Much like sports, films that are set against the backdrop of sports have also been a huge hit in Kerala. Malayalam films based on cricket, football or even swimming have garnered good response from film followers and critics. Now, the Mollywood filmmakers are shifting focus to other sports such as volleyball, Kabaddi and Wrestling, which are popular in the city and rural areas alike. Manju Warrier-starrer Karinkunnam 6s and Asif Ali’s Kavi Udheshichathu? are recent releases that are based on Volleyball, while Mammooty’s Thoppil Joppan has Kabaddi as the backdrop. Tovino Thomas-starrer Godha, which is currently under production phase, is based on wrestling.
According to Johny Antony, director of Thoppil Joppan, even though it cannot be categorised as a sports movie, Kabaddi has much significance in the storyline. “Mammookka’s Joppan is set in Thopramkudi in Idukki. The protagonist drinks a lot after his love interest gets married to someone else. He is healthy just because he is a good Kabaddi player. The major twists in his life are all connected with the game,” he says.
The director points out that he has zeroed in on Kabaddi from the scripting phase itself as it is popular among the middle-aged than cricket and football. “It has a nostalgic feel for villagers who once spent their evenings playing the game. Besides, we cannot set any other game in such a terrain.”
Shehnad Jalal who cranks the camera for the film says the climax was filmed in 12 days. “A total of two cameras were used for the whole filming, and one day, we have operated with three cameras to shoot the crowd,” he informs.
Liju Thomas who directed Kavi Udheshichathu? has depicted the story of a group of volleyball lovers. “This film is conceived as a humour-family subject, and volleyball comes as a crucial element in the storyline. The village, where the subject is placed, also loves this game, which has witnessed many good players. But the game is shown only in the climax sequences. When the screenplay got completed, we had started the scene divisions. A total of 800 shots were fixed for those scenes. As my co-director Thomas is a good player, he could conceive it in a realistic mode, by giving proper instructions to the onscreen players,” says Liju Thomas who wielded the megaphone with Thomas.
Kunjiramayanam director Basil Joseph’s upcoming film Godha discusses one of the popular sporting events which is close to the culture of our society — wrestling. “Wrestling was active in our society even from the pre-historic era. You can see Hanuman and Bheeman being depicted as good wrestlers in our epics. That means, it is our sports whereas the so-called star rated events like football and cricket are imports from foreign countries,” says the director.
“This film was not planned as sports movie based on wrestling; but my writer Rakesh Mantodi and I wanted to do a film on wrestling. In fact, Rakesh ettan was behind the research for this project after the release of his debut film Thira. I joined him within days after my debut film hit screens. We have travelled a lot as part of the research. The interesting fact is that the phayalvans (wrestlers) had star status in our society until we all became addicted to cinema and other sport events. People were willing to marry off their daughters to the winners. The statement Godhayil Kaanam derived because of the passion for this event,” says Basil.
He pointed out that his whole crew is standing along with him to make his project more realistic. “Tovino, Wamiqa and Renji (Panciker) sir are the lead actors in Godha. Ever since they agreed to join my film, they have been practising the game,” says the director who is all set to move to Punjab for the second schedule of the film.
