Written in 60 hours, Mammootty’s superhit changed ‘trashy’ director’s image; Gulzar praised it without knowing his film inspired it

With the success of Nirakkoottu, Dennis became a star among writers. Although everyone else had full confidence that he would achieve great success, Dennis did not believe he had the potential as a writer and instead aspired to be a filmmaker. In a bid to realise this dream, he decided to join Joshiy as an assistant on his next project, which was set to go into production soon. Bankrolled by Joy Thomas under the banner of Jubilee Productions and penned by ace writer Kaloor Dennis, Mammootty and Nadiya Moidu were cast as the lead roles in the movie.

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5 days to go for filming, but no script!

However, about five days before the scheduled start of filming, Joshiy and Joy contacted Dennis Joseph, saying they had to postpone the movie planned with Kaloor Dennis. Subsequently, Joshiy requested Dennis Joseph to develop the story he had once narrated to him during the shooting of Nirakkoottu. While Dennis was happy to work on it, he was shocked to hear that Joshiy and Joy wished to commence shooting in just five days. Although he tried to back out, the director and producer persuaded him to write the screenplay.

During an episode of Safari TV’s “Charithram Enniloode” programme, Dennis shared how, despite having little trust in himself, he somehow managed to write the script in about 2.5 days. A day before the shoot, Joshiy asked Dennis to come to the Kodaikanal location with Mammootty. Even as the clock was ticking down, Dennis hadn’t managed to write even a word beyond a scene order that comprised just one-line descriptions of each scene. When Dennis expressed his fear, Joshiy told him, “Don’t worry. Since it’s just the first day tomorrow, we can wrap up after filming some atmospheric shots of a flower or a sunrise. You start writing by then.”

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Dennis Joseph created Mammootty’s Shyama by writing for two days straight

Revealing the process, Dennis shared, “I dictated the scenes, and Joshiy’s assistants took turns writing them down. The movie was titled Shyama (after Nadiya Moidu’s character). I wrote for two days and two nights straight without any sleep. In about 2.5 days, I finished the full script of Shyama. The movie became a super hit and was eventually remade in Telugu, Kannada, and Tamil,” he added.

While composer Raghu Kumar crafted Shyama’s songs over the course of one morning, Shibu Chakravarthy penned their lyrics during a train ride. Nonetheless, all the tracks in the movie became chartbusters, particularly “Chembarathipoove Chollu” and “Poonkaatte Poyi Chollamo,” and are celebrated to this day.

‘Joshiy, you are not a trashy director!’

Even as Shyama’s success brought widespread acclaim to all those associated with it, the movie also played a key role in elevating Joshiy as a director. Although he had helmed several films and delivered many hits by then, Joshiy was mostly known for creating commercial entertainers, particularly actioners, that many felt lacked artistic or aesthetic value. From his debut film, Tiger Salim, to subsequent works like Moorkhan, Aa Rathri, Kodumkattu, Bhookambam, Muhurtham Pathnonnu Muppathinu, Sandharbham, and Nyayavidhi, Joshiy’s repertoire simply displayed titles that may or may not have achieved box-office success. Almost no one discussed these films beyond their entertainment value, simply because they had nothing else to them.

As Shyama was gearing up for its preview show in Chennai, Dennis met filmmaking legend KG George during a train journey one day. Excited to have seen him, Dennis, a big fan of George, invited him to the preview that they were organising. “When George sir and his wife, renowned playback singer Selma, came for the show, Joshiy got nervous. He whispered to me, ‘Why did you invite him (George) to see our trashy movie? He must be mocking us.’ That’s when I realised it too. I felt embarrassed. After the preview, however, George sir walked straight towards us. He shook Joshiy’s hand and said, ‘I thought you were a trashy director, but I was wrong.’ George sir then asked me to write a script for him that contained a similar emotional depth,” Dennis added.

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When Gulzar couldn’t spot Shyama’s similarity with own movie

Years after the release of Shyama, Dennis happened to meet legendary poet-lyricist-filmmaker Gulzar through their mutual friend Priyadarshan. “Upon meeting me, he highly praised Shyama. Although I initially thought he was mocking me, I soon realised that he was very serious. With embarrassment, I admitted to him that I developed Shyama based on a small element I found in his Kinara (1977). Gulzar was stunned. He said he never guessed that. He even said Shyama was a much better movie than Kinara, though I don’t agree. I’m not saying I stole Kinara’s story, but it was the movie that truly inspired me to write Shyama.” Kinara featured Jeetendra, Hema Malini, and Dharmendra in the lead roles.