Two bureaucrats allow their creativity to flourish

It’s sometimes tempting to bracket administrators and bureaucrats as really serious men; stiff, diligent practitioners of the gravitas. Two civil servants in Kerala – K Ampady and N Prasanth – are trying to defy the type with their film screenplay that looks, satirically, into the core of every Malayali.

They call it the Malayali Particle, a spoofy spin to the God Particle; a blend of asooya (envy), kushumpu (jealousy) and puchcham (contempt). They are calling their film A ku pu Complex.

Ampady is Managing Director of Kerala State Coastal Area Development Corporation (KSCADC) and Prasanth is Managing Director of Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC). “We had arrived at the film’s title first. While we were bouncing off ideas, we started discussing how the Malayali has the ability to laugh at himself.

That led us to the theme and helped us decide on the overall tone of the film,” Ampady told Deccan Herald. Acclaimed filmmaker V K Prakash will direct the film that revolves around a scientist’s discovery of the fictional “particle”.

Popular actor Indrajith Sukumaran is being roped in to play the lead. Ampady is a 2002 batch IIS officer and Prasanth, a 2007 batch IAS officer. They say the similar wavelengths they hit and the common passion they share for films have helped them work seamlessly on the project.

The film takes a satirical look at the social, cultural and spiritual spaces of Kerala. The treatment is spoofy and the characters borrow their names from mythology, on the lines of the film Panchavadipalam, K G George’s much-celebrated satire. The duo started working on the idea late in 2011 and now, they have a bound script ready. It was a tough task considering the official pressures and deadlines they had to meet everyday. Prasanth said his most productive bits materialised during his flights. “Three or four hours without meetings, phone calls or other interruptions – it
really helps to focus and type away,” he told Deccan Herald.

When both officers were in Thiruvananthapuram, they made it a point to meet and discuss the film. Sometimes, they had to battle mismatched office hours. They shared notes through e-mails and text messages to beat the snag. The sensibilities were similar and the rapport strong, making it easier for them to work together. As the officers enter the pre-production stage of the film that’s expected to start rolling
between October and December this year, they are aware of the spotlight their professional credentials could bring along.

In Kerala, these are times when the debate on civil servants’ right to express is taking centre stage. B Sandhya, a senior IPS officer, recently landed in trouble over a poem that targeted politicians, bureaucrats and the media. Government officials have also found themselves cornered over what they shared on their social media pages.

Do they watch what they write? Prasanth said they realised that people could get more offended when the barbs come from civil servants. “Our jobs don’t rest­rict us in what we pursue creatively but it’s also good to exercise control on what we choose to write and how. There are enough subjects in the world to explo­re,” he said. Ampady said though there were “limitations” while choosing subjects for their films, the trick was in not getting overtly critical or personal.

Ampady has already written Ayaal, directed by veteran filmmaker Suresh Unnithan. The film – set in an intriguing space of myths, love and desire – is winning critical acclaim. Prasanth has his writing roots in theatre and is a columnist with leading periodicals in Malayalam. The officers are in discussions on two more films.