Kaliyachan (English: The Master of the Play) is a 2015

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

drama film directed by Farook Abdul Rahiman in his directorial debut. It starred

Manoj K. Jayan Manoj Kadampoothramadam Jayan, also known as Manoj K. Jayan is an Indian actor who acts in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam films in addition to a few Tamil cinema, Tamil films. Manoj has won three Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actor for h ...

, Tirtha Murbadkar, Vaiga, Kalamandalam Sivan Namboodiri,

Babu Namboothiri Babu Namboothiri (born 12 August 1947) is a retired Chemistry Professor and Head Of Department of Deva Mata College Kuravilangad and an Indian film and TV actor who has starred in more than 100 Malayalam films and various serials. He is famou ...

Manju Pillai Manju Pillai is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam films and television shows. She is best known for portraying comedic roles to character roles. Personal life Manju Pillai is the granddaughter of Malayalam film actor S. P. Pillai. S ...

, and Mani Pattambi in lead roles. The story about a

Kathakali ''Kathakali'' (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: Kathakaḷi ) is a traditional form of Indian Classical Dance, and one of the most complex forms of Theatre of India, Indian theatre. It is a play of verses. These vers ...

actor and his guru is based on celebrated 1959 poem ''Kaliyachan'' by P. Kunhiraman Nair. At the

60th National Film Awards The 60th National Film Awards ceremony was an event during which the Directorate of Film Festivals presented its annual National Film Awards to honour the best films of 2012 in the Indian cinema. The ceremony was held on 3 May 2013 and was host ...

, it won the award for Best Music Direction (Background score) for

Bijibal Bijibal Maniyil is an Indian music composer and playback singer who works predominantly in Malayalam films. In a career spanning more than twenty years, he has composed for more than 150 feature films, several television commercials and a few d ...

. At the 2012 Kerala State Film Awards, ''Kaliyachan'' received three awards — Best Debut Director, Best Background Score and Second Best Actor for

Plot

The film is about the

actor, Kunhiraman, and his relationship with his guru, Asan. Over the years, as the actor gets popular, he becomes arrogant and takes to confronting his guru.

Cast

as Kunhiraman, Kathakali actor * Tirtha Murbadkar as Devu * Vaigha Rose as Radha * Kalamandalam Sivan Namboodiri as Asan, Kathakali guru *

Manikandan Pattambi Manikandan Pattambi is an Indian television, stage, and film actor. He's best known for his roles in Malayalam television. He became famous for his character ''Sathyasheelan'' in the sitcom '' Marimayam'', a social satire in Mazhavil Manorama ...

Production

Having grown up in the

Palakkad Palakkad (), Renaming of cities in India, also known as Palghat, historically known as Palakkattussery, is a city and a municipality in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of P ...

in Kerala, where the poet P. Kunhiraman Nair lived, director AbdulRahiman was familiar with the subject. He has been working as film director with state-run

Doordarshan Doordarshan (), abbreviated as DD, is India's State-owned enterprise, state-owned public broadcasting, public television broadcaster. Established by the Government of India on 15 September 1959, it is owned by the Ministry of Information and B ...

TV channel since 1984, where he has made award-winning tele-films like ''Thunchath Acharyan'' (1995) and ''Swathanthryathinte Chirakadiyochakal'' (2000). Initially, the director had planned an autobiographical film on the poet, titled ''Kaviyude Kalpadulal'' (Footprints of a Poet); later he shifted to adapting the poem ''Kaliyachan'', which has autobiographical elements in it. The script was written 12 years ago with actor Manoj K. Jayan in mind as the protagonist. Howvever, for several years, the director was unable to find a producer. Finally the government-owned

National Film Development Corporation of India The National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC) based in Mumbai is the central agency established in 1975, to encourage high quality Indian cinema. It functions in areas of film financing, production and distribution and under the Min ...

(NFDC) agreed to produce the film.

Music

The music was given by

with lyrics by

Rafeeq Ahmed Rafeeq Ahamed (born 17 December 1961) is an Indian poet, lyricist and novelist. He has won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry and is a six-time winner of the Kerala State Film Award for Best Lyrics. With more than 600 songs to his cred ...

and Ramanuni.

Crew

*Art Direction: Girish Menon * Sound design: Ganesh Marar * Costume Design: Sakhi Thomas * Make-up: Saji Koratty

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 5321062 2015 films Films about theatre Films set in Kerala Films about actors Films based on poems Kathakali 2015 directorial debut films 2010s Malayalam-language films