First, the story:
It was 6 am, 28 September 2016. The aslant rays of the September sun were still trying to sneak in through the windowpanes of Ajay Thundathil’s home in Kerala when he was woken up from his sleep by a phone call from an unknown number. Still in dazed half-sleep, he picked up the phone. The call was from the nearest police station.
‘Are you Ajay? Someone you know is in the station and we want to visit your home,’ said the officer, without disclosing details. Who could it be? Ajay stood there, frozen.
Within minutes, two jeeps arrived, and Ajay was taken to the police station. There he saw an old man, with bleary eyes and drooping shoulders. ‘Here’s your father,’ said a policeman.
Ajay had felt a tremor of fear creeping through his body. There was a reason why Ajay’s heart shuddered. The last time Ajay had seen his father was all of 35 years ago at his sister’s wedding – in 1981.
Having virtually disowned his wife and three children, Ajay’s father, who had been living in Malaysia, barely communicated with his estranged family, barring the exchange of a few letters. They had come to know that he had acquired a new family. In fact, subsequently, someone had told Ajay that his father had passed away.
His father had landed at the airport the previous night and had given incoherent answers to the authorities’ queries about the purpose of his visit and his destination. Hence he was taken to the police station where they rummaged through his baggage for clues to his identity. The address of Ajay was found jotted down in an old notebook he carried. The sub-inspector produced a clutch of letters written by Ajay to his father, who appeared calm and nonchalant, barely uttering a few words, betraying no emotion whatsoever.
‘Your father is on a 45-day tourist visa and you can now take him home,’ said the officer. So Ajay who had barely any time to think took his father home – something he had always longed for. After a short drive, when neither spoke, they were back at Ajay’s home which he shared with his wife and two daughters.
At the house, Ajay could sense his father’s growing discomfort, and disorientation. A storm was brewing.
‘Who are you,’ asked his father. ‘I am your son,’ replied a stunned Ajay. ‘No, you are not my son,’ came the terse reply, shattering Ajay’s sallow countenance.
‘Take me home. It’s only a furlong from here,’ Ajay’s father insisted. A rattled Ajay did not know how to respond, still thinking that weariness after the long travel might be the reason behind his father’s seemingly odd behaviour.
Was it anger? Was it anguish? Was it cultivated carapace? Or was it apostasy? Ajay’s heart sank. His family stood shell-shocked and Ajay convinced them that all would be well by evening after his father had proper sleep and rest.
In the evening, old photographs, letters and records were shown to the old man to help him recall the old days, but his father remained obstinate. Slowly and painfully, Ajay realized that his father could be suffering from memory loss. In a cruel irony, while first it had been Ajay who had lost his father, now it appeared, the father had lost himself.
A profusion of images and thoughts welled up before his eyes.
What if his father walked out of home and vanished? In 45 days, the visa would expire and what about all the legal tangles if his father could not go back? Also, where could he be sent to, safely? How did he land in Kerala and who had sent him from Kuala Lumpur? In the autumn of his life, why did he come all the way in search of his son?
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The above story, and the rest of it, will soon be captured on celluloid. Ajay Thundathil, a film PRO, based in Thiruvananthapuram, is turning his real-life story into a film and later this week, the film will begin to take shape. It will be directed by Shibu Gangadharan, who has made Praise the Lord, starring Mammootty and Rudra Simhasanam.
Interestingly, Ajay is making his debut as a writer, along with Shibu Gangadharan and Sibi Chalussery.
Says Ajay, “It is too personal a story, yet I want to make it a film for a particular reason which you will come to know once the film is released. To have undergone what I experienced is something I still can’t believe or comprehend. In 2016, when this incident happened, the story appeared in Malayala Manorama newspaper (as a Sunday feature) and it went viral. Recently, on the occasion of Father’s Day, someone put the story online and it is again going viral. I still get calls from strangers.”
The trio is planning to rope in a top actor for the role of the father.
“It is too early to talk about the cast and crew though we have finalised most names. Many have expressed interest in the story. In a week’s time, we will all sit together for a script session and once the Covid-19 pandemic is over, we plan to shoot the film. Obviously, there are portions to be shot in Malaysia as well,” says Ajay.
What do these interludes tell us? Is there a twist to the story? Some things just seem to have a wider plan.
