A CONTENT RICH AZHIYADHA KOLANGAL

Azhiyadha Kolangal, Balu Mahendra’s classic of 1979 becomes the title of a film directed by MR Bharathi that features Prakash Raj, Revathi, Archana and Easwari Rao. The film is produced by Eswari Rao.

Director Bharathi who has around more than two decades of experience in the industry, talks to behindwoods:  

Azhiyadha Kolangal

Azhiyaadaha Kolangal is inspired from a Bengali story. Archana is a good friend of mine. We both discussed the story and finalized the script. She plays the lead in this film. Through her Revathy came into the project and she loved the story. Easwari Rao, another friend of mine came forward to produce this film and also to act in it.

In this story, all three women characters are very important and powerful. They all vested a lot of faith in me. In fact, I suggested that Revathy can direct the film as it would be better for the business prospects. But it was decided that I would direct it.

Through Revathy, I met Prakash Raj and I narrated the story to him. He immediately agreed to be a part of the cast. I am thankful to him as he consented to be in the film despite knowing that it is going to be a woman-centric one. He is one of the few who has concerns for good cinema. He was very supportive which helped the film to shape up well.

Your film appears to be content rich. But how are you going to compete with commercial films with huge star cast?

You are right! But audience seeks only good stories and a fresh experience in terms of content. They will give their patronage only if there is a good product and an interesting presentation. We have complete confidence in our story. Star power is needed to make the audience come to the theatre on the first day. But, after that, to take the film to a higher level, we need a story. And on that aspect, I am confident that I have a very good story.

Films on women

In cinema, women are either shown as young or old. There is hardly any film focusing middle aged women. It is a fact that there are many important things happening during this phase as life begins at forty. In our films a fifty plus old man will romance a girl half his age, but we cannot show a woman doing that. I would like to record the problems of middle aged women. I want to discuss women’s life in my films and Azhiyadha Kolangal will be the first one in that endeavor.

Jyothsna Bhavanishankar

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