Painters and masons by day, how a bunch of theatre actors came up a National Award winner

On Friday, August 16, the National Awards jury announced Aattam as the winner in three major categories — Best Feature Film, Best Screenplay and Best Editing. While Ekarshi has directed and written the screenplay, Mahesh Bhuvanend is the film’s editor.

Aattam, which won national awards in 3 categories

Both Fortt and Ekarshi have been associated with Kochi-based theatre group Lokadharmi Nadakaveedu for several years.\

“It was Vinay who suggested that we do something that all these wonderful theatre actors can be part of. He kept nudging me to write a script. The basic idea behind the film is this: ‘Is justice a pursuit of an individual or a group’. I also wanted to explore how justice works when personal stakes come in. After that, I thought of the setting and characters,” Ekarshi told The Indian Express in an earlier interview.

Eleven of the 13 key actors in Aattam — excluding Kalabhavan Shajohn and Zarin Shihab — have been associated with Lokadharmi. Fortt, who has studied acting at Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, too plays a major character in the film.

Shihab, who did workshops with the actors for 35-40 days before the shoot, plays the role of Anjali. In the movie, Anjali faces harassment at a hotel where the theatre group is partying and when she talks about that, the group, instead of confronting the accused, try to reach a consensus, thus laying bare the underlying suspicions, greed and pettiness among themselves.

“A lot of people are asking me if we expected this,” Shihab told The Indian Express. “We’ve learned to keep our expectations low — you never know, right? But seeing all the recognition we received at film festivals, including the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI) and the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), did give us a little hope.”

Most of these actors — who have been part of Lokdharmi’s productions, especially its longest-running play, Karnabharam — are from humble backgrounds with a passion for acting. Jolly Antony is a tile layer; Aji Thiruvamkulam is a painter; Selvaraj Raghavan VR used to be a headload worker; Sudheer Babu is a theatre teacher; Santhosh Piravom owns a vegetable shop and also drives an autorickshaw; Sijin Sijeesh runs a motor-winding workshop; Sanosh Murali works is a percussionist; Prasanth Madhavan is a tour operator; and Madhan Babu K is a senior government employee at Agriculture University.

The film’s idea was first floated during the second round of the Covid-induced lockdown. As Ekarshi developed the idea, the actors became sounding boards and the script readings were held online.

“Since I have known the actors for the last 15 years, it was easier for me to make a film with them. All theatre actors play characters bearing their real name. They have been friends for several years. Calling each other by some other name would have killed the truth of their performance,” said Ekarshi, a post-graduate in psychology who had earlier made a short film titled Shades of a Kite (2020) and several music videos.

Ekarshi believes that three months of rigorous rehearsals leading to the final shoot helped the actors, who were making their screen debut, ease into what would have otherwise been an intimidating atmosphere.

Aji Thiruvamkulam, 60, who plays the character Aji, said, “Since we went with our real names, it made communication smoother, making it feel like we were talking to the real person.”

Much before Aattam won the top award at the National Film Awards, it received the Grand Jury award for Best Film at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) 2023, and was selected as the opening film of Indian Panorama at the 54th International Film Festival of India, Goa.

It was the audience’s reaction at film festivals like MAMI that tipped 48-year-old drama teacher Sudheer Babu off about the winner they had on their hands. “I saw people enjoying the movie by following the subtitles and even the dark humour landed well,” he said.

Jolly Antony, the 42-year-old tile layer, said he was worried about how the film would be received considering most of the cast was relatively unknown .

“At first, I was worried about how people would receive us, especially since only Vinay, Kalabhavan Shajohn and Nandhan Unni were recognisable faces. But the positive reviews gave us the boost we needed,” he said.

Chandra Dasan, founder of Lokadharmi, called Aattam’s feat a “proud moment” for the group.

“They worked on the film together, rehearsed and developed the script — just like one does in theatre. What’s beautiful about their performance is that they have transformed themselves into fine cinema artistes. They worked on their voice projection, dialogue delivery and emotions keeping the camera set-up in mind,” Dasan said, adding that Ekarshi, who has acted in Lokadharmi plays, has evolved into “a brilliant writer and director”.

He hoped that after this, the actors would get more work. “Instead of typecasting them, directors should think of casting them in different roles because they are capable of essaying a range of characters,” he said.

For Selvaraj Raghavan VR, 63, the biggest challenge was adapting to on-screen work. The most senior member of the troupe, he had previously played a bit part in the 2010-movie Kutty Srank starring Mammootty. That film too went on to win the national award.

“Our biggest challenge was overcoming the notion that a film featuring theatre actors would resemble a stage play. From the beginning, we were committed to shedding theatrical habits and embracing the nuances of cinema,” he said.