Making a film is not an easy job. The director has to cross many hurdles when he attempts to adapt a story or a novel, which has gained good response from the public. It was around four years ago, writer turned filmmaker Ranjith announced his decision to adapt the popular short story Leela, written by Unni R., as a film.
Though it was initially touted as a Mohanlal film, it later was reported that the director had zeroed in on his former associate Shankar Ramakrishnan to essay the lead role — Kuttiyappan.
It was after facing many challenges that included issues with Kerala Film Producers’ Association that Ranjith released Leela with Biju Menon in the lead.
He created history by releasing it online on the same day it reached the theatres. Ironically, when he opted to do this for people to watch new films at home, Leela is facing a threat in the form of pirated copies — which people choose to watch movies from the comfort of their home.
Ranjith points out that it is the government’s duty to take stringent action to reduce the activities of those who make pirated copies of a film. “In fact the producer is not the only one who incurs a loss due to piracy. It also reduces the revenue of government in the form of taxes. See… we have to pay around 25 per cent of our revenue to the government as tax that includes the service tax. So those who make pirated copies are the common enemy of producers as well as the public,” he says.
Ranjith, who is also the producer of Leela, says that the central government should initiate actions to block the websites which provide the pirated versions of films. “The government can easily track down and block such sites in India. In Saudi Arabia, you cannot access porn sites just because their administration has blocked all such sites. Even in our country, there are such regulations for porn sites. Like that the IT Ministry can initiate actions to ban sites including Torrent,” says the writer-director adding, “The government should strengthen such laws. We have discussed it with the newly nominated Rajya Sabha MP Suresh Gopi. We hope he would present this problem there and find a speedy remedy.”
Among the film buffs, there were several questions regarding the online screening of the film. The often asked question was about the visual-audio quality of the film, as it is the period when people give importance to such areas, before choosing a theatre/multiplex to watch a show. When quizzed about this, he says, “We are providing online streaming, with a good quality product. It was after conducting several test shows that we released it for the public. When it comes to audio-video quality, it may vary according to the systems used by the viewer. If they are viewing the film with HD quality screen and good audio system, they will get a good experience, because we are providing such a technically good film,” says the director pointing out, “But you should go to theatres which always demand a theatrical experience when watching movies such as The Revenant.”
It is as a screenwriter that he became familiar among the film buffs before entering the direction side. Leela was his first film for which he did not write the screenplay as Unni R. the writer himself wrote the script. “It was the visual language of Leela which prompted me to make it a film. And it was around six years ago that I read this story for the first time. But it was last year after facing many problems that I could start the work of this project. In the meantime, Unni has established himself as a good screenwriter by writing many good projects that include Charlie. Though I am not the screenwriter, I was there along with Unni for its discussions,” he says.
“I think Leela has seen the career best performances of all the actors who have cooperated with this project. I feel the brilliance of my actors that include Biju (Menon), Vijayaraghavan, Jagadish, Indrans and Parvathy Nambiar, is one of the factors which made Leela a well accepted film.”
