Nagaram
"It is in life as it is in ways, the shortest way is commonly the foulest, and surely the fairer way is not much about" --- The new film by M.A. Nishaad is all about ways and means...You will remember the director, who told the story of growing suicides of farmers, through his debut film Pakal last year. He is back with another flick, titled Nagaram dealing mostly with environmental issues and its aftermaths. The film which is shot in a larger canvas than his first film has forty artists in prominent roles and tells the story of a village destined to receive the wastes of the nearby city.
The biggest problem of every city in Kerala is the non availability of land for the proper waste disposal. The members of the city corporation have only one thing to complaint-the growing menace of wastes in the city. As everyone knows, the city is producing tons of wastes daily, which the authorities are not able to remove properly. And in our film, the person Lalgudy Nanappan who has taken the quotation for waste removal hasn't found a suitable place to dispose the garbage. The Mayor of the city, Prof. Sreelatha Varma too cannot answer to the growing questions raised by the opposition members. It was due to this pressure that Lalgudy Nanappan came to Sivaramapuram village--a calm village of serene beauty where three-fourth of the land is held by the family of Ponnayya Thevar. The majority of the villagers were farmers who take lands as lease from Thevar and use it for agriculture.
Thevar was a peculiar character who was always hungry for making money. Lalgudy somehow manages to impress Thevar and he agrees on a big amount as rental for giving space for the waste disposal. Thevar himself evacuated many villagers from the land for the purpose, making them believe that a factory is soon to be set up there, to recycle the waste materials. As the inflow of garbage from the city started, the people around started getting miseries- in the form of contagious diseases scattered waste materials, polluted water and fowl smell. Even men from other places started fearing to come to Shivaramapuram, which catalyzed the development of many new societal problems. The destruction of the village and its habitat, in every term, was inevitable.
At this juncture arrives a lady journalist Radhika Menon into the village, who starts writing on the media about the fierce problems faced by the villagers of Shivaramapuram. Mayamma-an Angan Vaady teacher of the village was the one who initially supported Radhika in all her endeavors. Gradually, realizing the tempo of the situation they are in, the villagers also began supporting Radhika and there starts a movement-- a movement to resist the city men from destroying the villages around. Nagaram delves into the aftermaths of allowing the wastes in an ecofriendly village.
Gopika appears as Radhika in the film while Lakshmi Sharma of' Palunku fame appears as Mayamma. Kalabhavan Many dons the role of Ponnayaya Thevar, while Jagathy appears as Lalgudy Nanappan. The others in the cast list includes Bijumenon, Nithyadas, Seema, Sreeraman, Jagadheesh, Thilkakan, Sudheesh , Rajan P Dev , Risa Baava, Babu Raj, Idukky Jaafar and Anoop Chandran.
Rajan Kiriyath pens the screenplay and dialogues for Nagaram based on the story by the director M A Nishaad. The music department of the film is handled by Mohan Sithara who also gives music to a few songs in the lyrics of Gireesh Puthencherry and Asha Ramesh.
The film which is produced by Manju Thomas in the banner of God Sun Films will be distributed by Emil and Eric. The film which was shot in and around Palakkad is finally entering its post production stage and is planned to make a release by the end of this month.