Remember Shyaamaragam? It was virtually the last film for which legend V. Dakshinamoorthy composed music. The doyen passed away at the age of 94 in 2013. On the anvil for a while, the musical is ready, almost — in Malayalam and Tamil — for release. “It is a musical romance,” amends Sethu Eyyal, director. And thereby hangs a tale. The film has songs sung by another legend, K.J. Yesudas, his son Vijay Yesudas and grand-daughter Ameya. What is more, Yesudas’s father, Nallathanga Augustine Joseph, has lent his voice. “He was a disciple of Dakshinamoorthi Swamy and sang the song written by his guru,” informs the soft-spoken and unassuming Eyyal. Thus the film has music literally flowing through four generations. The tunes soaked in classical melody have the richness of pure honey. The composer has left his imprint on every one of them.

Dakshinamoorthy Swami and K.J. Yesudas   | Photo Credit: Sethu Eyyal

So what’s the story about? There lives in Kerala — close to the Tamil Nadu border, to be precise — a Carnatic music giant. A young boy arrives to learn from him. He impresses the maestro and Gurukulavasam begins. Romance enters the scene, as years roll by and the boy grows up. Two women, both well-versed in dance, stoke the flame. In a casting coup of sorts, three of a family are playing key roles in the poignant love story — Y.Gee. Mahendra, his wife Sudha Mahendra and daughter Madhuvanti. YGM plays the veteran Bhagavatar. “They were looking for a wife, soft and supportive, and zeroed in on Sudha,” guffaws Mahendra. But Madhuvanti is not the daughter. Shanti Krishna is. Yes, the teenager who stole hearts in ‘Panneer Pushpangal’ and went on to do meaty roles in several films, gets an opportunity to show her Bharatanatyam skills. V.P. Dhananjayan has done the choreography for the dance sequences, a first for him.

(From left) Madhuvanti, Sudha Mahendra, Y.Gee. Mahendra and Sethu Eyyal   | Photo Credit: K_Pichumani

Bosom pals

Why YGM? “Well, it was like this. When Dakshinamoorthy Swami was given the lyrics, KJY was his natural choice. It so happened that the story was apt for a father-son singing combination and Vijay came into the picture. Ameya has sung for the child playing young Shanti Krishna — the lyric was written by Swamy himself,” explains Eyyal. And he continues: “Dasettan suggested YGM. I have seen his films and was already a fan. So I did not hesitate and approached him.”

Y.Gee. Mahendra  

YGM picks up the thread. “Yesudas and I are great friends, for many years. If at all he lowers his guard somewhere it would be in my company. But I was indeed surprised by the suggestion — how on earth did he think of me for a musician’s role... May be he had seen me in ‘Sahana,’ K. Balachander’s teleserial. I nodded. It was a challenge but so tempting.”

“Acting is not new to me,” states Sudha. “She was UAA’s permanent stopgap, on whom my father relied. She could step into any role, at a short notice, if an artiste did not turn up for the show,” expands Mahendra. “I loved the locale, a village near Trichur, and the beautiful traditional house,” she observes.

“And it was awesome the way Eyyal shot the scenes,” chips in Madhuvanti. “Absolutely no airs. It rained on most of the days making their work difficult but the crew did not show any signs of discomfort. And they watched intently as we performed,” she says. Sudha remembers that they multitasked. “The unit interchanged their duties and we often found one of them facing the camera albeit in a brief role,” she adds. “It was a small close-knit group and we became one family at the end of the shoot,” they chorus. “The film involved several intensely emotional scenes but we never felt the strain. It was incredibly breezy,” Madhuvanti says. She is convinced that ‘Shyaamaragam’ is going to be the much-awaited musical in a long time — perhaps after ‘Sankarabharanam.’

How did YGM manage the singing portions? “It was a formidable thing,” he agrees. “But I didn’t have to worry, having seen my idol, Sivaji Ganesan, play such roles with aplomb on the screen. So I managed,” he says.

A scene has both the guru and disciple singing. Yesudas has rendered the duet by changing his voice. The melody is enhanced by K.S. Chitra. “Sharreth has done a great job with the background score,” points out Eyyal.

“Mahendra was brilliant,” supplies the director. “His lip sync was perfect, even in the swara singing. And we never did more than one take in any of the scenes,” he says. “The dubbing too was finished in one session.” Eyyal is all praise for his protagonist.

“See, the lingo is laced with Tamil. Besides, this is not my first Malayalam film. I acted in Oomakkuyil under Balu Mahendra’s baton. Ilaiyaraja scored the music. Maalika Paaniyunnavar with Sukumaran, Mallika and Roja Ramani, Doubles with Mammooty, and Gramam starring Lakshmi — Sukumari was brilliant as an old Brahmin widow — are some of the other films. I always was a great fan of Malayalam cinema, Sathyan in particular. I loved their understated acting,” Mahendra reveals a lesser known side of his career. He was pleasantly surprised when Sampath, veteran audio-engineer, called him during the troupe’s recent U.S. tour.

(From left) K.S. Chitra, Dakshinamoorthy Swami, Kalyani Ammal, Sethu Eyyal, Antony and Udayabhanu  

“I supervised the sound work and the film looks good. You’ve done a marvellous job,” he told YGM. “It is big time approval, coming from Sampath. Incidentally, he was the sound-engineer for KB’s Navagraham in which I made my cinema debut,” says Mahendra.

In a story like this, how much is borrowed from real life?

“It is inevitable,” says Mahendra. “With a legend like Yesudas and his tutelage under the titan Chembai — the two shared a unique bond — the echoes are there but ever so subtle,” he adds.

When will the bilingual hit the screens?

A still from Shyaamaragam  

“We are looking forward to the theatre experience. So is the family of Dakshinamoorthy Swami” — expectant faces turn to the director and Eyyal responds: Shyaamaragam is scheduled for release next month around Onam. Partha Vizhi Parthapadi, the Tamil version, perhaps later this year.

Y.Gee. Mahendra and Sudha Mahendra  

The crew

The camera-shy (!) and soft-spoken Sethu Eyyal is an award winning director, who was an assistant to veteran Lohithadas. The artistic mind behind the movie is of Jimjose while the editors are Baiju Kurup and Jaifel Jaifu. National Award winner Matambu Kunjukuttan has done the screenplay for the film produced by K. Vijayalakshmi and Leena Anandan, under New Era Creations banner. The cast includes Pranav Suresh, Praseeda Uday, A.V. Anoop, Santhosh Kizhattoor and Amal Raj. The lyrics are by Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri and Rafeeq Ahmed. Madhu Madassery is the cinematographer. An accomplished portrait artist, Sethu Eyyal has done stunning posters for the film. A few are printed here.