Kutty Srank

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Kutty Srank
Kutty Srank.jpg
Directed by Shaji N.Karun
Screenplay by
Story by Shaji N.Karun
Produced byMahesh Ramanathan, Reliance BIG Entertainment
Starring
Cinematography Anjuli Shukla
Edited by A. Sreekar Prasad
Music by Isaac Thomas Kottukapally
Distributed by Reliance BIG Pictures
Release date
  • 23 July 2010 (2010-07-23)
CountryIndia
LanguageMalayalam

Kutty Srank (English: The Sailor of Hearts) is a 2010 Indian Malayalam arthouse film directed by Shaji N. Karun. Mammootty played the title role for the film and P. D. Sathish Chandra plays the antagonist. The film was produced by Reliance Entertainment under the banner of Big Motion Pictures, their first production in Malayalam. [1] The film was released at the theatres of Kerala on 23 July 2010. The film won the national award for best feature film along with three other awards.

Contents

Plot

Kutty Srank (translated as junior boat captain in Malayalam) is a film about a mariner who operates a cargo vessel near the sea port of Kodungalloor, once a roaring port town in Kerala. [2]

One day, the local police station discovers an unidentified body that has washed ashore. A Buddhist nun, Revamma, comes forward to claim that she can identify the rotten body, and she recognises it as that of one kutti Srank. Police enquire her relationship with kutti Srank. Meanwhile, another Latin Christian woman, Pemenna, too claims to recognize the dead man. Both women assure the investigators that the body is that of kutti Srank. Finally a mute woman, Kali, joins them and seeks permission to see the corpse. She, however, rejects the claim made by the other women and argues that the body is not that of kutti Srank. Pemmanna identifies Kali and tells Revamma that Kali is kutti Srank's wife. Eventually each woman share her different acquaintance and relation with kutti Srank.

Story

Revamma is the first person to come forward and identify a corpse, which has been found on the beach. She explains her connection with Kutty Srank in a flash back sequence. Her father Moopan is the local don in their area near Malabar and is a man literally steeped in blood. Revamma's memories of her early life are related to blood in some way and blood features heavily throughout the first scenes. Adding to all this symbolism, Kutty Srank has an intermittent nose bleed and his nostrils are permanently filled with the smell of blood. Revamma has returned from studying overseas and overthrows Moorpan's great plans for her by announcing that she is going to become a Buddhist. Her father's reaction is fairly predictable but his plans backfire when he uses Kutty Srank to dispose of a Buddhist monk who was with Revamma. Kutty Srank's loyalty to Moopan is unwavering and unquestioning until this betrayal and Revamma takes immediate advantage of Kutty Sranks despair and confusion, using this vulnerability as a way to engineer her escape. Despite the overly heavy blood symbolism this part of the story is fairly logical and the characters react in understandable if rather extreme ways. Mamooty plays the swaggering thug Kutty Srank to perfection, making him violent but with enough shadows and depth to hint at much more to the man. Moopan's rather grandiose living conditions are a nice contrast to the rest of the film and his affectations make him easier to despise. Revamma seems to have been driven insane by her early experiences and her behaviour is very irrational and disturbed. The only normal people here are Revamma's aunt and uncle who seem to be genuinely trying to help her and deal with her father as best as possible. The escape takes Revamma and Kutty Srank close to Cochin where he meets Pemmana, the second woman who turns up to identify the body. It appears that Kutty Srank has worked as a ferryboat captain in Pemmana's village previously, but skipped out under dubious circumstances as is his usual habit. He is great friends with Pemmana's brother, Loni who picks Kutty Srank to play the lead role in their annual Chavittu Nadakam about Emperor Charlemagne. This traditional drama provides an excuse for some fantastic costumes, singing, dancing and stomping around the stage by the various members of the village. It also allows Mammootty to showcase the more human and fun side to Kutty Srank's character. Although the menace is still there, the interactions between Kutty Srank and Loni give him an opportunity to laugh, joke and drunkenly sing as they roam around the village. The local priest is not happy to hear of the irreligious Kutty Srank taking part in the play and also taking over the affections of Pemmana. Father Yonas has been enlisted by the feckless Joppan to push his match with her and as Joppan seethes with jealousy, Father Yonas whips up fear and mistrust of Kutty Srank. Tensions escalate in the village and there is plenty of scope for betrayal and murder – it rapidly becomes merely a question of who and when. Moopan's henchmen also turn up on the river again in a very groovy speedboat. This, along with the death of his best friend, means that Kutty Srank is ready to skip town again. Avoiding the attentions of Pemmana and escaping a murder hunt are purely side benefits. The third woman who turns up to identify the body is a mute, Kali. She has been living with an older woman who has amazing interpretative skills and understands exactly what Kali is trying to say. She is introduced as Kutty Srank's pregnant wife and sensationally states that the body is not her husband. The final flashback tells her story which starts after Kutty Srank has moved on to Travancore trying once again to elude Moopan's men.

Kutty Srank has taken up with Unnithan who presides over an unhappy family where tragedy has been the normal order for the past 10 years. Unnithan blames this on Kali, a local mute who lives in the forest, and has tried a number of ways to be rid of her. As his trusted man, Kutty Srank heads off in a drunken rage to kill Kali but when he finds her and sees her pitiful existence he is unable to go through with the execution. He ends up being cared for by Kali following a snake bite and eventually becomes her husband. We see a more tender and caring side of Kutty Srank through the eyes of Unnithan's daughter in law Nalini who romanticises the couple in an escape from the misery of her own daily existence. In the end, Kali and Kutty Srank have to make a run for it as Moopan's men have again put in an appearance. The last scene takes place back in the village where the play must go on, and this leads to the final chapter in Kutty Srank's life.

Narrative structure

The film is structurally divided into four different settings, three of which are set in north, mid and south Kerala, respectively. The fourth is a hyper-link set in a police station. The script featured various visual and thematic elements to delineate the three primary sub-plots in both spatial and temporal dimensions, connected through the protagonist. The major devices used for achieving this separation were moods and emotions expressed by the character, (psychological) nature of female protagonists, time-period, geographical locations, religious & social landscapes and seasons. [3] [4] The below table summarizes the different themes associated with each of the women. (Unreported or unverified entries of the table are kept blank.)

Actress Kamalinee Mukherjee Padmapriya Meenakumari
Character namePemmenaRevammaKali
Geographical location of the story Kochi Malabar Travancore
Seasonmonsoonsummerwinter
Time period/Eraunspecified1950Mid 1950s

Cast

Crew opinion

Filming

The film premiered internationally at Montreal International Film Festival 2009 and nationally at IFFI, Goa 2009. As the film involves change in seasons, environmental and climatic changes, the film was shot in three schedules. The first schedule (depicting the monsoon) was held between 15 June 2008 and 10 July 2008 in the backwaters of Alappuzha. [8] The second schedule of shooting (depicting summer) took place at Chavara and Sasthankotta near Kollam during September 2008. The third and final schedule (depicting winter) took place at Kundapura near Mookambika during December 2008.

Awards

In the 57th National Film Awards, Kutty Srank emerged the biggest winner with five awards, including the one for Best Film. [9] The awards received by the film are [10]

Asianet Film Awards

Festivals screened

Release

The film was released on 23 July 2010 in thirty eight theatres.

Music

Kutty Srank
Soundtrack album by
Isaac Thomas Kottukapally
Released1 July 2010
Genre Film soundtrack
Length23:31
Label Manorama Music
Producer Issac Thomas Kottukapally
Isaac Thomas Kottukapally chronology
Veettilekkulla Vazhi
(2010)		Kutty Srank
(2010)		 Koormavatara
(2011)

The background score and songs were composed by Isaac Thomas Kottukapally. The soundtrack features 8 songs, including one sung by Mammootty. The lyrics were penned by S. Ramesan Nair. [11]

Kutty Srank (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Maga Chandira"Traditional Rajalakshmy, Ramesh3:19
2."Aarandum Koorikootti"TraditionalMammootty, Basheer2:03
3."Neshamana"TraditionalRamesh, Basheer4:28
4."Oru minnaminni" S. Ramesan Nair Jassie Gift, Devanand, Pradeep Palluruthy 3:48
5."Thankameyole"TraditionalRajalakshmi, Ramesh3:00
6."Ivalarivalar"TraditionalRamesh2:04
7."Kattiyakkaran"TraditionalBasheer1:28
8."Rajadampathimar"TraditionalRamesh3:18
Total length:23:31

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References

  1. ↑ Settu Shankar. "Meera Jasmine as Mammootty's lady love!". Oneindia. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 8 February 2008.
  2. ↑ Moviebuzz. "Mammootty –Shaji.N.Karun come together". Sify . Archived from the original on 6 December 2007. Retrieved 3 December 2007.
  3. ↑ "Bringing back the serious to Malayalam cinema". Rediff.
  4. ↑ Rajesh, V.S (October 2008), "3 Sthreekelude Ormakkalil Kutty Srank", Vellinakshatram (1006), archived from the original on 30 October 2008, retrieved 29 October 2008
  5. ↑ "Mammootty, Shaji Karun team up for their first film". Nowrunning. Archived from the original on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 8 June 2008.
  6. ↑ "'I didn't know Mammootty Sir was in Kutti Srank'". Rediff.
  7. ↑ Sangeeta (11 July 2008). "Woman with a view". The Hindu . Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 4 August 2008.
  8. ↑ "പോരില്ലാതെ കുട്ടിസ്രാങ്കിന്‌ തുടക്കം". Oneindia.[ permanent dead link ]
  9. ↑ "Big B wins National Award for Paa". The Times of India . 15 September 2010. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
  10. ↑ "List of National Award Winners". Press Information Bureau.
  11. ↑ "Scoring a winner". The Hindu.
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