A mother of a story, adapted
Friends and filmmakers Sekhar Kammula and Anish Kuruvilla discuss the making of Anaamika and giving Kahaani a new spin
The enthusiasm is unmistakeable as Sekhar Kammula gets talking about one of his most important films till date, Anaamika (Nee Enge En Anbe in
Tamil). “I know I’ve done a good job. The film has been shot
beautifully and is driven by storytelling. I am eager to see how people
will accept a film that has no commercial trappings of a comedy track
and a few songs,” he says.
While making the film, Sekhar forgot the original, Kahaani,
and hopes the audience will also view it as an independent project.
More than a remake, he’d like to call it an adaptation with fresh
writing. “When the producers approached me to make this film, I was
hesitant. The first idea was to make it in Tamil and then the bilingual
prospects came up since it made business sense. People had already
watched and liked Kahaani, so I wasn’t sure if I wanted to make it again,” he says.
Around
the time, the gruesome incident involving a 23-year-old in Delhi shook
the collective consciousness of the nation. Sekhar wanted to make a film
that voices his thoughts on women. He mulled over many ideas while he
was busy with the ‘I care, I react’ campaign but none of these ideas
lent themselves to a film. Then, he considered the offer of adapting Kahaani.
“The good old way of filmmaking is the process where a production house
approaches a director for a project. Here I had producers willing to
back a bilingual project centred on a woman, so I thought why not,” adds
Sekhar.
He took the help of writer Yandamuri Veerendernath to give a new spin to Kahaani and
this is where a crucial decision was made — to not show the protagonist
as a pregnant woman. “Motherhood and pregnancy draw different
reactions, from respect to sympathy. I didn’t want the audience to look
at the character with “aiyyo paapam” kind of sympathy. I wanted
to see how a normal woman placed in an extraordinary situation would be
accepted,” explains Sekhar. He feels the viewers will get over the Kahaani déjà vu in a few minutes and keep guessing what the new climax will hold. This is where Kahaani’s tag line ‘a mother of a story’ is in for a change.
In
the Telugu version, Nayantara is an ethical hacker who comes from the
US in search of her husband. In the Tamil version, she is a Tamil
Brahmin navigating the alluring yet mysterious lanes of Hyderabad’s Old
City in search of her husband. “She is neither fluent in Telugu nor
Hindi. Long after making the film, I felt it had parallels with Mani
Ratnam’s Roja,” he adds.
Vaibhav does the cop
act that brought Bengali actor Parambrata Chatterjee into Bollywood’s
spotlight and Pasupathy reprises Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s part. “They have
all performed well and in addition, the cast includes several newcomers
from the Old City,” cites Sekhar. He is happy he got to explore the Old
City and its many layers. “A few Telugu films have tried it before but
stopped at the surface level,” he says.
Sekhar is
unmindful of reports that Nayantara was initially reluctant to promote
the film and credits her for a mature, winning performance that will put
all comparisons with Vidya Balan to rest.
Music and a thriller
M.M. Keeravani and Sirivennela Sitarama Sastry stepping into the project drummed up curiosity for Anaamika.
How will their brand of music befit a thriller? That, feel Sekhar
Kammula and his friend and filmmaker Anish Kuruvilla, will be the
surprise factor. Anish and his team shot a video Raagam, thaalam, pallavi to show the creative thought process of Sekhar, Keeravani and Sirivennela.
“I am not sure when the three of them will work together again, I
thought these moments had to be captured for posterity,” says Anish. The
video was shot after the song-making process was over.
“I asked them to re-enact their discussions and music sessions and
called it ‘re-mastering’. They were so involved that it looked like an
organic process. The video is just a peek into a longer version I have
in mind for a DVD. There are many cinephiles out there eager to know how
a director goes about his work. I thought it will be of interest,” says
Anish.
Anish and Sekhar go back a long way,
supporting each other’s projects in various capacities. “I was away for
seven months in Kerala working on my Malayalam film. When I returned,
Sekhar showed me the first half of the film, I had no corrections
whatsoever to suggest with the music. Keeravani has done a splendid
job,” says Anish. He agrees the video is a good way to draw people’s
attention away from Kahaani. “Sekhar has brought in his own thought process to the film,” he says.
Sekhar sums up saying, “With Anaamika,
I’ve moved away from the romantic musicals I’m known for. My films have
always had strong, independent women and with this thriller, I’ve taken
that aspect forward.”
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