Good cinema reminds us why we do what we do, says director Madhumita

CHENNAI: Madhumita’s passion for storytelling has always shown through her Tamil ventures, be it KD, Moone Moonu Varthai, or the 2008 romance-drama Vallamai Tharayo.

Karuppudurai, or simply KD, which released worldwide in November 2019, garnered critical acclaim and went on to fetch Nagavishal, the boy who aced the role of Kutty, the Best Child Actor National Award in 2021, while Madhumita won the Best Director award at the UK Asian Film Festival 2019.

Photo caption: Poster of Karuppudurai

Now, the director has tried to bring out a fresh adaptation to KD with Kaalidhar Laapata, the Hindi film starring Abhishek Bachchan in the lead that is streaming on ZEE5.

“I had stumbled upon a journal about the ritual of Thalaikoothal. It lingered on my mind for over four years before I decided to pen it into a film, which is KD. Though the starting point of the film was a dark ritual, I wanted to make sure that the film itself was full of hope,” recalls Madhumita about the film starring Mu Ramaswamy, Yog Japee, and Badava Gopi among others.

With Kalidhar Laapata, the soul of KD is retained but the characters have considerably changed. While KD had an 80-year-old man whose family decided to do the ritual to kill him, Kaalidhar Laapata is the story of a 45-year-old man, Kalidhar, played by Abhishek, who suffers from Lewy body dementia. His family plans to leave him at the Kumbh Mela, but he chooses to disappear on his own terms.

“The film’s emotional core lies in the bond between Kalidhar and Ballu – played by Daivik Baghela – a street-smart yet soft-hearted child. Unlike how Kutty had been hardened by the world in a lot of ways, Ballu retains an innocence despite life’s harshness.”

Casting Abhishek was a deliberate departure from expectations. “People might’ve imagined Amitabh Bachchan for this role, but producer Nikkhil Advani suggested Abhishek, and it felt right. He brought vulnerability and a rawness we hadn’t seen before. This was a rural, emotionally layered character that he’d never played.”

Though known for feel-good films, Madhumita refuses to be boxed. “I would like to believe that I am genre-agnostic. My next Hindi film is a crime drama set in Goa. I have a psychological thriller (in the works), and a hostage action drama in Telugu. Sometimes what happens is that once you’ve done a film like KD, and with the kind of recognition it got, people keep coming back to you for that same genre. Sometimes I love a script, but say no because I don’t want to get boxed into one genre.”

Madhumita acknowledges progress for women directors in south cinema, but rejects the “female-centric” label. “We don’t ask male directors why their protagonists are men. A good story is a good story, regardless of gender.”

Sharing admiration for her peers and the work women artistes have put into the kind of films made in the south, she says, “I love Anjali Menon and Priya Krishnaswamy dearly. Gantumoote by Roopa Rao was a great film of 2019. Preetha Jayaraman is a fabulous female cinematographer we have. With the number of women we have in the industry, we are a very close-knit group supporting each other.”

Madhumita also praises Tamil audiences for embracing diverse narratives. “Whether it’s a film purely shot on an iPhone that goes to film festivals, to the Rs 500 crore budget films which gets released in theatres, there’s space for every kind of content.”

The Tamil audiences are also willing to give chances to debut filmmakers, she says.

“I remember texting Abishan after watching Tourist Family. When debut directors make such significant cinema regardless of what language they make it in, it reminds us why we do what we do. I had also messaged RS Prasanna after watching the magic he created with Sitaare Zameen Par recently. Though not a debut filmmaker, the films they make remind us why we tell stories – to move people.”