Date:26/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/26/stories/2008122654590500.htm

Kerala - Kochi

More than a mere pastime

S. Anandan

Three avid bloggers have come together to make a telefilm based on a short story penned by one of them.

A scene from the film ‘Parole’

Kochi: In a unique venture that upsets notions of blogging as mere pastime, three avid bloggers have come together to make a telefilm based on a short story penned by one of them. What more, the non-resident Keralite (NoRK) bloggers fraternity has chipped in to prop the endeavour from its conception to casting and post production to make it a memorable first.

Parole, written by K.V. Manikantan, who has been working in Sharjah for a decade-and-a-half, first appeared in the Gulf edition of the Mathrubhumi daily. The story earned rave reviews after he posted it on his blog http://sankuchitham.blogspot.com. A little later, he posted a screenplay based on the story and launched a hunt for directors. That is when Sanal Sasidharan aka Sanathanan who runs http://sanathanan.blogspot.com came in the picture.

In Riyad for just about a year-and-a-half, Sanal had earlier directed an award-wining short film Athisayalokam (Wonder world) and had a great deal of his own writings on http://sanathanan.blogspot.com. Reji Prasad, cinematographer M.J. Radhakrishnan’s assistant and himself a blogger, also joined the team.

“Parole is about the angst of children in exile,” says Sanathanan. “The central motif is the life snatched away from a child who is forced to embark on a stifled existence abroad, leaving behind all the intrinsic pleasures and freedom of childhood back in his native place. Shot at Ozhukil Mana at Chathannoor, 20 km from Pattambi, the movie revolves round three children, Kannan (who is devastated after his parents decide to call him back to the Gulf), and his neighbours Ammu and Vishnu, all enacted by debutant actors. Sudhir, son of the late actor Karamana Janardhanan, plays Achu, Kannan’s father, with élan. While NoRK bloggers pooled in the money required for the project, one of them, Kumar, asked his daughter Kalyani to play the role of Ammu. The central character of Kannan is played by Aditya who the director thinks will be a future star.

Parole is set to have its premiere show in Thiruvananthapuram by the year-end.