NIZHALAATTANGAL directed by Kamalakumar Ponneth

NIZHALAATTANGAL 

The movie Nizhalaattangal (literally meaning Playing with Shadows) is based on the struggles due to cast system and emotions between Kathakali (a traditional art form of Kerala) performing Artists.

In an era where the Cast system and hierarchical opression and suppression was predominantly existing in the Society, a little boy from his childhood days was fond of Kathakali, a traditional dance form of Kerala in India which was supposedly played and dominated by the Upper caste of the Society. The boy continued his passion towards Kathakali even entered his youth.But the Upper caste people who always believed that he should remain as a meagre worker under their foothold in the paddy fields or in hard labour, striving under poverty. The rise of this young man to prove to the world up on his ambition and passion towards kathakali, his intense desire to perform and the constant battle between the feudal lords and him is the essence of this Feature film.

Crew

The screen play and dialogues Kamalakumar (his 5th Film) To portray the emotions of Kathakali artists, had to take some cues from learned Kathakali artists. It took about 1 month to complete the full script. The emotional graph and bonding between characters had to be crafted in a detailed manner.The story narration was linear with flash back reference in a song sequence.

Direction PPM Firoz (his 2nd film)

Director PPM Firoz had to use all his experience and expertise as both DOP and Direction in the execution of the film.Most of the actors had no experience in kathakali.Training and familiarisation sessions were conducted for 3 weeks. The directors decision to shoot everything in real sets, and not to use any cheat shots or Vfx, made tough the entire shooting procedure.The shooting took about 1.5 years to complete.During this long schedules, the Director had a huge task of up- keeping the morale and interests of all the crew members.

Art work - Farhas

The set creation was a big ask on the art department. To recreate the 1970 - 80 era, paddy fields, houses, and, greenery in Gulf region was literally a daunting task.

Make up - Dineshan

The film entirely used the actual costume sets and make up was done in the traditional way just like the original Kathakali performances.

Music and Background Score - Nikhil San

The music had a great role to play in creating the correct nostalgic mood belonging to 1970-80 era at the same time, it had to convey the emotions at the to the modern era audience also.

Editing - Mubashir & Akash

The pace of the film was crucial and editing team had to make sure that,the narration goes smooth and engaging to the audience.

Relevance in current era

The aspects of discrimination based on cast and creed even now exist in the society to certain extent in the field of Art. The film intends to show the level of exploitation many artists have to face on various reasons and angles.