Jacob’s ‘Chambal’ released unscathed

Jacob Varghese’s ‘Chambal’ hit a rough patch recently when a stay was sought by late IAS officer D K Ravi’s parents.

The couple, Gowramma and Kariyappa, alleged that the film portrayed their son in a bad light and wanted the film to be stopped from release.

Jacob Varghese, director

The High Court gave the film a clean chit on Thursday, and the film released as planned on Friday.

Speaking to Metrolife, Jacob affirmed that the film is a work of fiction.

“We were inspired by incidents around us. Things one reads and sees around them always affects them. We have put a disclaimer in the beginning of the film and that is my stand too,” he says.

Jacob finds the timing for such an appeal to be strange. He opines, “Everybody has a right to think and express what they want to, but it can be really frustrating when such things happen at the last minute. The trailer of the film was released on January 31 and it would have been better if these things had happened earlier.”

His earlier film ‘Prithvi’ was based on an IAS officer too.

“That just happened. I wanted to show the challenges an IAS officer faces. The similarities are that the story is about an upright IAS officer and the value systems are the same. Besides this, the situations. story and incidents showcased are different,” he says.

Jacob confirms that ‘Chambal’ is a completely different film.

“I have treated it as a different work; Chambal stands by itself. The main character in the film is from a small town who ends up in the city, unlike in ‘Prithvi’,” he says.

When asked if ‘Chambal’ will strike a chord with the audience, he says, “It will take me a lot of films to understand the audience. I will just keep making my kind of films and would be grateful if film buffs come and watch and appreciate them. I believe in doing what I really want to.”

On being asked if the proceedings could have affected the film, Jacob says that hype created ahead of the film cannot determine its fate.

“Friday is what determines the fate of a film, in any case. If the film is supposed to stay, it will,” he says.

My role is quite refreshing: Sonu Gowda

Actor Sonu Gowda plays a lead role and the wife of Sathish Ninasam in ‘Chambal’.

“I was excited about the very fact that it was a Jacob Varghese film. The film sparked a lot of curiosity. My role in the film is quite refreshing; whenever I appear on screens the audience is bound to feel relaxed.”