As a kid, have you ever feared darkness?
Ever feared to walk alone in a deserted alley?
Ever feared to leave your bed, alone in the night?
You always feared a hidden danger.
You knew what ever that existed in the darkness would have no innocence.
Now, a mysterious city not far from yours has gifted the very same fear with
a body and soul.
It has gripped the strange city in the form of an intentional destroyer on
the prowl.
Sounds like Manoj Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense, or Francis Lawrence’s I am Legend or Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris or Kar Wai Wong’s 2046? Well, these are the signature lines of the theme for Malayalam movie — D-17.
And the team behind D-17 is a clutch of first batch Post Graduate students from Kerala’s Cochin University.
And if Malayalam filmdom’s stalwart Mammootty’s observation “the era of visual communication students has begun” is an endorsement of the promise that these ambitious GenX aspirants’ hold, then D-17 could indeed be a turning point in Malayalam mainstream cinema. With the mushrooming of media schools across the country, the enterprising ensemble of D-17 may be the harbinger of things to come.
What’s more, that these noviciates, wanting to hit big time, have been able to rope in Hindi film actor Atul Kulkarni to play the protagonist in their production speaks of the spark and spirit that these students seem to exhibit and the courage of conviction they have in them to deliver.
Promising that D-17 will be a complete entertainment fare, and describing the film to be ‘fun mystic’ the director duo of Manu and Chidambaram stall any further probing or revelation of the story and the structure. The two, however, hasten to add that D-17 will see Malayali audiences sit up and take notice, stating the film is a mixed medley of mystery, fun and thrill.
One other interesting note is that the team seems to work in tandem of twos. For if the director’s mantle has fallen on Manu and Chidambaram, the cinematography side sees Prabhu and Vinod cranking the camera.
The reason, they attribute to this dual combo is since the film has the twin mood of fun and mystery, the two cinematographers trained under the tutelage of eminent camera person Rajiv Menon will tackle these aspects independently.
The other members that constitute the D-17 cogent force include editor Arunkumar, production controller George Stephen who was a sub-editor at Jeevan, and dialogue writer Ashley Orrottiyil, an HP employee, both of whom quit their jobs to pursue their passion of cinema with D-17. The hunt is on for a musician who shares a similar yen to be different and deliver, says Manu and Chidambaram.
On Atul as the choice, the duo while describing Atul as a receptive and intelligent actor as also one of the friendliest and warmest persons, pointed out that what ultimately made Atul bet his acting acumen on the Malayalam cinema of starry-eyed students was the script and the narrative style.
Tutored under an impressive list of subject experts such as Prof Sivaprasad, K G George and John Paul, B Unnikrishnan, they give them credit saying these mentors are our strength and faith. “Start with what you know and the later will be known to you” is what John Paul advised us.
Despite all these aspirations, the students’ ambitions would have remained thus if they had not found an equally enterprising and encouraging producer in Eldho Joseph Pachilakadan, a young and leading architect in India, who has bet his moolah on their maiden march to Malayalam movie marquee.
With everything falling in place, D-17 will go on the floors Ides of March 2008 and hit the screens May 2008.
With Manu, Chidambaram et al promising to be a new breed of film-makers, here’s wishing them well as they step into a tricky territory and hoping that their teeming talents brings them rich rewards at the turnstile.
