The first sound you hear is of a man in mud. It is early morning in a north Kerala village and a frail old man in loincloth is tilling his land. His grey old eyes look up from under a bamboo umbrella hat as the first thunder breaks out, the same moment an old woman opens hers, lying down in a bed. A day in the life of the old couple has begun, his in the fields and hers, in the house. The old man comes home and plays the radio news, sipping the black tea she’s made. The gentle music in the background changes into a gloomy one as the announcer speaks about the heavy rains and likely floods, reminding people of the 2018 Kerala floods that took 500 lives.
In a darling few minutes of a short film Onnu Chirikku (Please Laugh), you watch the everyday life of the old farmer couple, uninterrupted by words, but full of meaningful gestures. The small stock of paddy the old woman had saved under a tile in the house is packed into a few sacks and given away for relief of people struck hard by the rain. The only sound that comes out of either, is one of laughter, when unaffected by the largeness of their contribution, life has simply moved on again for the adorable two.
“There really is a man like that in my village in Payyannur. It’s his name I have used for the character Korettan, played by Narayanan Nambiar, a theatre actor. The old woman is played by Thambai Monacha, who has acted in short films before,” says Ganapathi, the young director of the film, who is more known to Malayalam movie audiences as an actor.
Ganapathi with his actors
Ganapathi who began as a child actor in 2000s (Vinodayathra, Chithrasalabhangalude Veedu, Pranchiyettan) grew up and played adult roles in recent years. It is love for cinema and the words his father, screenwriter Satheesh Poduval, told him that attracted him to every aspect of it. “He said that if you have to be confident in front of the camera you should know what happens behind it,” Ganapathi says.
The idea for the film came on a night he sat chatting with his cousin Gowtham about a story. Ganapathi, staying in Ernakulam, had taken off to his native Payyanur at a time the lockdown had seemed too depressing. “I wanted us to do a story and asked Ganapathi if he was ready,” says Gowtham.
And just like that, one turned cinematographer and the other, director. “At first we thought of taking something related to COVID-19. But then the pandemic situation is not something people would want to watch. We thought it should be a refreshing idea and came up with this story of a farmer couple who gives away the little they have and has no qualms about it. I didn’t know how to conclude it till I put this little 40-second speech by former Chief Minister EMS Namboodirpad on what makes a real Communist. This farmer, unknown to him, is a real Communist. There are common people like him who are Communists at heart, perhaps much more than some card carrying members,” says Ganapathi.
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