Lijo Pellissery’s Jallikattu is a wild ride
The social drama based on S Hareesh’s short story ‘Maoist’ follows a bull on the run
Actress Santhy on being part of the Malayalam drama
Director Lijo Pellissery — the master craftsman of Malayalam cinema — needs no introduction. He returns with new film Jallikattu, the story of a bull that escapes slaughter and the ensuing
chaos it brings about in a village of Kerala.
Based on the Kerala Sahithya Akademy Award-winning writer S Hareesh’s short story, Maoist, this social drama premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, receiving rave reviews.
Subsequently, it was screened at the Busan International Film Festival this month, before releasing in Kerala on October 4.
Jallikattu, produced by O Thomas Panicker, is out now in the UAE.
“Tiff was a good experience,” said Pellissery, who is now working on his next film. “People were amazed about shooting scenes involving a big crowd.”
Jallikattu is not a complete adaptation of Maoist, the director says.
“We have taken the core idea and expanded on it. The crux of the story involves the man and animal element; how the distance between man and animal slowly disappears as the story progresses.”
Hareesh, in association with writer R Jayakumar, has written the screenplay. Set in Meppara village of Katappana, a hilly town of Idukki district in Kerala, the story takes place over a day, after the bull escapes one morning and is caught the next day.
The bull is obviously the protagonist. The supporting cast includes Chemban Vinod Jose playing Varkey, a butcher, and Anthony Verghese is his assistant, Anthony. Santhy Balachandran plays Varkey’s sister Sophie. Sabumon Abdusamad plays Kuttachan, a bandit, while Jaffer Idukki essays a significant character.
Two bulls were roped in for the film but there was not much live filming going on with the bulls.
“We did few scenes with the
animal standing and walking,” said Pellissery who was not keen on using VFX for the animal scenes, He chose to go with ani matronics and with art director Gokul Das’ support, the bull has been setting fire to screens. Pellissery is no stranger to shooting with a crowd. His Anga maly Diaries is remembered for its 11-minute shot that captured a church festival in the midst of an action sequence.
We took it lightly,” dismissed Pellissery when asked about the challenges of filming with a crowd. “Actually, we had a good time.There were unplanned and instinctive situations though. It keeps happening while shooting. We had a different climax earlier and halfway through changed it,” revealed Pellissery.