The 70-minute movie, directed by Shaji N Karun, is a novel attempt to chronicle the political as well as personal life of AKG.
NEW DELHI: It's not everyday that the Parliament House is opened for a film shoot but when the movie is about the life and times of Marxist veteran AK Gopalan there is always an exception.
That is the respect that Gopalan, affectionately called by his 'comrades' as AKG, commanded in the politicial circles not only in his home state of Kerala but also in the national capital, his 'karmabhoomi' for nearly 30 years.
The 70-minute movie, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Shaji N Karun, is a novel attempt to chronicle the political as well as the personal life of AKG, who was instrumental in building the Communist movement in Kerala.
"The idea is to record the contributions made by AKG, his thoughts, ideology and vision because that part of Kerala's political and social history is slowly fading into the oblivion," Karun says.
The scenes that were filmed at the Parliament House this weekend were about AKG's political life as the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha for nearly a quarter of a century. Some scenes were also filmed at Teen Murti Bhawan.
"We canned AKG's work as a Parliamentarian and his interactions with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, with whom he had differences of opinion especially during the emergency," he adds.
Karun, whose Malayalam movies like 'Piravi', 'Swaham' and 'Vanaprastham' received rave reviews, feels that it was a social obligation to make such a film so that the present generation can learn from the great struggles and sacrifices of Gopalan.
The movie, titled 'AKG', was shot extensively in Kerala's northern-most districts of Kannur and Kasargod where Gopalan had led several struggles, including the historic Amarawati agitation, against zamindari system prevailing at that time.
"We have tried to capture everything. His struggles against the social evils at that time, his marriage, student and jail life, contributions as a legislator, Parliamentarian and overall as a humanist," Karun says.
Karun says he had initially planned to make a 20-minute documentary, but changed the idea after he realised that it was nearly impossible to bring out the true personality of AKG in such a short time.
"We met people from different walks of life, from leaders to farmers, who shared their experiences with the great leader and we prepared the screenplay on the basis of this nuggets of information," he adds.
Interestingly, many of the characters in the movie are being played by real-life politicians.
While Kerala MP Lonappan Nambadan plays the role of Communist veteran Jyoti Basu, the roles of EK Nayanar and local leader N Aniruddhan are being essayed by their sons Krishnakumar and N Sampath respectively.
Sreekumar, a small-time filmmaker and actor, who becomes the reel-life AKG is thrilled about the venture and feels it was a once in a life time opportunity for him. "The offer was out of the blue, but it was an unforgettable experience," he says.
The movie will be released in theatres across Kerala in August and will be tagged along with a commerical film. Karun is planning to release it in states like West Bengal with sub-titles.
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