It comes from my grandmother's stories: Nithin Lukose on his TIFF bound 'Paka'

NEW DELHI: Sound designer-turned-filmmaker Nithin Lukose says his feature debut "Paka" is heavily influenced by his childhood memories of listening to his grandmother's stories, his hometown Wayanad in Kerala and its people.

The Malayalam film, which translates to 'The River of Blood' in English, is set to be screened at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival's Discovery segment and Nithin admits there is "a lot of pressure" as a first-time director.

The prestigious gala will open on September 9 and conclude on September 18.

Nithin, an FTII alumnus, got into sound designing after an internship with Oscar winner Resul Pookutty and worked on films such as "Thithi" and "Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar" before taking the directorial plunge.

The filmmaker, 36, said he knew that whenever he would make his first film, it would be connected to the place and people he grew up with.

"In 2019, when I went back home, I got this idea of making a film in my place and while writing also, I felt convinced that my first film should be set in my hometown, among the people, culture and the space that I really know," the director told PTI in a telephonic interview.

"Then I started thinking about the story I wanted to tell and I spoke to my father and my grandmother. She is 88 and she has also acted in the film. She had told me a lot of stories of the past, where a lot of migration took place in Wayanad. I would say it is half real and half fiction. I have shot with people I know like my friend and my cousins," he added.

The official logline of the film describes "Paka" as a tale of a river that swells with the blood of two feuding families and a young couple that tries to overcome this hatred with their love.

The story of a family feud instantly brings back the memory of Shakespearean classic "Romeo and Juliet", but Nithin said he finds his film closer to the epic Mahabharata and the story of Kauravas and Pandavas.

"It is about the fight between two families, why they fight, how they fight and what they feel. In this regard, it is very close to Mahabharata," he said.

Produced by Anurag Kashyap and Raj Rachakonda, the film features an ensemble cast that includes Basil Paulose, Vinitha Koshy, Jose Kizhakkan, Athul John, Nithin George, and Joseph Manickal.

"Paka" had earlier won the best WIP project in the Work-in-Progress Lab of NFDC Film Bazaar 2020.

"I wrote the film for a year, did the casting and pre-production and we shot in January last year. So, it was a very gradual process of the film. Then NFDC Film Bazaar happened. The NFDC lab really helped and now the film is going to premiere at the TIFF. It is a lot of pressure as a first-time director but I am looking forward to it."

Asked about the growing trend of young filmmakers exploring their roots in their debut films, Nithin said that's the very idea of a film school, where people from different cultures and languages converge, learn the craft and go back to make the film.

"I also followed that philosophy. I did not know how much I will be able to express but I knew that it will be truthful in expression as this is something I know personally and this is how I have lived my life. I spent all my childhood there, listening to the stories of my grandmother," he said.

"It makes the process of filmmaking so interesting and maybe many filmmakers follow that route because they feel this is the right thing to do."