Mollywood shifts focus to houseboats and backwaters

Mollywood’s current trend to bring to the silver screen movies that people can relate to have paved way for two upcoming films that are centred on Kerala’s tourism, with houseboats and enchanting backwaters being the backdrops for the stories.
The first film and the more anticipated to get underway is Lal Jose’s Kunchacko Boban-starrer Pullipuli-kalum Aattinkuttiyum, which started filming in Alappuzha last week.Its scribe M Sindhuraj tells us that the movie showcases the current changes happening in Kuttanad. “Over the last 10 years, more people in Kuttanad are investing in tourism for their livelihood. Their lives have become closely connected to the houseboats, with many owning one and running around to lure in tourists, and others working around it as booking agents or operating small shops. Even those who were earlier fishermen are now houseboat workers,” he explains.
Incidentally, Sindhuraj had also scripted Jalolsavam in 2004 that had also highlighted the changes in Kuttanad during that period. “When we did Jalolsavam, Kunchacko played the role of a news reader at a time when cable channels were introduced in Kuttanad. In this movie, he plays a houseboat owner,” says the scriptwriter.
Another movie that has a houseboat and the backwaters playing a central role is K Sooraj’s Houseboat. The director tells us the film is a musical thriller that revolves around houseboat workers and tourists.
“The main plot evolves during a journey from one point to another. We are planning to rope in Fahadh Faasil and Rima Kallingal for the movie, which we are planning to shoot by July end,” says Sooraj, adding that he will begin the casting as soon as the script is complete.