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‘Cut costs, save Malayalam cinema’
The director of ‘Parunthu’ feels the industry must make films for Malayalis
“If our cinema has to effectively counter the challenge posed by films from other languages, the production cost must come down. And, our films should once again be made for Malayalis,” said director M. Padmakumar during a Meet-the-Press programme at Kozhikode on Friday.
“A film like ‘Dasavatharam’ was made at a budget of Rs.70 crore while the total budget of Malayalam cinema is just Rs.100 crore a year,” he said. “Cutting costs is the only way to ensure that the number of Malayalam films does not go down drastically. Otherwise, films from other languages will rule the State.”
About the controversy in similarities of the theme of his latest film ‘Parunthu’ and ‘Madambi’, directed by B. Unnikrishnan, the Kozhikode-based director, whose previous films include ‘Vasthavam’ (which fetched Prithivaraj the State award for the best actor) and ‘Vargam’, admitted there were pressures to include some dialogues to counter the ones in the latter allegedly targeted against his film.
“But I didn’t want to stoop low and add something that would in no way enhance ‘Parunthu’,” he said. “I am pretty happy with the film from the creative point of view. Besides, it collected more than Rs. 1 crore in the opening week.”
He said his next film would also star Mammootty. “I had met him just a few days ago at Pollachi, where he is shooting for his latest film, and he told me that he was pleased with ‘Parunthu’. I hope to start the new film early next year. It will be scripted by Ranjith,” he added.
P.K. Ajith Kumar
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