Yerbal to Visual: A comparative study of ' T. P. Raj eevan's'KTl{ Kuttoo r Ezuthum

I\idhi s. shibu

Novels are usually taken for films. For the most part, these versions attempt either to appeal the current cotnmercial audience. Certainly, the qr-restiol't of "authenticity" arises, and the more high profile of the soLlrce nove more persistent are the questions of trustworthiness.

The qualitative research study is on the Malayalarn language Indian movie Njaan which was based on the book KTN Kottoor Ezuthum ,Jeevitltavuftz written by T.P Rajeevan. The movie was directed by in which he has pulled the original novels plot by adding few other character to it.The movie briefly shows the life of an extremely talented writer and non-conformist by nature.Dulquer Sahnan who is a very talented actor caffte in the role of KTN Kotoor and also as the narrator Ravi Charrdrasekhar, a fearless btogger and an IT Employee.He is inspired by the mysterious activist front the past KTN l(otoorwhich resulte.d in the making of aplay based on I(TN's life. There is no heroine as such in the film. Mythili; Jyothi l(risltna, Anumol, Sajitha Madathil, Muthumani and newcorrer Shruthi Ramakrishnan act as the fernale leads. The background score has been composed by Bijibal. Joy Mathew, RanjiPanicker, Saiju Kurup, , Harish Peradi and Suresh Krislrnaplaysignificantcharactersinthefilm. KTN Kottoor: A magical history

The story begins on August 15, lg47 when KTN Kottoo t, dman in his thirties, is said to have been last seen on a beach in Chennai. TP Rajeevan's stories are set in another atmosphere; they beat in antiquated colours making a clever textile of fact, literature, history and deep-rooted stories. Director Ranjith centralised KTN Kottoor: Ezhuthum Jeevithavum, prorxises yet another journey back to the olden day's philosophy. It's a work that places fiction in a historical background. As the title says, it rises into one's inner self," says the writer TP Rajeevan. The film draws the life of its hero during the politically unsettled 1930s and 40s. "K T N Kottoor is a fictional character, not any historical personality. But the boiling ;opio- culturalbackdrop1ndthepath.breakingpoliticaldeve1opments.

71 VI:I{I}AI, ].O VISI)AI- TIIE AI-jS.IFII:1.IC] .SI:MIOTICS OF CI-ASSICS AS MoVIES

The central cltaracter ptayed by Dulqr.rar belongs to a remote village in Malabar. He is clrawn to the mass movements that burned a nationalist spirit in pre-inclependent India. He is also a poet, *ho i, on.,r at craslr rvith his political self. The stolyline is linked around l(ottoor's interior con{,lict. The filrn nrainly corrtracts rvitlr the issues of identity, revolving arouncl an individual lvho ends up a socialeccentricity.Art is ethnically rooted Kottoor,s prinritive bacl

The fllnr staffs nlanv decades later, when the police track down a yollng IT professiottal Ravi (Dulquer Salnraan), who maintains a blog under the pellname Kottoor. I-lis rvlitings have upset many political feathers and the powers that are wounded by hirn because of his sarcastic remarks against them. He is let off 'uvith a \,varning tlrat he should be careful with his words. and tone down his observations. The story of Ravi is used only as a trigger to dive into the folklore of l(ottoor. Ravi is attached with a tlreatre g,orp named Root led by Joy Matherv rvho is playing himself in this film. The nlenlber's of Root stick hinr to script a play based on K TN Kottoor,s life, which has inspired the title of his blog.Then, we see Ravi restoring togetSer the Iife of l(ottoor by visiting the place and staying there. And we see the members of the drama troupe assunr ing the roles of people in Kottoor's life and Ravi himself becolning Kottoor.TP Rajeevan's l(ottoor ends Ltp as a ntystet'ious foot solclier in India's freedo* rtruggle and does not even get acclaimlc{ for the social rel'ornrs he initiated in iris region.

Kottoor's'personal storv too is filled with trageclies and misfortlnes

Declpherecl ,frqm :KTN Kottor to Njan

A rnediaeval noble callecJ I( T Kunjappa Nair (farher of KTN Kottoor) hit the road with a tri colour flug in his hand. He watked throurgh

72 l'arbul ttt l"i'rttctI the streets of Kottoor- his village which lies in the outskifts of l(ozhikode with little contact with the outside world- men and women gives a confused gaze. They have never heard of socialisrn or congress or Gandhi or Nehru. But when Kunjappa Nair asks thern to follow h im, they drop whatever they were doing and follows his footsteps with sycophancy. Walking past the mud roads and rice fields, the quickty formed movement of freedom fighters plant the tri colour flag on the top of a hill. Towards its end, theatrically, Kunjappa Nair dies of heart attack. The elucidation may be the value for the beginning to the idea of freedom, for both Narayanan and for the society around hirn, was the death of the idea's source. The novelist was in a way telling that'l', the'self', should be destructed for freedom.

Although in Ranjith's Njanthis portion comes in a future part in the film where it's shown KunjappaNair clirnbing a hill along with band of fellow villagers, all in white and white. They plant a flag at the top.The kid stafts singing. Kunjappa Nair dies at the end of the anthem

Conclusion

The fi[m describes a man from the present tries to narrate the past. Storyline features the city space into which an old ancestral home is fixed in, and there begins the relationship of past and present. In Njan,the journey from present to past be engraved well on camera, but what's rnissed from the irnage is the link. Citation

h tt p s : #e n . w i k i ped i a. org/w i k i /T. _P. _R aj e e v a n

lrttp://www.kerals.com/k erala/tag/kt-n-kottoor-ezhuthum-jeevithavum/

h ttps : I I en w i ki ped i a. org/w i k i /Ra nj i th- %28 di re cto r %2g ooo

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