Last year, he held his first painting exhibition. This year, he has turned a short filmmaker. Actor-mimicry artiste Kottayam Nazeer is definitely exploring new pastures. His short film, Kuttichan, has been released on YouTube and the artiste is pleased with the reception.
The short zooms in on the life of Kuttichan. The talk of the town in his prime, Kuttichan is on his deathbed. His friends and relatives visit him now and then and reminisce about his heyday. The stand-out aspect of the film is that the viewers don’t see Kuttichan at all. He becomes familiar through other characters who call upon him, mainly Paily, his close friend, essayed by actor Jaffer Idukki.
Paily, who is heartbroken on seeing Kuttichan’s plight, recalls how Kuttichan fought a tiger, their conquests, his magnetic persona, Kuttichan’s marriage and more. Then there is Annie (played by Maala Parvathy), a nun, Kuttichan’s love who has still not got over their failed romance.
Kottayam Nazeer | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
“The story about Kuttichan has been with me for long — about a man from the hilly terrain, a superhero of the times. Later, I reworked it. Often, when a person is at the fag-end of his life, the people around him talk about his past. We get a picture of how that person might have lived his life through their anecdotes,” says Nazeer.
Different take
Friendship and love are favourite topics for most artistic creations and Nazeer says he too has stuck to that. “Only that they have been given a different treatment. I have made storytelling a key element of the narrative. You learn about Kuttichan through stories. Storytelling is now a thing of the past. We have grown up listening to stories told by our grandparents or parents. But the new generation isn’t exposed to that,” he says.
He makes special note of Mohanlal, who has naratted the film, and Mammootty. “I had Mammookka in mind when I wrote Kuttichan. In fact, there was a plan to show his photograph at the end of film. But he suggested that it would be better if we don’t do that. So we have left it to the viewers’ imagination,” he says.
Nazeer says that it was a deliberate decision to take a serious subject for his debut. “Being a mimicry artiste, people expect humour from me. That too with Jaffer Idukki, another mimicry artiste, in the cast. I wanted to break that notion,” he says. Kuttichan, just under 15 minutes long, is shot in one long take.
Nazeer avers that when he will direct a movie, which “will happen this year itself”, he wants to surprise the audience with the theme. Having completed 28 years as a mimicry artiste, Nazeer says that he banked on his experience of directing and conceptualising stage shows when he ventured into direction.
He had several other artistes in mind to play Paily before he opted for Jaffer Idukki. “I am aware of his calibre. For example, with this voice and figure, he imitates NF Varghese perfectly on mimicry stages. His range is amazing and I tapped into that for the character,” he adds.
Admitting that he is disappointed about not getting breakthrough roles in films, Nazeer points out that he doesn’t mind waiting for that day to happen. “I would rather keep away from doing those insignificant roles and focus on what I can do. Otherwise, I will get frustrated. Good times will follow, I hope,” he says.
Kuttichan has background music by Gopi Sunder.