The creation of a green cosmology which symbiotically interplayed with the traits of the protagonist is the beauty of the film 'Ramante Edanthottam'. Director Ranjith Sankar wanted the Edanthottam, the garden of Eden, where Raman dwells, to be as much a role-playing character as anyone else in the 'green' film.
The Kunchacko Boban and Anu Sithara-starrer had hit the theatres on May 12, 2017. The film had fetched rave reviews for attempting a rare subject in Malayalam.
The layered narrative was aesthetically appealing - the basic plot dealing with relationships and a larger and subtle hum of nature playing within. Perhaps, the statement that nature is perpetually present in every act, without any obvious assertion, makes the film special.
Visualization
The major highlight of the movie is its extraordinary visualization, which breathes in beauty into the urban and the rural. As part of Onmanorama's exclusive 'decoding a scene' series, Ranjith Sankar speaks of the most difficult scenes of the movie.
“I wanted a particular kind of look and feel for Ramante-Edanthottam. Specifically because the Edanthottam which Raman owns in the film was like most important character in the film as much as Malini or Raman. There's a song sequence where we showed a bird which laid egg every year in January which implied how Malini came to Raman every year in January. So he checks on top of a tree every year. In one particular scene, Raman invites Malini to see the nest and the egg on top of the tree. That scene was difficult to shoot. It was a windy day. What you see in the movie is a combination of jib and helicam shot," he said.
“When I first discussed the movie with Kunchacko, he told me that he could climb trees. But never he imagined that he would have to climb a tree of this height. On the other hand, Anu Sithara had a fear of height. So, we kept a ladder for her. In the first take itself, she managed to deliver what I wanted. So, Edanthottam was picturised in the most beautiful manner, which I thought was the toughest to execute. Special thanks to my DOP Madhu Neelakanthan and the entire crew,” he said.
