This coincidence that the real event happened while the left was ruling and the movie is releasing while another left government is ruling shows us how these left parties who came to power through various revolts and protests deal with some issues related to marginalized communities. I definitely have an answer to the question, but I can’t reveal it before the release of the movie. What can you tell us about this coincidence? Now when the movie is releasing, a left government is in charge. The real incident happened when the left government was ruling Kerala. I haven’t been forced to include a song or romantic track.
Most of the movie is based on the research I did for it. Other than that, we haven’t made any changes. In order to keep a lucid cinematic language, we have made some small changes to the real story. I haven’t compromised anything for this movie. How did you maintain the balance between a real incident and the demands of a mainstream movie? Ravi knew Menon’s behavior, his stance on issues and his character. I didn’t have to explain anything about Menon to Ravi because he knew the former very well. Though I couldn’t meet him in person, TG Ravi was a close friend of Veerachandra Menon. When the police made threats, he actually challenged the police. Though Menon died a few years back, I have read about him and his role in that incident. One of the fascinating things was the casting of TG Ravi as Veerachandra Menon, who was the mediator between Ayyankali Pada and the government. The film has changed because of these details we got through research. There were some moments of wonder during my research which I can’t reveal now. For me, research is important for every script even if it’s pure fiction. My script was enriched through the details I gained from the conversations I had with them. I had long interviews with all these people who were involved in the real incident and dug out what went through their minds on that day. Lastly, I met WR Reddy who was held hostage by Ayyankali Pada. I also had conversations with the then DGP Jacob Punnoose and CP Nayar to understand the official proceedings that happened following the hostage situation. I learned a lot about Kerala’s revolutionary movements through conversations with RK Bijuraj, a prominent journalist who has written extensively about Kerala’s history of revolutions. Kallara Babu, Rameshan Kanhangad, Vilayodi Shivankutty, Ajayan Mannur and MN Ravunni helped me understand Ayyankali Pada. By talking to them, I was convinced that there are so many cinematic elements to this incident. So I had long conversations with the real people who were involved in the 1996 incident. When we first decided to make this real life incident into a film, my first doubt was whether a real incident can be made into a cinematic narrative, with dramatic moments, visual scope etc. I started research for this movie at the start of 2018. What kind of research went into the movie? I tried to include some pan India actors like Prakash Raj who fit naturally into the movie’s narrative. Kani Kusruthi plays the role of Vinayakan’s wife. That’s how Vinayakan, Kunchako, Dileesh and Joju were cast as Balu, Rakesh, Narayanankutty and Aravindan, respectively. While casting actors, we prioritised the factors that match with the characteristics of all the main characters in the movie.
I even tried to cast actors whose appearance is similar to the real life persons involved in the incident. In this movie, for the main characters, we had to understand the characteristics of those characters. When you think about doing a movie, some faces will come up in your mind to do certain characters. So when I do a movie on an incident that happened 25 years ago, people will think and discuss the relevance of this movie, relevance of the act, and the issues faced by marginalised communities. But here, they are still among the most marginalised communities. Even if we look at international politics, we can see how the indigenous communities in many countries have been brought into the mainstream and are being safeguarded. The community which constitutes only one percent of the total population is being marginalised by mainstream society even now. The community’s issues still remains the same it has not progressed a bit. Though this incident happened 25 years ago, the cause for which these four people risked their lives is still not resolved. The movie throws light on the condition of tribal communities in India and Kerala. As the movie is based on a real incident, I don’t want to kill the interest of the movie by narrating the story. I believe that a film belongs to the viewers. I don’t want to get into the storyline of the movie before its release as that’s not right. I can only talk about my personal inspiration to do this movie.
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