Malayalam cinema is abuzz with all things Kasaragod. Kerala’s northernmost district — its spectacular landscapes, people, dialect and culture — have finally found their footing in mainstream cinema.
“Once upon a time in Malayalam cinema, it was all about Valluvanad [pastoral areas of north central Kerala]. Now it is Kasaragod and the frontier in the limelight!” says scenarist Sajeev Pazhoor, co-writer of Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum (2017).
This crime drama that unfolds in a dusty, dry border village, more or less kicked off the trend. Since then Kasaragod landscapes have been popping up in films, such as Mayaanadhi (Bekal Fort) and Unda ( Acacia forests of Mulleria), television series The Family Man (Bekal town), and glimpses of its particularly accented Malayalam are to be seen in Padayottam, to name a few.
Home ground
Then came Senna Hegde’s quirky Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam (2021). The film, made in the director’s hometown of Kanhangad and starring native artistes speaking in the local dialect, renewed interest in the region. And now, with Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval’s runaway hit, Nna Thaan Case Kodu, starring Kunchacko Boban and yet another splendid cast of local talent, Kasaragod seems to have cemented its dominance on screen.
It doesn’t end there. The short film Anurag Engineering Works, which, like Nna Thaan Case Kodu, is also set amid the semi-arid scrublands of Cheemeni, a small town in the interiors of the district, is currently trending on YouTube, with 40-lakh-plus views.
Several Malayalam films set in Kasaragod are in the works, including Adrishya Jalakangal, directed by Dr Biju, with Tovino and Nimisha Sajayan in the lead, Tovino’s Ajayante Randam Moshanam, Kumari, starring Aiswarya Lekshmi and directed by Nirmal Sahadev, Senna’s 1744 White Alto, with Sharafudheen in the lead, and so on. Even the newly remastered version of G Aravindan’s seminal Kummatty shows Kasaragod in all its glory! “The entire district, it seems, has been taken over by film crews! One can barely walk the roads before bumping into them!” says a delighted Senna.
On a more serious note he adds, “For long, nobody was interested in us, politically or cinematically. In popular culture, Kasaragod was always the butt of jokes; the place where they send you when you get a punishment transfer! So, we had to change that perception all by ourselves. Kasaragod is a beautiful place, with a friendly, cinema-loving populace. It has a hilly terrain to the north of the Chandragiri river, where the culture is a mix of Malayali, Kannada and Tulu. To the south of the river, the plains are very Kerala in nature.”
Senna’s art director Ullas Hydoor agrees. “The geography of the district is unlike any other. For example, those dry grasslands in the interiors of the district set against the signature laterite rocky terrain, shimmering gold and red in the sunlight, is magical. You really don’t have much to do when nature hands you such beautiful frames. Also, the way many parts of the district still have that old world charm; it’s tranquil there,” says Ullas.
Indeed, Kasaragod’s beautiful landscape was first immortalised on screen in Mani Ratnam’s Bombay (1995), especially in the soulful ‘Uyire, Uyire’ picturised at the spectacular Bekal Fort, a centuries-old, laterite stone edifice overlooking the Arabian Sea. “Kasaragod is perhaps Kerala’s last unspoilt frontier,” says Sandeep Senan, producer of Thondimuthalum… Its writer Sajeev says that they were in need of a parched landscape for the story and found the perfect spot in Sheni, an arid village, some 10 kilometres from the border with Karnataka.
While scouting the location for Adrishya Jalakangal, Biju says he searched for a place far from the modern trappings of life and found it in Posadi Gumpe. “It’s absolutely green and beautiful; a pristine hill station perpetually covered in mist,” says Biju.
His earlier film Valiyachirakulla Pakshikal (2013) was one of the first to be set in the district. It was shot in Mulleria and you can observe all three of Kasaragod’s seasons (spring, summer and rainy) in the film. Others films like Chattambinadu and Kasaba were also set there and especially, noteworthy is the award-winning Kannada film Sarkari Hiriya Prathamika Shale, Kasaragodu, which deals with the issue of language in the northern parts of the district, where Malayalam, Kannada and Tulu are spoken by many.
Given that Kasaragod is close to Kannur, Kozhikode and Mangalore airports, accessibility is another major factor cited by filmmakers, as are the costs, which, they claim, are for now comparatively cheaper than elsewhere in Kerala.
Authentic touch
It also helps that several of the new crop of filmmakers, writers and technicians are from the place and thus familiar with the milieu and the Malabar region, in general. “When you have people in the know then it’s easy to get that authenticity,” says Kiran Josey, director and co-writer of Anurag Engineering Works. “In our case, co-writer Adarsh Sadanandan is from nearby Payyanur and the film was based on certain people he knew and their way of life,” he adds.
Many of the filmmakers also choose local actors for supporting roles. “There is a wealth of talent here; we have a long history of people’s participation in the arts, especially theatre and drama. Given the universal nature of the subject, I could have set Thinkalazhcha… anywhere but I chose to do it in Kanhangad. The same with 1744 White Alto. I am proud of my roots. We were waiting to be discovered,” avers Senna. So too, it seems, was Kasaragod.
