Tribute to granny

K.B. Sreedevi is a quintessential writer in the realm of Malayalam literature, who is endowed with a noble, coruscating and a dulcet voice. She is known for her distinctive and poignant writing style interlaced with avenues of fresh imagination and creativity from a truly different and novel plane of thought.

And one of her novels, Yajnam, has been adapted to screen by none other than her grand-daughter Ranjana K. “Yajnam is one of my grandmother’s noted novels, which has bagged several awards including the Kumkumam award in 1974. As I wish to be an independent filmmaker, I thought I should begin my journey with this project which is a tribute to my granny. The novel deals with problems faced by the Brahmin community,” says Ranjana, 28, who hails from Thrissur.

The film has the major events from the novel, portraying no less than 15 important characters. The shooting occurred at the director’s ancestral home, Kudallur Mana in Palakkad, for eight days in May last year.

Renowned movies Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha, Anandabhadram and Nottam were filmed there. The movie has many new faces along with eminent actors Sarath Das and Babu Namboothiri, who has played a major role in the film.

A post-graduate in Fine Arts in Broadcast Journalism and Video Production from Amrita School of Arts and Sciences, Kochi, she is presently working as web content writer at an online portal in Kozhikode. “I had done a five-minute docu-fiction on Yajnam as part of my college project. This is my first experience in the film field, directing a 40-minute feature film. I had to compromise a lot while shooting, but I am 75 percent satisfied with my work,” says Ranjana.

“The trailer was released on Facebook on August 1 and the film will have a public screening in Thrissur soon. I have received tremendous positive feedback after the trailer release, which have made me proud as a young director,” she added.

Ranjana concludes saying that the support her family showers on her is the reason for her courage to continue with her passion. The young director is married to Sandeep V.S., an IT employee in Bengaluru, and the couple has a son. Ranjana is the only daughter of K.B Unni and Thanuja P.