Reel and real life stories are replete with tales of innocent people being framed for a crime they did not commit.
‘Oru Kuprasidha Payan’ explores one such story of a man wrongly accused of a crime. It’s directed by Madhupal and is based on story and screenplay written by Jeevan Job Thomas — former professor of physics from National Institutes of Technology — who debuts as scenarist.
Thomas, a weekly columnist for ‘Mathrabhoomi’ newspaper, is a novelist too. His first novel ‘Nidra Moshanam’, a psychological thriller, was published in 2015.
In 2014, he contributed an article based on the killing of Sundari Amma in Kozhikode. His article examined the court proceedings of this case and the wrongly accused culprit, featuring interviews with the accused and his lawyer.
Madhupal wanted to make a story based on this article and Thomas was on board.
After writing non-fiction, the biggest challenge for Thomas was to follow human emotions while writing the screenplay to suit cinema.
The story is pivoted around Ajayan, an orphan who works at a restaurant and when the owner is killed all fingers point at him and he is arrested. The movie showcases what happens when a young woman lawyer takes up his case.
The story is inspired by an article that Thomas wrote for a publication in 2014.
While the main story is about Ajayan, Thomas and Madhupal have also woven important societal issues such as the challenges women lawyers face in a male dominated environment and in court.
Tovino Thomas plays the lead while Nimisha Vijayan is his lawyer Hannah Elizabeth. Nedumudi Venu is a veteran lawyer known for his arrogance and whom Hannah has to take on. The supporting cast includes Anu Sitara, Saranya, Shwetha Menon, Dileesh Pothan and Siddique.
‘Oru Kuprasidha Payan’ releases in the UAE on December 13.
