Malayalam film to premiere at Montreal Film Festival

Malayalam filmmaker Shaji N Karun's Kuttysrank (Sailor of the Hearts), a film dealing with the identity crisis of a mariner, is all set to premiere at the Montreal Film Festival beginning on August 27.

The director has made a return to filmmaking after a long pause. His last directorial venture was Mohanlal-starrer Vaanaprastham (The final dance) in 1999.

Known for his distinct narrative style, Shaji tells the story of a mariner and his voyages through the eyes of three women in Kuttysrank.

Superstar Mammootty plays the central role of Srank (mariner) in the film while Kamalini Mukherjee, Padmapriya and Sri Lankan actress Meenakumari appear in the female roles.

Produced by Reliance Big Picture and Mega production house in Malayalam, the film will be premiered at the  Montreal Film Festival beginning on August 27, before its release in India.

Shaji considers Kuttysrank as a different film in terms of theme, story pattern and visualisation.

"Set in 1950s, the film is adaptable to any timeframe. I believe cinema is a sculpture carved out from time. A real film will fit any timeframe, because it is the truth. It has no past and future and what it only has is the present," he said.

The film deals with the identity crisis of Srank, who operates a cargo vessel through the backwaters of Kerala. A traveller by profession, no land is ready to accept him as its own and he is always dubbed as a Varuthan (stranger). 

The film explores how he ultimately gains recognition after death, through the perceptions of three women belonging to different lands.

"I am happy that Mammootty is doing the lead role in my film. Reliance is producing it and for the first time in Malayalam, a woman cinematographer, Anjali Shukla, a product of Film and TV Institute of India (FTII), Pune, is handling the camera," Shaji said.

Like in his earlier works, the director brings novelty in narration in the new film also. "It is not a straightforward presentation of thoughts. The audience will get an opportunity to read the thoughts between the passing visuals," he said.

Shaji says he has tried to do justice to the story and script by casting the right actors. Sranks body language and mannerisms demanded an actor like Mammootty in the title role.

The film has three female characters through the views of whom the unknown self of Srank is being explored. They belong to different lands and social backgrounds - one is an aristocratic woman, the second belongs to the fisherfolk and the third is a dumb woman who can hardly express herself.

For Harikrishnan, who did the script for Kuttysrank along with PF Mathews, the greatest challenge was to adapt to the director's distinct narrative style, which was not at all linear. "The film develops through three seasons, three women, different terrains and a unique hero," he said.

The protagonist in Kuttysrank undertakes two kinds of voyages -- the backwater travels and the parallel inner voyage. The hard part for the director and script-writer was to translate the inner journeys on to the screen, he said.