NAVODAYA STUDIO
The Thought-Processes
of story-to-novel-to-script
of Barroz, Thiruvazhithan, Chundan by Jijo 15 August to 8 September 2024
a caveat on these WRITEUPS
by Jijo
In www.navodayastudio.com Navodaya Studio’s webpages, every work of Navodaya Studios has been chronicled.
The thought-processes and procedures behind the developments of all iconic projects viz.,
Thacholi Ambu - the first cinemascope in Malayalam, My Dear Kuttichathan 3D and Padayottam 70mm - https://www.navodayastudio.com/history
Manjil Virinja Pookkal, Ente Maamattikkuttiyammakku and
Onnu Muthal Poojyam Varey, https://www.navodayastudio.com/_files/ugd/8a582f_d799c3ea126b40b89339763daf6ae4ba.pdf
Stories from the Bible https://www.navodayastudio.com/bible-tv-serial
have been elaborately detailed therein.
Also, The thought-processes behind the development of future projects on the anvil viz.,
Thiruvazhithan - https://www.navodayastudio.com/_files/ugd/8a582f_f005bd4031f644d9a653faa1460cd3ee.pdf
Barroz
Barroz (novel) - https://www.navodayastudio.com/barroz-novel
Barroz (Production Design) - https://www.navodayastudio.com/film-barroz-proposed-english-version
Barroz (Evolution of Malayalam Script) - https://www.navodayastudio.com/film-barroz-malayalam-version
Chundan
Chundan - https://www.navodayastudio.com/chundan-novel
Chundan (MAL) - https://www.navodayastudio.com/_files/ugd/8a582f_599a128c0f90445da537eea01a651f4a.pdf
Chundan (ENG) - https://www.navodayastudio.com/_files/ugd/8a582f_e2054d9d87e9448c8770837446854df4.pdf
Chekon
Chekon - https://www.navodayastudio.com/chekon
Chekon (Research) - https://www.navodayastudio.com/the-legend-of-chandu-chekavar-research
Chekon (Screen treatment) - https://www.navodayastudio.com/chekon-legend-of-chandu-chekavar
Chekon (MAL) - https://www.navodayastudio.com/chekon-malayalam-page
Anmol - https://www.navodayastudio.com/priceless
Thaki of East West - https://www.navodayastudio.com/project-1-eastwest
Muthala (CROC) - https://www.navodayastudio.com/copy-of-muthala-croc
have been provided.
This is because myself, Jijo, being ever a student of cinema, had groomed many other students in this trade.
The purpose of these write-ups is to impart lessons to future students of cinema on the methods and processes upon which they can develop their own ideas.
Technical details and the thought-process behind the execution of
Gravity Illusion - https://www.navodayastudio.com/gravity-illusion-kuttichathan
https://www.navodayastudio.com/revolving-memoirs https://www.navodayastudio.com/film-barroz-gravity-illusion
3D Stage Show - https://www.navodayastudio.com/stage-show
Large Imaging with Beam Splitting - https://www.navodayastudio.com/libssm-tech-article
Stereoscopic Imaging for 3D Cinematography - https://www.navodayastudio.com/3d-imaging-principles-ch1and2
Outdoor Amusements/ Themed Parks - https://www.navodayastudio.com/outdoor-amusements
Safety - https://www.navodayastudio.com/_files/ugd/8a582f_6452f8c36c0b46ccbbe73512c33ba60a.pdf
Global Studio (A Networked Assemblyline Filmmaking Process) - https://www.navodayastudio.com/_files/ugd/8a582f_c0c7a2d84292449489dd5942cadecb42.pdf
can also be found in Navodaya Studio webpages.
In the descriptions compiled here (15 August to 8 Sept 2024), one can find both marvelous successes and spectacular failures listed side by side, so that readers could learn from our experiences.
The INCEPTION
In the years 1980 to 1982, desirous to make a children’s 3D film, in all humility and reverence, Mr. Appachan of Navodaya Studios invited eminent personalities in the literary field to advice the young members of his production team on an apt subject for the venture.
(copy-paste). This act of my Papa reminded me of his brother Kunchacko’s gesture in inviting the thespian poetess & writer Lalithambika Antharjanam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalithambika_Antharjanam to write dialogs for his mythological film Sakunthala (1965). I (Jijo) was hardly 9 years old then. But I do remember him sending a letter through lyricist & family friend Vayalar Ramavarma to the eminent lady. The aristocratic poetess was absolutely unconnected with films. Yet, she graciously conceded.
Kunchacko's brother Appachan - a doyen and pioneer of South Indian Cinema Industry, with his firm Navodaya Studios had accomplished milestones in the film field.
(copy-paste). In 1989, in a landmark judgement the Supreme Court of India decided to entrust Appachan - a person unconnected with the film called 'Kadathanadan Ambadi’ whose production was embroiled in a dispute between a finance company who produced the said film, and its investors - pensioners who had deposited their life savings in the finance firm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadathanadan_Ambadi . It says much for Navodaya's professional reputation that Supreme Court decreed Appachan the further production and distribution of the film so as to plow back the funds to the thousands of depositors who had lost their savings when the said finance company, after diverting funds to the said film's production, went bankrupt. https://indiankanoon.org/doc/644492/
(copy-paste). In 1980-82, the personalities to advise on the subject for a 3D Film, Appachan - my Papa, contacted were O.V. Vijayan (writer), Paul Zacharia (writer, journalist), Padmarajan (writer, director), Punathil Kunjabdulla (novelist), Mohan (editor - Poompatta/ Balarama), Maali alias Madhavan Nair (children’s novelist), Toms (cartoonist), Raju Nair (cartoonist), Sarankapani (screen writer), Anant Pai (publisher - Amarchitra Kadha), Victor Leans (writer, journalist) and Prof. Krishnan Nair (literary critic - Sahithya Vaara Bhalam).
They were requested to suggest, for developing a script;, from famous Keralite Myths ... or a new topic of their choice. All of them, realising the nobility of the effort, graciously participated.
[I remember Raghunath Paleri ‘wow’ing when showed O.V. Vijayan’s response letter. "എപ്പോഴാ ഡെൽഹീക്ക് പോണേ ... ഞാനും വരുന്നു !"
But I couldnt meet O.V.V. on that Delhi trip. Only met dear Kariyachan (Paul Zacharia). He put me in touch with Isaac Kottukappally.
Together we called down Paul Zacharia to Chennai - ten years later in 1992 ! - no, not for Kuttichathan, but for writing Story of Isaac, Bible TV Serial.
Such are the strange ways in which projects materialise! ]
The shortlisted topics for a 3D film in 1982 were
A. The Kuttichathan Myth
B. The Thiruvazhithan Myth
C. The Kappiri Myth (I would prefer to call it as the Portuguese-Afro-Indian Myth, since word ‘Kappiri’ a-la Kafir is considered derogatory in many places along the Malabar Coast)
The first two are narrated in the famous Aithihyamala by Kottarathil Sankunni.
(copy-paste). It was my penchant, the designated director of the film, to use a girl child as the protagonist in my stories/ films. All of my films have the character of a lonely girl child befriending an elderly male character. Films Padayottam 70mm (1982), Ente Maamattikkuttiyammakku (1983), My Dear Kuttichathan3D (1994), Onnu Muthal Poojyam Varey (1986) are examples. My story Thiruvazhithan (year 2012) - where a young girl is pitted against the archaic male ghost, and my story Muthala /CROC (year 2023) where a fatherless girl of Kuttanad befriend the elderly Englishman come to hunt a man-eating crocodile, are further examples. All these have been chronicled in website www.navodayastudio.com
It was the Kuttichathan Myth that was preferred by most of the experts and thus the film My Dear Kuttichathan 3D came to be. The rest is history.
[It was Sarangapani who suggested the name ‘My Dear …’. It was Victor Leans who suggested the idea that the physical incarnation of the spirit was ‘programed’ out of a sketch the girl’s father – an artist, made for her].
The story idea of Kuttichathan, and the making of it have been written and rewritten hundreds of times in publications during the last four decades. Many of the above mentioned literary giants have given interviews and commented fondly about their participation in selecting the subject for the film which has become an icon in world cinema. Young associates of these personalities who participated in the discussions would fondly remember the ‘thought processes’ of how one subject was weighed against the other, till the Kuttichathan myth known to all Malayalees was selected. To chronicle my triumphs and tragedies, I had maintained diary entrees from the age of 20. I transferred them as blogs now available on public domain.
In the years following the success of My Dear Kuttichathan 3D, a sequel to the film was always been suggested. But, rather than have a Kuttichathan part II, myself - Jijo the director, preferred to have the two other discarded myths developed as scripts. Both of which I eventually did.
One is
Thiruvazhithan - a myth, also a Kavalam Narayana Panicker stage play. It was discarded in 1984 due to it dark shades.
https://www.navodayastudio.com/thiruvaazhithan
The other is
Kappri (Portuguese-Afro-Indian) - a myth, that was discarded in 1984 because picturising it was then beyond our scope.
https://www.navodayastudio.com/film-barroz-proposed-english-version
As it usually happens in the film field, such contradictory standpoints would sometimes sink a project … and suddenly, revive a story-project at the spark of a new idea.
The SPARK
It occurred during the time we were planning 'Value-Based' programs for Jeevan TV.
Josey Joseph, Jude Attipety, Pratap Pothen, Aswini Kaul and myself (Jijo) used to take the KSWTC boat transport from Ernakulam Boat Jetty to Fort Kochi, walk around the wharf and discuss plots.
It was sometime after the shoot at Fort Kochi of our Jeevan TV short film - 'Parayaan Baakki Vechathu', directed by Jude.
(copy-paste) It had Helen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_(actress) in a main role. She was invited by Fr. Augustine Vallooran of Divine Retreat Centre, to act in our value-based film, when with a group from Mumbai the famous lady was there in Muringoor to attend a retreat. Nitin Manmohan (Bollywood Producer) and Geo Kuttappan (Producer for Jeevan TV) did organised her journey from Kulu-Manali to Fort Kochi for the shoot.
Also, a collection of Chekov Stories was being directed by Pratap. For both Jude's film and Pratap's, Aswini was the cinematographer.
That day, it was Jude and myself near the Chinese Nets. I had walked down from my office-residence at Karakkamuri to my wife's residence at Kombara, then walked to Jude's house near the High Court. Together by transport boat we reached Fort Kochi.
I havn't noted down the date. It was sometime during the Global Investors' Meet in Kochi, for sure.
One of Jijo's earliest photshop composites.
Incidentally, it was Jude who hand-carried back the first Adobe Software Bundle (DVD pack)
along with a Beam-Splitter Glassplate meant for Digital 3D Cinematography
in 2002 during a trip to Wisconsin to see his brother.
(copy-paste). As noted in the published novel's foreword.
Jude pointed the man sitting on a തെങ്ങിൻ കുറ്റി (bollard) far from the shore. It was surrealistic.
Later, he told me he keeps seeing in his mind the man perched at odd places (walls?).
To him, it seemed an illusionary character.
I asked him 'Haven't you have heard of the 'Kappiri Myth'?
He was oblivious to that, I think. So I remember telling him of the Myth and the book by Ponjikkara Raphael.
The unique facets of the Kappiri Myth are
1. Set in Malabar Spice Coast, it is tripolar - European families, African Slaves, Colonial Indian environment.
2. The Black Servant/s Slaves, out of loyal servitude, willingly undergo the sacrifice to become spirit/s who guard the family heirlooms. This ought to be an african tribal custom. But 'how much willingly' is debatable - just like the practice of 'sati', it probably was a 'drugged willingness' at best.
3. There was an elaborate funeral ritual connected with it. The african ritual had been replaced by christian ceremony. This is because the africaners had been following christian prayers by the time they served in Malabar. Let us call it a pagan practice with christian ceremonial dressing.
I said it seems the man on the തെങ്ങിൻ കുറ്റി could be The 'Kappiri Muthappan'.
He said that he sees a girl - a teenager like his daughter, getting caught up in the fantasy with the aged ghost.
He mentioned those bollards on which the ghost sat, dancing to the tune of a music and the girl drawing large pictures in the sky. It was fantasy for him at that point in time and he said he had Black Beards Ghost in mind at that point in time.
We were talking as if it could be a fantasy like 'My Dear Kuttichathan 3D' - then two decades old.
The next thing we casually discussed was the setting. For the ethnic setting, he suggested making ഓല ചാപ്ര godowns in the nearby Gosree islands. Because, that would denote the spice processing yards (colonial factories) during the time of Dutch/ Portuguese families settled around Kochi in early 17th century. The Goodacre/ Darasmail/ Brunton Boatyard buildings could also serve as the setting. I suggested Goa Mansions for a grandeur setting. Kappiri Myth, prevalent along whole of Malabar Coast, could have Goa as a fabulous backdrop.
This discussion happened in the sidelines during discussions of a few other shortfilm subjects were on.
One morning, I phoned Jude and told that it shouldn't be a fantasy adventure like my Kuttichathan. Too predictable. Should make it psychological - since a poltergeist attribution by any troubled adolescent (in this case a teenage girl), is a known medical phenomenon.
With Josey Joseph who occasionally lend ear to our musings, I one day dropped in to meet C. J. John (Psychiatrist) who was helping with the topic of 'Moral Responsibilty of Members in Media'. He was residing close to the Subhash Park.
I brought up the subject of 'poltergeist activity explained by the proximity of a troubled adolescent mind'.
Indicating Kappiri Myth as a possible fantasy narrative, I probed Dr. C.J. John's medical records of how an introvert girl's mind may conjure up pranks.
(above) A repeat of character discussion for scripting in 2020
(above) seated, from left. Raja Krishnamurthy, P.K. Nair, Siby Malayil, K.G. George, Krzysztof Zanussi, Geo Kuttappan.
I did also discuss this topic with my Jesus Youth International colleague Edward A. Edazhath - an English Professor at St. Albert's College, an authority on the said myth. It was during a visit to his Albert's faculty on Banerjee Rd. to get a list on 'Value-Based, Real-Life' stories he espoused during his counselling sessions. Again, it was a walk from my wife's residence to St. Albert's.
The WRITING
Based on these, starting with an outline on the myth, I circulated a probable fantasy abstract, by email (it was not google, but VSNL). It said about the girl with Malayalee-Portuguese origin in Goa, trying to convince her Keralite dad that she has met a ghost guarding a treasure. The businessman father, meanwhile, is keen to provide psychiatric counsel by Dr. Kovoor (named after the real-life Sri Lankan psychiatrist, an expert in paranormal activities).
Pratap Pothen was one among the first who answered. He said it was a good idea, but pleaded to keep the narrative linear. "I hate 'em damn flashbacks"
Raghunath Paleri was unenthusiastic. He mentioned that 'a ghost that can be seen by only one person' was an outdated idea, not very original. Apparently, he missed my psychological narrative angle in a rushed reading during his busy schedule.
Rajeevkumar pointed out the similarity with 'My Dear Kuttichathan'. I said it is intentional. His wife Lata Rajeev later apologised to me for not responding to the email. But she seemed to have liked it. (there was no like button those days).
With Jude, I resumed the discussion a few days later on the first meeting we had after the initial musings.
Suddenly, I remember jumping to the climax of the story and said rambling ...
The girl gets a 'key' to the treasure. As proof she shows it to her father. The key is a 6 digit number to the lock on the treasure chamber. If opened, her father can get the treasure. The father, by now come to believe in his daughter's ghost story, anxiously searches in vain for the chamber under the Mansion. But finally discovers it to be a phone number. When dialed, (many times in the course of the story) it rings for a long time in an empty house where finally a woman answers. She is his estranged wife - the mother of the child. A reconciliation happens.
The treasure is found ... but, it is not materialistic!
Having said that much quickly, I demurred. We both agreed it may work as a metaphor for a short story, but not as a movie climax.
Yet, I did eventually wrote a 'non-materialistic treasure' climax in the novel and especially in the film script.
I did ask Jude (among many such others) whether he can develop this.
But by that time, invited by Shyamaprasad, he was onto the Amritha TV stint. Then later to MMTV.
The story was put on back-burner.
Meanwhile, I did the script on Thiruvazhithan https://www.navodayastudio.com/thiruvaazhithan in 2012 - long before resuming the one on Kappiri myth - Barroz.
This again is a similar metamorphism / evolution to novel and script like NOVEL BARROZ. It is given below at the bottom of this page
In 2004 I had written another story - a story on Chundan. In 2015 I wrote it down as a novel with Illustrations by Nampoothiri and Radhakrishnan (RK).
Raghunath Paleri, in 2016, did a Malayalam version of the Chundan novel for me. https://www.navodayastudio.com/chundan-novel
The Malayalam writing occurred when I moved from Mahalingapuram to Kakkanad - the first time in 19 years, for reviving Navodaya Studio activities.
One fine morning, Pratap Pothen from his sister's residence in Alwaye dropped in at Kakkanad with his then secretary Tiju Kurian, on a newly purchased Benz car. Pratap had liked the English Chundan ... but he detested the Malayalam novel which had the possibility for a film script. Since Pratap couldn't read Malayalam, he had his Palai Chef read it and offer opinion! I believe the reason he didn't like it was because Pratap and Raghu (who wrote the Malayalam Chundan) have been at loggerheads from the time of our film Onnu Muthal Poojam Varey (1986). Pratap urged me to take up the 'Treasure Story' instead. Hence, in continuation to Chundan, I took up the writing of Barroz - Guardian of D'Gama's Treasure.
In the summer of 2017 at Kakkanad Studio I read out the first draft to a selected group of people - Geo Kuttappan, Josey, Tiju, Sureshkanthan, Althaf, Karun, Anil Madhavan, Prakash Moorthy and a few young members of Jesus Youth (the organisation was housed in Navodaya Studio campus) entrusted to format the novel. These youngsters with animation background from TOONS, suggested the story should be made as an animated movie! It took a long talk by Prakash Moorthy, the NID animator, to explain the difficulties in India associated with full length feature animation.
Althaf trashed some elements in my narrative - like the chandler crashing down - as very old an idea. He said it was recently depicted in a Bollywood movie. I said it was there in my original 2003 draft and I would keep it in the novel, but assured to discard the same in a future film script.
Karun & Althaf murmured for a some time and came up with the suggestion to have A Digitally Animated Character - a la 'GROOT', in the story. I said sure ... it could be the 'Voodoo Doll used by the Masikoro occult woman'. The doll can come to life as companion for Barroz the ghost. Prakash Moorthy immediately drew the character and started elaborating the rascally imp's behavior characteristics.
(I have the copyright patent taken out for the Voodoo Character in the combined names of Jijo, Prakash Moorthy, Althaf and Karun)
The rest - starting from 2017 till how it became a Malayalam script that got shelved with Corona in 2021 - has been described in webpage/ blog
https://www.navodayastudio.com/film-barroz-malayalam-version
Thiru Vazhithan development (novel preface) https://www.navodayastudio.com/thiruvaazhithan
(copy-paste)
The purpose here is to produce a narrative for a fantasy film - pan India/ global audience/ musical/ mainstream commercial. This is based on a known local myth/ legend – THIRU VAZHITHAN
After My Dear Kuttichathan/ Chotta Chetan 3D (1984), all through the last two decades there were suggestions to make a sequel to it. All of us in the creative team felt that merely repeating a 3D may not be advisable - having shot almost all the 'off-the-screen' bolts in the first one. But the idea of a fantasy film was always appealing. We had even attempted a few storylines to do a sequel. (1) by Raghunath Paleri - When the children grow up to become teenagers, they bring back their old friend - as a teenager like themselves. (2) by Rajeevkumar - A teenaged girl (not the one in the original) discovers the talisman and requests Kuttichathan/ Chotta Chetan to come in her own split image. Karishma Kapoor was contracted to do the dual role by Nitin Manmohan after I suggested the theme during the Chota Chetan 3D re-release in 1998. (This project was about to take off when Anil Kapoor convinced Nitin Manmohan that it would be better to do a Mr. India (part II) in 3D instead. Both together came down to Navodaya Office at Mahalingapuram, Chennai and browbeat me. To escape the uncomfortable situation, I said they should first get me a written permission from Shekar Kapur - even if the IP Rights were held by Boney Kapoor. That never happened. My brother Jose and Rajeev agreed with me that the non-happening was a matter of good ethics.
Once (I think it was in 1997), Mr. Manirathnam honored me with a request to see Kuttichathan in 3D again. He said that he was considering the idea of doing a children's subject, and since Chotta Chetan was then the benchmark for children's film (!) he wanted to have one more look at it. After the screening he asked me why I never attempted the genre once again. The answer I gave him was "Mani sir, did you notice that 'Jurassic Park' - the Spielberg film in which dinosaurs terrify humans, is the most celebrated children's film of the times? ... and that today children's literature has moved on to 'Harry Potter' ? ... There has happened a loss of innocence, I don't mean it as negative, but the fact is today a children's film has to have a different attitude than that in the years your 'Anjali' or my 'Kuttichathan' were made. This is my reading. Maybe, I am wrong"
Having filed the above caveat, I move on to the mythical roots of this subject Thiru Vaazhithan - a fantasy film for the grownups.
Since the narrative is visual and in many places non-linear, a person used to reading novellas may find it a bit frustrating. Yet, I have tried to keep the flow intact. Hope you enjoy reading this.
Jijo, Chennai, August 2013
----------------------------------------
To establish the contexts of the original myths and trace the course of their adaptations
Kuttichathan is known in all parts of South India. When subjugated, this spirit - a poltergeist full of pranks, can bring our desires to fruition. If crossed, it can also turn malevolent! Having no physical form, there is nothing 'childlike' about it. Except that the pranks are similar to that of a spoilt kid. So in adapting the story, it was our idea to make him come in the form a boy.
Likewise, Thiru Vaazhithan is a spirit known in some parts of South India. A fantasy, based on this character we had considered in 1983. It was while exploring the possibilities of having fun with 'a de-praved spirit' or 'a genie with spelling mistakes', that Fazil told me the Legend of Thiru Vaazhithan. Kavalam Narayana Panicker had a musical stageplay based on this character. Unlike the spirit Kuttichathan, this personality had started off as a 'living human character'. Thiru Vazhithan was once a rich landlord powerful in the art of ancient Indian magic. HE was always more than eager to help others with advice, money, material and magic. To a recipient of HIS favor, HE would be heaven-sent ... or the divinity itself! For, who else would help you so selflessly? However, there is a sting in the tail. HIS every benevolent act, given due time, backfires.
A recipient of HIS favor would beget larger problems, and end up cursing for accepting the gift from HIM. Yet, since the person would be dependent on HIM to solve the resultant problems, the person would again get tangled in larger webs. (A modern day analogy to this, at least for some people, would be the magic wands known as Credit Cards, EMIs , Gold Loan Schemes).
Returning to the legend … the king once sought His help when during one harvest season a 'rnaravar gang of marauders' from across the Sahya mountains raided their land. Instead of casting a spell on them as the sovereign expected, HE suggests bribing the gang with chest full of gold coins and make them go away. HE himself provides the bullion!
The king and his subjects are very grateful, of course. But then to their horror, the next season those marauders return furious. The gold had turned into dust by the time the gang had crossed the mountains! Incredulous, the king asks the purpose behind HIS deceit. "Oh, any magician can cast a spell to bring pestilence on marauders .... Any rich man in your kingdom could have contributed real gold. I wanted derision to come on their Faces when they opened the chest ... hah ... hah .. her .. bee!!! Taught them a lesson!" HEjust couldn't help roaring with laughter. "But, but ... what about us? What do we do now?" the king was baffled. "Oh, I have more such tricks up my sleeve" HE said snickering. Those tricks lands the king and his subjects into further troubles.
After many such misadventures for the people and roaring laugh sessions for HIM, at an old age we find a broken man on HIS death bed - alone in a mansion, abandoned by all - even by spouse, offsprings and servants.
Thiru Vazhithan is dying.
HIS predilection for practical jokes and the sadistic* pleasure in devastating those receiving HIS favor, finally bring just deserts. *One would never see villainy on his face. In fact HE would look deeply hurt if HIS good intentions are doubted.
The youngest of HIS sons, against the warning of others, out of mere sentiments, peeped in to look at his dying father. The son finds that HE is full of remorse for the troubles HE had caused others. HE has only one dying wish … as per horoscope, to be buried in a particular corner of that compound. Assured that no other tricks are forthcoming, the other three sons, one after the other, visit their father. They too separately promise HIM to honor the burial wish HE expresses to each of them. And then, HĚ dies.
More out of relief than grief, the king and his subjects come for the funeral. There they witness an intense feud between HIS four sons. Each had promised their father that the burial shall be in a particular corner..... but the promise HE had extracted from each of the sons were four different corners! … northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest!
All four were bend upon executing the commitment – vigorously asserting that the father had warned each that the other ones shall object! Realising that even on deathbed HE had pulled a last and lasting one, the king offers a solution - cutup the body into four.
Thiru Vazhithan was still laughing as HE stood before Yama, the lord of death. Yama has a problem ... how could one categorize the evils of this man? Sure, HE deserved hell. But admitting HIM into hell would be unfair even to the worst of the inmates there. While Yama discussed the issue with his assistants, without wasting time Thiru Vazhithan was getting acquainted with the inmates who had wandered out to the gates.
Yama turns around to see a riot breaking out at Thiru Vazhithan's words hae already created divisions among the inmates... and by now they were at each other's throat. And there HE stood, aside from the tumult, smug like a boy who had successfully completed his first assignment on day-one at school. Yama has no choice other than return HIM back to earth.
Reaching home, HIS spirit cannot enter the body - since it was now in 4 separate pieces buried at four corners of themcompound. Hence to this day HIS spirit roams around seeking human forms to enter.
In parts of South India, mischievous boys - the ones prone to naughtiness, are faulted by grandmothers to have become possessed by the spirit of Thiru Vaazhithan. That's the Legend.
I remember that day in the summer of 1983, while shooting film 'Ente Mamattikut tiyammakku', Fazil and myself commenced an elementary treatment to the above topic. In about 10 minutes we devised the following .. In ancient times, a crowd of tantriks by chanting mantras, suppress this great 'mischievous evil', dismember him to 4 pieces and dispatches HIM. The pieces come together in modern times through 4 youngsters. Thiru Vaazhithan is reborn!
Then what? .......... then Fazil and me went back to complete the film under produc tion.
I remember that day in the summer of 1988, during a break while shooting 'Chanakyan', I mentioned to Rajeevkumar what Fazil and myself had devised. It was Rajeev who suggested that the 4 youngsters coming together should be a modern day pop-group. A dismembering should happen again in the climax - by chorus chants from the audience during a live music program. Kamalhasan, who was listening nearby, made an observation that the main character was negative - as in his film 'Vayanadan Thampan' (1978).
Then what? .. then the lighting setup was ready and everybody returned to the shooting floor.
Coming to the negativity of the character, .. yes, it has similarities with 'Joker' of the Batman stories. 'The Joker' in all his pranks has a pathological bend towards evil. But for Thiru Vaazhithan, HIS favors cannot be pinned down as 'evils' .. nor do we go into the psychology of the malice. It is never explained why HE is predisposed to chaos. The enigma is in keeping the audience guessing keeping alive, on knife's edge, an illusion or hope 'maybe HE shall turn out to become good ... because HE seems to be so sincere!'
Last month I mentioned it to Babu, my brother in law, who liked it and to encour aged me. He penned a narrative brief himself. I told it to Najeeb and Balajee who also were enthusiastic. A few of my kids - Ajjo, Namrata & Tiju were thrilled. Consider ing to write it out, I discussed possibilities with Sheker, Madan Karki, Raghunath Paleri, Prakash Moorthy, Satheesh Paul and Rajesh Abraham. All of them gave valuable suggestions.
Rajesh told a story from modern day U.P., which has a similar overtone as the Thiru Vaazhithan legend. There was a landlord who was a pest to the society and did all sorts of deeds to make life hell for his enemies. On being struck down by terminal illness, he in an act of repentance calls a meeting of those with whom he had the maximum feuds. He apologizes to them and requests a favor. He tearfully tells the group that a Spiritual Acharya had assessed his lifelong misdeeds and had proclaimed that his soul won't receive salvation afterlife. So, as soon as he is dead, to prevent his soul from roaming the earth and haunting them, a ritual of driving a bamboo stake through his heart' has to be performed as recommended by the Acharya. He wanted his erstwhile enemies to do him this favor. They agree, he dies. No sooner they drive the stake through the corpse, having received a complaint from the dying man that he was being murdered by his enemies, the king's guards arrive to catch the accused red-handed.
Another similar character in history is Vlad Dracula - a ruler in Hungary during the 15th century (the inspiration behind Bram Stoker's novel). One of his many atrocí- ties include a mammoth charitable act - Inviting the entire gypsy population of his land to a great feast! While the banquet was in progress he had them burned to death by setting fire to the halls. Pre-dating even the Nazis, the benevolent act was a ruse to get rid of the plague pestilence wrongly attributed to the gypsies.
- The myths & legends, completed.
I wrote this story during the month of May 2004.
It was out of my fascination for the chundan vallam. Chundan is a traditional racing craft of Keralam, which like me, has its origin in Kuttanad. Kuttanad, till recently, was a vast grey-green watery expanse upon which were scattered islands like Pulincunnoo, my father’s place and Thayamkary where my mother was born.
As a child I kept hearing tales about the chundan. It was always said that this long boat was designed as a war-canoe for backwater battles. But nobody could convince me as to why when and how it was deployed against the iruttukuthi (Oadi) canoe, the warhorse upon the waters those days. It is told that a carpenter of Kodupunna village is the originator of the chundan.
The king of Ambalapuzha rewarded him for his feat and later had him punished for divulging the design secrets to the king of Kayamkulam. This ambitious royal tried to make a few chundans of his own and failed miserably!
Other than this slightly intriguing piece of information little else is known. First question: what makes the chundan a war machine?
In my teens my cousin Boban Kunchacko, with his large library of books, set me reading on weapons and military strategies. As I went through military science from prehistoric scrimmage to modern-day warfare, I started appreciating the purpose behind the chundan’s design. It was one of the earliest examples of stealth. But I have yet to come across any academic validation for this premise. The following chronicle is an attempt to establish the facts and also have some fun in the process.
Let us start by examining some earlier historic maritime battles.
In 480 BC a large, attacking Persian fleet was forced to narrow their spearheading columns when negotiating the narrow Straight of Salamis. They sailed straight into an ambush. The waiting Greeks quickly bore in from both flanks and boarded the Persian vessels. Once onboard the superior sword skills of the Greeks proved decisive.
The construction of the Greek ships and their naval strategy reminds me of the purpose behind our own chundan’s design.
In 1805 A.D. at Trafalgar, Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, in a dangerous move that would cost him his own life, daringly cleaved into the much larger Franco-Spanish armada. As his ships cut through, the audacious Nelson broadsided the enemy firing from both his flanks.
In 1912 A.D., off Tsushima archipelago, Admiral Togo approached the larger Russian armada head-on. He then did an about-turn just out of range of the Russians' guns and used the better range of his projectiles to devastate the enemy.
That my compatriots deployed the chundan in much the same way to win their backwater wars is what forms the subject of my story.
Another important fact that merits our attention in this story is the chundan - iruttukuthi rivalry.
How could the iruttukuthi, a celebrity those days in the theatre of backwater battles, be upstaged by an upstart chundan?
The answer is simply a matter of battleground reality (I mean, a battlewater reality).
The speed of a vessel doesn’t really matter during the actual combat.
Because, almost always, when hand-to-hand fights take place, the combatants are relatively stationary.
In 1971 during the second Indo-Pak war it was established that supersonic fighters don’t hold much advantage over their slower adversary during dogfights that occur at subsonic velocities.
The chundan is slower than the iruttukuthi.
Pushing the case for a slower chundan, a designer in the 18th century would have had lot to argue against the faster iruttukuthi that had been around for many centuries.
Jijo,
May 2015.
During the summer of 2017, called down by Navodays Projects Manager Tiju Kurian, Fahadh from his nearby abode at Choice Thrippunithura dropped in at the Kakkanad Studios. It was the first time I saw him after as an infant he was sleeping on his mother Rosie's shoulder while Fazil read out Ente Mamaattikkuttyammakku script to the Navodaya production team in 1983.
With Research Director Josey Joseph, Art Directors Sheker and RK, we met Fazil at Alappuzha before embarking on a Chundan research recce.
