Utpal Borpujari in Panaji
After remaking Othello and Antony & Cleopatra, leading Malayalam director Jayaraj this time has adapted Macbeth into the Kerala landscape to create another highly-engaging cinematic journey titled “Veeram”.
“Veeram”, starring Kunal Kapoor in the lead role, is a historical drama about Chandu Chekavar, an infamous warrior in the 13th century North Malabar. “A Lot of great filmmakers have adapted Macbeth. So, it was a challenge for me as to how differently I can do this. It is a film made for the festival circuit and the commercial, mainstream space,” Jayaraj said after the film was screened at the 47th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) here.
The director, who claims that he has not seen Vishal Bharadwaj’s “Maqbool” and “Omkara”, adaptations of Macbeth and Othello, has earlier won the Best Feature Film Award at the National Film Awards for his adaptation of “Othello”, titled “Kaliyattam”.
“Shakespearean adaptations are my passion. The other kind of films I make is purely experimental. Shakespearean plays, almost all the tragedies, are still relevant,” Jayaraj says explaining why filmmakers are still enamoured with the Bard’s creations.
Veeram has been made simultaneously in Malayalam, Hindi and English. “I planned to do the film in Malayalam and English. While looking for the cast, Kunal came in. While working with him, I realised why not do it in Hindi also. We used to shoot the scene in three languages,” he says.
“Veeram” is the fifth installment in Jayaraj’s “Navarasa” series, which includes “Kaliyattam”, “Karunam” (which had won the Jury Award at IFFI earlier) and “Shantham” which starred football legend IM Vijayan and Seema Biswas.
For his part, Kapoor found the need to speak Malayalam for the film was the toughest part during the whole process. “It is a very difficult language. Now that I’ve done a film in Malayalam, I think I can do it in any language. We had a really hard time. It was a big challenge for me.”
“What is really challenging for all of us is that when you’re acting in three languages, it is not only the language that changes but also a little bit of acting style. There are subtle changes, how you’d say something in Hindi, English or Malayalam is very different,” he says.