At a time when destination weddings are preferred, a team of youngsters have come up with a short film ‘Muthuvan Kalyanam’ that helps one discover the unique custom that is fading with time.
With breathtaking cinematic visuals, rich music and an untold story, the film showcases an ultimate Kerala wedding. The groom’s quest for love and his promise made to his wife-to-be leads him to a unique journey: an age old tradition lost in time.
The premise
The Muthuvans of Kerala, a tribal community in Kerala, owed their lives to the forests which fed them and guarded them. It also played matchmaker for a love-struck couple, a custom fading with the passage of time.
In the film, Muthuvan Kalyanam, the story is narrated by the grandfather to the young generation. It is a tradition fading with time. “Back then, a word of honour was enough. Now the forest is gone, so did our customs,” the grandfather in the film can be heard saying.
What the director got to say
With no road connectivity and an off road travel of nearly 1.5 hours, a small team of Virtual Bharat filmmakers reached the tribal hamlet. “These are locations not on the tourist map of India but when some of the elders of the community took us deep in the forest, it was breathtakingly beautiful,” said Shawn Sebastian, director of the film.
The film crew, extremely passionate to tell this unique story of love, also braved the dangers of the forest while shooting. “Moreover, charging our camera batteries was a huge challenge because there is no electricity in the tribal hamlet. Only a few houses were dependent on solar power and we had to request them to allow us to charge batteries,” said Sebastian.
Bharatbala's association
Iconic filmmaker and founder of Virtual Bharat, Bharatbala when heard about this story, decidedto film it. “I read one line about this unique marriage in a news article. Our Virtual Bharat team started researching upon it,” he said. “It is such a pure and innocent love story that I immediately felt it could be told cinematically. The film is visually magical and the folklore is unique and timeless.”
Virtual Bharat is a 1000 film journey that explores untold stories from every corner of India. With an aim to discover India’s rich culture and bring human stories in under 10 minutes, Virtual Bharat has released 20 films till date on YouTube.
Bharat Bala's last outing among feature films was Maryan, starring actors Dhanush and Parvathy.
