The Kalyani Priyadarshan-starrer is about a young woman from Malappuram who aspires to become a football commentator , a relatively new concept in otherwise progressive Kerala.
Manu C Kumar. (Supplied)
Kalyani Priyadarshan’s latest release, Sesham Mike-il Fathima, has evoked a good response in theatres across the state. The movie has undoubtedly given a boost to the actor’s career.
Sesham Mike-il Fathima marks the directorial debut of journalist Manu C Kumar. Before venturing into films, Manu Kumar worked at Manorama News for 16 years.
The film’s plot revolves around a young woman who aspires to become a football commentator. A woman commentator for a football match is a relatively new concept in an otherwise progressive state of Kerala.
In an exclusive interview with South First, the director shares his experiences during the shooting and other interesting aspects.
Manu C Kumar and music director Hesham Abdul Wahab. (Supplied)
Manu C Kumar always wanted to do films. Indeed, he wrote seven scripts.
“I have written scripts for others in the last 10 years. But none of them worked. Sesham Mike-il Fathima is my eighth script, and I found it interesting,” Manu C Kumar quipped.
“I haven’t assisted any director. I spent some time studying technical aspects. I had a tough time launching the movie as it had no male protagonist. But the producers gave a green signal after listening to the story.” Manu recalled.
The filmmaker narrated the story to Kalyani Priyadarshan during the promotions of her debut Malayalam movie Varane Avashyamundu (2020).
After watching Varane Avashyamundu, Manu felt that Kalyani Priyadarshan would be apt for the role of Fathima as she had the energy and casual attitude to pull it off since Fathima is a person who deals with issues amicably.
After listening to the script, the actor readily agreed to do the flick.
Manu C Kumar with Kalyani Priyadarshan. (Supplied)
Sesham Mike-il Fathima is written in the Malappuram dialect (a district in Northern Kerala) where conversations are usually fast.
The filmmaker admits that he wasn’t aware that Kalyani Priyadarshan did not know Malayalam well.
When asked how Kalyani Priyadarshan managed this, Manu replied that script assistant Azra Anjum had sent a recorded voice of Kalyani’s dialogues. The actor then practised them and came for the shooting.
“Our assistant director Safareena helped Kalyani Priyadarshan during the shooting. During the dubbing process, actor Surabhi Lakshmi, who hails from Kozhikode, helped Kalyani Priyadarshan with the dialogue delivery,” he added.
All the actors in the film, except Kalyani Priyadarshan, hailed from Northern Kerala.
Femina George and Shaheen Siddique hail from Kochi and their characters are shown that way.
“Kalyani Priyadarshan made an extra effort while dubbing for the movie. I thought it wouldn’t be fair to make other actors too to toil the same way. So, we chose actors from the Malabar area. Aneesh G Menon, Priya, Sudheesh, and Navas Valikunnu hail from the Malappuram and Kozhikode districts,” he explained.
The cast and crew of ‘Sesham Mike-il Fathima’. (Supplied)
Manu Kumar did extensive research after locking the script. Being a visual media journalist, he is well-versed in shot division and other technical aspects. Nevertheless, he studied more about filmmaking.
The director hails from Alappuzha, which is located in South Kerala. Then how did he pen the script (since it is in the Malappuram dialect)?
Well, he revealed that he faced difficulty, but the crew met some people in the Malappuram district and enquired about how they could include certain elements in the script.
“It wasn’t pre-decided to focus on the Malappuram district. However, since there are a lot of football fans in Malappuram, I thought that the story of a woman commentator can only be placed there,” Manu elucidated.
He added, “If we have decided to place a story in Malappuram, then we have to do the required work to get the resources right. When we were shooting, we had in mind that houses with a particular architecture were needed to add authenticity to the movie. So, we searched many areas to find the right house to showcase it as Fathima’s home,” he added.
Manu C Kumar during the shooting of the movie. (Supplied)
Manu Kumar and his team shared the videos of seven football matches with Kalyani Priyadarshan so she could understand how the matches were organised.
The team organised a tournament of popular local football teams in Kadambuzha in the Malappuram district and shot it with six cameras.
“It was not like Kalyani Priyadarshan did a live commentary. The announcement at the start of the match was written in the script. As for the commentary part, we asked Kalyani to watch the match and just talk. She did a good job,” the filmmaker said.
Later, the team edited the match at the editing table and then added the visuals of Kalyani Priyadarshan and Balachandran Chullikad to the scenes.
“We initially wrote the commentary as and when someone kicked the ball and Kalyani later dubbed the lines so we could retain the mood. Both the matches in the movie are original ones,” Manu Kumar explained.
Music sensation Anirudh Ravichander rendered a beautiful song for the movie.
Manu gave the credit to producer Jagadish Palaniswamy, who was one of the producers of the recent Tamil blockbuster hit Leo (2023).
“He (Palaniswamy) owns The Rout firm that manages Anirudh’s music shows abroad. We asked him if Anirudh could sing for the film and Palaniswamy made it happen.”
The director is on cloud nine after watching the response to his debut venture and he says he couldn’t have asked for more!
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