvised blow after blow staying within the framing limits set by two cameras.
17. The initial posters of Sreenivasan directorial Vadakkunokkiyanthram was accompanied by a tagline that read “Loka-charithrathil Aadhyamayi Thalathil Dineshan’te Katha Abhrapalikalil!” (The Story of Thalathil Dineshan on the Silver Screen for the First Time in History!).
18. The haunting Thekkini from Manichitrathazhu was created inside the Vasan House in Chennai, the house of late S. S. Vasan, the founder of Gemini Studios. It was one of the film’s key locations apart from Padmanabhapuram Palace and Hill Palace.
19. The Malayalam movie with the longest theatrical run of all time is the 1991 Siddique-Lal comedy Godfather that ran for 417 days on end in Sreekumar Theatre in Trivandrum.
20. There is a lengthy single zoom-shot in Gandhinagar IInd Street used on a conversation between Mohanlal and Sreenivasan that was captured out-of-focus owing to a camera glitch but is still there in the final cut owing to the possible logistical impracticality of a reshoot with busy actors back in the 80’s.
21. For the female voice in Adoor’s Mathilukal that was lent by KPAC Lalitha, dubbing artist Bhagyalakshmi was rejected at the audition as her voice reminded Adoor Gopalakrishnan of Shobana from the numerous dubbing works she had done for the actor, and since he did not want to attribute a face to the voice from behind the wall.
22. In the climax of Nadodikattu, Ananthan Nambiar was played by a body double of actor Thilakan as he had met with an accident right before filming the climax.
23. The popular idiom “Bharathan-Touch” associated with the creative genius of director Bharathan was coined by poster designer Gayathri Ashok and was used for the first time on the poster of his 1993 film Chamayam.
24. There are parts of the background score in 1983 Mammootty film Coolie that was created by music director Raveendran with untrained human voices for lack of fund for musicians during post production. It is especially notable in an action scene between Mammootty and Ratheesh where male voices hum and growl in chorus.
25. Cinematographer Venu admits Padmarajan’s Njan Gandharvan to be his most unsatisfying work to date as he considered he was unable to do justice to the film’s subject matter and its grand vision.
26. Rasheed, the freelance journalist played by Mohanlal in Hariharan’s critically acclaimed Panchagni, was initially a guest role written for one scene and offered to veteran actor Naseerudheen Shah. The recast later happened at the request of Mohanlal, following which the scope of the character was extended by screenwriter M.T. Vasudevan Nair.
27. For the filming of the first Desktop film in Malayalam language C U Soon that was shot entirely during the first year of COVID-19 pandemic, the cast and crew moved into one apartment building, and for every shot, while each actor was filmed, the one he/she was virtually and remotely communicating with was also performing in the same room behind the camera, and vice versa.
28. The original title of Ponmuttayidunna Tharavu was Ponmuttayidunna “Thattaan”, and was changed owing to sever protests from the goldsmith community that was terribly offended from the title and the poster depicting a goose with actor Sreenivasan’s head laying a golden egg!
29. The house of Aadu Thoma and Chacko Master in Spadikam was actually the ancestral home of the first Chief Minister of Kerala EMS Namboothiripad in Kudamaloor.
photo: Stills from the film Spadikam, 1995
30. It was actor Prem Nazir who first approached director Hariharan in the 70’s to make a movie for Udaya Studio based on the then trendy Vadakkan Pattukal, which through the creative brilliance of M.T. Vasudevan Nair would eventually become the 1989 Mammootty epic Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha.
photo: Poster and still from the film Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha, 1989
No comments:
Post a Comment