If a beautiful young woman slinks into a men’s hostel, for how long can she remain there unnoticed? That’s the premise of Adi Kapyare Kootamani, John Varghese’s debut film.
Verghese has been working over the idea since his days at Thiruvananthapuram’s St. Thomas Mens’ Hostel. He was there pursuing a degree in mathematics at Mar Ivanois College. Keeping him awake were dreams of the day when he would direct a film. That dream crystallised with Adi Kapyare Kootamani. which released in December in India, and opens in the UAE this weekend.
“The hostel was managed by two strict Fathers [Christian missionaries] and we young men broke the rules often. It was fun, jumping out of a window after removing a bar or two and climbing down a ladder from the roof for a late night out,” reminisced Varghese.
Anecdotes from hostel life have found way into this comedy featuring Dhyan Sreenivasan, Aju Verghese, Neeraj Madhav and Vineeth Mohan in the lead. Namitha Pramod plays Adishtalakshmi, a young woman who enters their hostel. Mukesh plays hostel warden Father Alfred Kattuvilayil. Tamil actor John Vijay plays Adishtalakshmi’s father. The film was shot at Thiruvananthapuram University’s hostel.
The 26-year-old director added that making the comedy is not easy as it relied on the perfect timing of humour. Working with actors of his age and on the same wavelength helped, however.
A challenging scene was a dream song sequence featuring Pramod and the others. It was done in one long shot without any cuts.
“We began one morning with rehearsals and the scene was okayed only the next morning after 17 takes.”
