STARDOM BECKONS: RAHMAN

IN BLACK, RAHMAN MADE A COMEBACK AS A SECOND HERO. NOW, HE IS
PLAYING THE HERO IN MUSAFIR, WRITES KK MOIDU
Musafir, directed by
Pramod Pappan, is a
big-budget thriller.
Rahman, an icon for
youngsters in the
80s, plays the male lead of the film.
The movie is produced by Suneer
Hamza under the banner of Indish
Creations. The film tells the story of
the dispute between financially elite
families who run corporate businesses.
Rahman plays the role of a
dancer-cum -musician in the film
and his heroine is roped in from
Bollywood. The story and dialogue
is by Babu Janardhanan and the cinematography
is done by Shoukath
Lensman. The movie will be picturised
in Dubai, London and
Cyprus.
Gulf returnee Rahman, a tall,
handsome hero, was a teenage heartthrob
in the 80’s. He has acted in
more than 50 films in different languages
like Malayalam, Tamil and
Telugu. He was very popular in the
industry as a romantic action hero.
His more than six feet height and
pleasant nature earned him a variety
of opportunities for playing different
kinds of roles.
As an actor, his range of roles
extended from the firebrand extremists
in Ethiri Poove Chuvanna Poove
to a humorous performance in
Pappan Priyappetta Pappan. He
also appeared in chocolate-hero roles
in several films and performed them
with the same ease. He was lucky
enough to work with some ace directors
and best actors of the industry.
Rahman made his dream debut in
the super hit Malayalam film
Koodevide at the age of 16.
Koodevide was directed by veteran
Padmarajan and was released in
1983. Rahman won the State Award
for best supporting actor for his role
as a teenager who had an infatuation
for his school teacher. The lead roles
of the film were played by
Mammootty and Suhasini.
After his remarkable debut,
Rahman played second fiddle to
superstars like Mammootty and
Mohanlal in many films.
His combination with
Mammootty never tasted failure at
the box office. The duo delivered
box office hits like Ethiree Poove
Chuvannna Poove, Kanamarayathu,
Ee Lokham Evide Kure Manushyar,
Aankiliyude Tharattu etc.
His partnership with Mohanlal in
Evide Thudangunnu, Uyarangalil,
Koodum Thedi, Pappan Priyappetta
Pappan etc. were also hits.
The Mammootty-Mohanlal-
Rahman trio has also created successful

films like Adiyozhukkukukal,
Angadikkappurathu, Kandu
Kandarinju, Vartha,
Poomukhappadiyil Ninneyum Kathu
etc.
Many considered Rahman as the
next superstar of Malayalam cinema.
However, he appeared as a hero in
many films like Parannu Parannu
Parannu, Punnaram Cholli Cholli,
Gayathri Devi Ente Amma, Orikkal
Oridathu, Onnam Prathi Olivil,
Koodanayum Kattu, Chilambu,
Veena Meettiya Vilangukal, Mazhavil
Koodaram, Hit List, King Solamon
etc.
Most of the movies in which he
played the hero were not as successful
as his movies with Mammootty
and Mohanlal. His films
Parannuyaran, Mizhiyorangalil etc.
were not released.
Rahman slowly disappeared from
the Malayalam film industry and
tried his luck in other language films
like Tamil and Telugu. He made his
Tamil debut in Nileve Malare in
1986 and his first Telugu film
Rasaleela was also released the same
year. Nilave Malare was directed by
Tamil super star Vijay’s father SA
Chanderasekhar. It was a moderate
success at the box office and was
also dubbed into Malayalam as
P r i y a m v a d h a k k o r u
Pranayageetham.
After the success of the Tamil
film Puthu Puthu Arthangal and the
Telugu super hit Bharath Bond,
Rahman resurfaced as a hero in
Tamil and Telugu. He moved to
Bangalore from Kochi and later
shifted to Chennai.
After years he made a comeback
into the Malayalam film industry as
a second hero in the Mammootty
starrer Black directed by Renjith.
After donning the role of a cop in
Black, he did second hero roles in
Mammootty films Rajamanikyam
and Bharghava Charitham
Moonnam Khandam. He also played
a second hero role in the Mohanlal
starrer Mahasamudram. The super
success of his comeback films like
Black and Rajamanikyam has made
him popular among the new generation.
In his second arrival, Rahman
played equally important roles along
with Kalabhavan Mani in Abraham
and Lincoln and Nanma. His role as
a football coach Vijay in Goal,
directed by Kamal, was one of his
best performances after his comeback.
Rahman repeated his success, not
only in Malayalam, but also in Tamil
industry in his comeback films. His
roles in Thoothukudi and Ram made
favourable impressions.
Rahman’s earlier films were
dubbed by others but in his comeback
films, he has achieved success
in dubbing as well. In Ethiri, he
dubbed his own voice for the first
time in Tamil and Rajamanikyam
was his first voice in Malayalam.
Unlike Malayalam and Tamil
films, Rahman couldn’t achieve success
in Telugu films after his comeback.
His Telugu film Dhariyan
bombed at the box office.
Besides playing a hero role in the
forthcoming Musafir, Rahman is
doing a tough cop role in the Ajith
starrer, Tamil film Billa. The movie
is a remake of the Rajnikant super
hit film of the same name, which
made him a super star. In the modern
version, Ajith plays the lead
role. Rahman’s role was played by
Major Sundar Rajan in the original.
In Tamil films, Rahman is also
doing an important role as a young
hero Bharath’s Pazhani. He is also
doing an important role in the senior
Tamil hero Vijayakanth’s film.
Rahman plays a meaningful role
as the keyboard player of
Mohanlal’s music troupe in Rock n
Roll directed by Ranjith. He is also
doing a lead role in Manjadikkuru
directed by Anjali Menon. Besides,
he is doing a significant role in a
Joshi-directed film.
Although Rahman got a variety
of offers with his comeback, he is
for the first time playing the hero’s
role in Musafir after the long break.
The success of Musafir will
decide Rahman’s future in the
industry. If his heroic role in the
film becomes a success at the box
office, it will be a release for him
from playing second fiddle to superstars.
Can his heroic role in Musafir
get him the superstar status he
enjoyed in the 80s?

Arabikkatha

HEARTFELT STORY

ARABIKKATHA TAKES AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT POLITICAL VIEWS AND
THE LIFE OF EXPATRIATES IN DUBAI, SAYS KK MOIDU
Director: Lal Jose
Story-Screenplay-Dialogue: Dr Iqbal
Kuttippuram
Producer: Hussain
Music: Biji Bal
Lyrics: Anil Panachooraan
Cinematography: Manoj Pillai
Editing: Ranjan Abraham
Starring: Sreenivasan, Chang Shu Min,
Samvrutha Sunil, Nedumudi Venu,
Indrajith, Jayasurya, Narayanan Nair,
Salim Kumar, Atlas Ramachandran,
Moideen Koya etc.


20 TIME OUT The Gulf Today / Thursday, August 30, 2007
FILM REVIEW
Director Lal Jose once
again proved that he
can handle any subject
with ease. Earlier, he
surprised everybody by
making a comedy entertainer with
Mammootty in his debut. Lal Jose
achieved success by making Dilip a
thief in the super hit Meesa
Madhavan and a womanish role in
Chandupottu. Lal Jose had the
courage to make an offbeat film with
Salim Kumar as the hero. He created
history in Malayalam cinema by
making a box office wonder with
Classmates, a blockbuster without
any superstar.
His Arabikkatha says a different
story from a different angle. The
film, scripted by Dr Iqbal
Kuttippuram, narrates the story of a
CPM comrade leaving his homeland
for Dubai to earning money.
The film opens with a lathi charge
on party men, who are staging an
agitation against the opening of a
leather factory in Chemmanur, a village
in Kannur.
Mukundan (Sreenivasan) better
known as “Cuba Mukundan” is the
son of Society Gopalan (Nedumudi
Venu). Gopalan is the founder of
communism in Chemmanur.
Mukundan is a young political idealist
and for him communism is
everything. He is a die-hard fan of
Fidel Castro and always showers
praise on China and Cuba for practicing
communism.
Mukundan is the branch secretary
of the communist party in
Chemmanur. His loyal comrade
Anvar (Indrajith), an extremist at
heart, and others in the village have
a lot of respect for Mukundan.
Mukundan resists everything forbidden
in the party vocabulary. He is
against cola, bourgeoisie, bribery,
computers and does not like to enter
into matrimony.
But in the party, there are others
who are not so idealistic. For them,
politics is not for serving the public
but for their own interests. Karunan
is one of them and he protects
Kunjunni (Jagathy Sreekumar), an
NRI businessman, for opening a
leather factory in Chemmanur.
Karunan and Kunjunni promise
jobs for villagers in the factory and
offer money to the party. But
Mukundan overcomes all the enticement.
He emphasise that he will not
allow to open the factory in their village.
Because it will create environmental
hazards and industrial pollution.
The court order for closing the
factory was a setback for Karunan.
He smells the danger and
Mukundan’s presence in the village
becomes a hindrance to his growth.
When Society Gopalan was hospitalised
following a stroke, Karunan
planned a conspiracy against
Mukundan with the help of Kunjunni
and a co-operative bank manager.
They made some false documents
and showed them to Mukundan as a
proof of the money swindling his
father Gopalan is involved in. As a
disciplined branch secretary,
Mukundan expels his father from the
party. After the death of his father,
Mukundan takes up the responsibility
of clearing the huge amount of 20
lakh rupees and takes long leave
from the party.
Karunan, with the permission of
the party district committee, decides
to send Mukundan to Dubai, where
he can easily make money within a
short period. But Mukundan was not
ready for this as he prefers to go to
Cuba or China instead of Dubai.
Karunan persuades him. He says the
party is sending him to Dubai not
only for making money, but also to
study and report the problems faced
by Keralites in the gulf. They disappoint
Mukundan by saying that there
were not many Keralites in Cuba and
China.
Mukundan’s arrival in Dubai
starts a new chapter in his life. He
has big ideas for improving the
working condition of the expatriates.
He meets different kinds of people
living in miserable conditions for
various reasons — but nobody is
ready to listen him.
Mukundan meets a Chinese girl
Shu Min (Chang Shu Min) in a park
selling CDs. He cannot believe that
a girl from a great communist country
like China is selling CDs in
Dubai. He helps her come out of difficult
situations because she is from
his favourite place, China.
Mukundan does not possess the
qualifications or the experience for a
white collar job. He is not even
familiar with computers. How will
he repay 20 lakh rupees that his
father had not misappropriated?
Even if he makes money, will others
exploit his helping nature? What
happened in Chemmanur during the
absence of Mukundan? All these
questions are answered in the climax.
Sreenivasan has succeeded in satisfying
his regular audience in the
first half of the film with his distinctive
style. But in the post interval, he
strays from his ordinary films. His
character becomes serious and
reserved, as his role demands.
Sreenivasan is best as Cuba
Mukundan and gives a magnetic performance.
Chan Shu Min did her role
persuasively. Others in the cast like
Nedumudi Venu, Jagathy Sreekumar,
Indrajith, Samvrutha Sunil did justice
to their roles and give able support
to the film.
The casting for the movie is perfect.
Some gulf expatriates have been
hired to play different roles in the
film.
Arabikkatha goes deep into the
real life of expatriates and opens
one’s eyes to the surroundings. The
movie also hints that the communist
parties often change their ideals from
their commitments. Also, a few party
leader’s links with business tycoons
are exposed.
On the technical side, Manoj
Pillai’s camera work is brilliant. He
has captured unique scenes of Dubai
not shown in Malayalam films earlier.
Debutante music director Biji Bal
and lyrics of Anil Panachooran are
impressive. The songs suit the situation
perfectly.
Director Lal Jose and scenarist Dr
Iqbal Kuttippuram have succeeded
in making a film different from the
regular commercial fare.

Supreme Star Sarath Kumar

FOCUS ON
SUCCESS
SARATH KUMAR IS MAKING HIS DEBUT IN THE MAMMOOTTY-STARRER MALAYALAM PERIOD FILM PAZHASSI RAJA AND KANIKA IS TRYING HER LUCK AFTER THE FLOP OF ENNITTUM, SAYS KK MOIDU

Superstar Sarath Kumar
plays an important role in
Pazhassi Raja as Edacheni
Kunkan, a best friend and
the commander-in-chief of
Pazhassi Raja played by
Mammootty. Kunkan is a symbol of
masculinity and to portray the role
needs good physique along with a
star image.
Suresh Gopi was the first choice
for Edacheni Kunkan but he refused
the offer. The reason for choosing
him for the role was becasue he did
well earlier in the role of Aromal
Chekavar in the MT Vasudevan
Nair-Hariharan-Mammootty team
epic film Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha.
Suresh Gopi refused the role of
Edacheni Kunkan because director
Lenin Rajendran has earlier planned
to make Pazhassi Raja with him in
the title role. But Suresh Gopi’s
career was on a lean patch at that
time and no producer’s were ready to
take a risk by making a big budget
film with Suresh Gopi.
Suresh Gopi regained his status in
the industry by making a strong
comeback in Bharath Chandran IPS.
Before his success, MT-Hariharan-
Mammootty team declared their new
project Pazhassi Raja.
But Lenin and Suresh Gopi is trying
to compensate their loss in
Pazhassi Raja by announcing a new
project Raja Ravi Varma. The difference
in the role is that instead of a
gun or sword in his hand, Suresh
Gopi will appear in the screen with a
painting brush. Earlier the duo had
created Kulam, which was noticed
for its artistic value.
The replacement of Suresh Gopi
by Sarath Kumar in Pazhassi Raja
became a blessing for the creator’s of
the film. Sarath Kumar is not only a
good actor but also has an athletic
body and everybody will like to
watch him in Kunkan’s role.
Pazhassi Raja is being made with
a big budget which the Malayalam
film industry cannot afford. Although
Mammootty is a favourite star for
Malayalees and he is popular in
Tamil Nadu, it will not be enough for
the success of the film. It has to run
in packed houses not only in Kerala
but also in Tamil Nadu. The valued
presence of Sarath Kumar will help
the film to attract more crowds in
neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
Ramanathan Sarathkumar was
born in New Delhi on July 14, 1954
in an affluent family as the son of late
M Ramanathan and Pushpaleela. His
native place is Thalakavur in
Sivaganga district near Karaikudi.
Sarathkumar completed his schooling
from New Delhi. He did his PUC
from Loyola College, Chennai and
passed BSc in Maths from New
College in Chennai.
In the long span of two-and-a-half
decades, he served the industry as a
actor, producer and distributor. He
has acted in more than 100 films and
did few Telugu films. Super hero
Sarathkumar has a good reputation
in the Tamil film industry and he is
the president of South Indian Film
Artistes Association. He also tried his
luck in politics and was a former
Rajyasabha MP of DMK from Tamil
Nadu.
Sarath Kumar started his film
career as a villain and did second
hero roles in many films in the beginning.
His career’s turning point came
after he played a heroic role in KS
Ravikumar’s super hit Cheran
Pandiyan.
After the success of the film, the
duo created many box office hits like
Naattamai. He became a leading
hero in Tamil film in the late 90’s. In
most of the films he appeared, he
played an honest cop where his duty
was to cleanse the corrupt system of
the society.
Sarath Kumar has delivered many
hit movies like Suriyan, Ayya,
Maayavi, Natpukkaaga, Naattamai,
Suryavamsam, Thenkasippattanam,
Vedan, Samudhiram etc. He directed
and played the lead role as a journalist
in his 100th film Thalaimakan
with leading lady Nayanthara. His
forthcoming Tamil film
Vaitheeswaran is directed by MK
Maheshwar and produced by
Annamali films.
Sarath Kumar won several
awards in his career like the
Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan Award
2000-2001, Best Actor Awards 1992,
1994, 1995, 1996 and 1998, MGR
Award in 1997 and won the best villain
award of 1990 for the film Pulan
Visaranai.
Being a super hero in Tamil films,
Sarath Kumar didn’t hesitate to
accept a Malayalam film where
Mammootty plays the lead role as
Pazhassi Raja. He believes Pazhassi
Raja will be magic on celluloid
because it is scripted by the doyen of
Malayalam literature MTVasudevan
Nair and directed by veteran
Hariharan. They were experts in reinterpreting
history and created
records by making heroes into villains
and vice versa in their earlier
films like Vadakkan Veeragadha.
The movie was a milestone in the
history of Malayalam cinema.
Mammootty played the lead in
Vadakkan Veeragatha and he fetched
the National Best Actor Award for
his portrayal of Chanthu.
MT, Hariharan and Mammootty
trio are back after 18 years with
Pazhassi Raja. Kerala Varma
Pazhassi Raja also known as the
“Lion of Kerala” of the Padinjare
Kovilakom of the Kottayam Royal
family was one of the first voices
raised against the British rule in
India. During the last decades of the
18th century, Pazhassi Raja irked the
British East India Company in
Malabar.
The 1857 Sepoy Mutiny is considered
as the first organised revolt
against British rule in India and it is
also known as India’s first struggle
for independence. But half a century
before the Sepoy Mutiny, Pazhassi
Raja achieved the title Veera (brave)
by encaging a guerrilla war against
the British occupation with the help
of tribes.
Pazhassi Raja opposed the British
colonialists for their unjustifiable
revenue policy of British East India
Company in Malabar. Raja stopped
revenue collections and threatened
to cut down all the pepper vines if the
company persisted with the revenue
collection.
The British made a futile attempt
to capture Pazhassi Raja in his palace
at Pazhassi in April 1796. Aproclamation
was issued to people — if
they support Raja their property will
be confiscated. Raja’s people strike
back in 1797 and started a daring
attack on the security personnel at
Pazhassi.
More than three days of the war,
Raja’s people used swords, spears,
bows, arrows and attacked the musket
armed British forces. The British
compelled to sign a temporary treaty.
When the British broke the conditions
of the treaty, Raja revolted
but the British had most of the South
under their control. Raja with his
wife and trusted attendants took
refugee in the jungles. In 1804, the
property of Raja was confiscated and
proclaimed a reward for the head of
Raja and in 1805, Raja was killed.
Kanika plays an important role as
the wife of Pazhassi Raja. She is
making her comeback after the miserable
flop of her debut Malayalam
film Ennittum directed by Ranjith
Lal.
Kanika was born in July 3, 1982
as Divya Venketasubramanian in
Chennai. She is the second daughter
to the engineer parents Mr and Mrs
Venkat Subramanian. She is known
as Kanika in Tamil and Malayalam
and Shravanthi in Telugu and
Kannada. She completed her schooling
from the reputed TVS Lakshmi
Matriculation Higher Secondary
School, Madurai.
Kanika is an engineering graduate
from the highly renowned BITS
Pilani and completed two films
before her graduation.
The film industry is an unusual
place for a BITS Pilani engineering
graduate, but she chose her career as
a full time artist and has acted in
Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada
movies. She also tried her luck in
playback singing, dubbing and
anchoring TV shows in her short
career.
Kanika has dubbed for Sada in
the superhit Anniyan and for Shriya
Saran in the latest Rajnikanth starrer
megahit Sivaji The Boss.
She has acted in one dozen films
in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and
Malayalam. Her movies were
notable as Five star was produced by
Mani Rathnam, Varalaru was directed
by KS Ravikumar and Autograph
was directed and produced by senior
actor Cheran.
Kanika was crowned Miss
Madurai in 1999 and was second
runner-up in Miss Chennai in 2001.
Director Susi Ganesan spotted her
and cast her in the lead role of his
dream film Five Star.
Kanika knew her priorities and
raised the eyebrow’s of people by
rejecting offers from veteran directors
like Shankar, Cheran etc to continue
her studies. During her vacation
she made her debut in the Telugu
film Ottessi Chepputunna.
After her graduation she made her
debut in the Kannada film Annavaru,
a remake of the Tamil film
Thalapathi. She also played a small
role in Autograph and won critical
acclaim.
Kanika also played the heroine
role in Dancer opposite Kutty. No
other heroines were not ready to play
the heroine of the one-leg wonder
Kutty; she not only accepted the
offer but also did a neat job. She
played the heroine role in the
Kannada film Sye, a remake of the
Tamil film Dhill.
Kanika’s second appearance in
Malayalam is with a success guaranteed
project and it will give a boost
to her Malayalam career.
Linda Arsenio of Kabul Express
fame plays a British woman in the
film and Padmapriya appears as a
tribal for the first time in her career.
Other artistes of the films are
Thilakan, Nedumudi Venu, Jagathi
Sreekumar, Captain Raju, Lalu Alex,
Manoj K Jayan, Biju Menon,
Kalabhavan Mani, Suresh Krishna,
Subair, Siddique, Roshan,
Manikuttan, Urmila Unni, Valsala
Menon and Nikhila.
Music maestro Ilayaraja pens the
lyrics of ONV Kurup and Venu handles
the cinematography.
Pazhassi Raja is being shot with
a Pan Vision camera and exploits the
latest technical achievements is the
most expensive Malayalam film. It
is produced by Gokulam Gopalan.
The creators also promise that their
film Pazhassi Raja will be different
from the 1964 movie of the valiant
king Pazhassi Raja directed by
Kunjacko.