Thiruvananthapuram: Kanakalaya Bungalow at West Hill in Kozhikode is the centre of attraction with Unda, Thamasha and Virus, three critically acclaimed films, running successfully in cinemas across the state.
Though named Bunga-low, it is a flat at Kanakalaya bus stop near West Hill. It hosted Harshad, the scriptwriter of Unda, Ashraf Hamsa, the director and screenplay writer of Thamasha, and Sharfu, Suhas and Muhsin Parari, scriptwriters of Virus. The flat taken on rent by Harshad and his friend Rajesh Ravi has been a meeting point for many creative minds.
In fact, these films were not the first to come out of this ‘Bungalow’. Those from the Bungalow had been part of the film industry in the past too. Muhsin Parari was the co-scriptwriter for the film Sudani from Nigeria and had directed KL 10 Patthu.
Zakaria Mohammed, the director of the film Sudani who also wrote the script along with Muhsin for that film, was also a regular at the Bungalow. Sharfu and Suhas were the scriptwriters of the film Varathan. Harshad had earlier directed and scripted the film Dayom Panthrandum.
Mr Harshad told DC that the flat was taken on rent by himself Rajesh Ravi and Sharfu. He was a graphic designer then. Rajesh Ravi had his interest in camera and editing. Sharfu was taking coaching classes for PSC tests after completing his engineering degree.
The name Kanakalaya was given to the bus stop as there was a private bank at the place which later became defunct, said Mr Harshad.
People who assembled in the space included photographers, writers, aspiring filmmakers and many more. These included people like Radhakrishnan popularly known as RK working as a pharmacist in the Kozhikode Medical College who is into theatre and never dreamt of films.
Then there is Kannan Patteri who wanted to make a career in cinematography. A film with him as a cinematographer is expected soon. Then, Hashir K Mohammed, a documentary film director whose work included one on Zakkariya a native of Parapanagadi who had to spend seven years in jail after being falsely arrested on charges of UAPA.
Then there is Biju Ibrahim, a photographer associated with the Biennale. Suhas is originally from Ernakulam who became their friend through Facebook before becoming a regular at the place.
On being asked about whether their bonding was due to their same political positions as can be understood from the fact that the three films have the same subtle politics in it, he said that their bonding was primarily because all of them had the same passion, films. “Maybe there may be other factors which determined our bonding,” said Mr Harshad.
‘It was in this space I had developed other screenplays also. There is a point in one’s life when one gets desperate. That was the point in which I did Dayom Panthrandum, which was not released on commercial platforms. It was restricted to ten parallel screenings. I did not want to be identified as an art house director and found that commercial films are where I really wanted to be in.”
Rajesh Ravi said that at present none of these people lived in Kanakalaya Bungalow after shifting out to various places after associating with films.
“I am in Ernakulam now associated with films. So is Harshad,” he said.
