Adaminte Makan Abu
| Adaminte Makan Abu | |
|---|---|
 Film poster featuring Salim Kumar | |
| Directed by | Salim Ahamed |
| Produced by | Salim Ahamed Ashraf Bedi |
| Written by | Salim Ahamed |
| Starring | Salim Kumar Zarina Wahab Jagathy Sreekumar Kalabhavan Mani Nedumudi Venu Mukesh |
| Music by | Background score: Isaac Thomas Kottukapally Songs: Ramesh Narayan |
| Cinematography | Madhu Ambat |
| Editing by | Vijay Shankar |
| Studio | Alence Media |
| Distributed by | Laughing Villa |
| Release date(s) | June 24, 2011 |
| Country | India |
| Language | Malayalam |
| Budget |  1.5 crores |
Adaminte Makan Abu (Malayalam: ആദാമിന്റെ മകൻ അബു, meaning: Abu, son of Adam) is a 2011 Malayalam film directed by debutant Salim Ahamed and starring Salim Kumar in the lead role. Zarina Wahab plays the lead female role while Jagathy Sreekumar, Kalabhavan Mani, Suraj Venjarammoodu, Nedumudi Venu, Mala Aravindan, Jaffer Idukki, Thampi Antony and Mukesh play supporting roles. The film chronicles the riveting tale of a poor old couple longing to go on a Hajj pilgrimage. It shows humanist values freeing matters of faith from the constrictions of narrow parochialism.
After nearly a decade of pre-production work, the film was shot over 31 days beginning on 7 November 2010. It bagged four National Film Awards including for Best Film and Best Actor (Salim Kumar). The film is slated for public release on 24 June 2011.
Synopsis
The film is about Abu (Salim Kumar), who has been dreaming of performing the holy pilgrimage to Mecca, despite severe financial constraints. Abu is an old vendor selling Yunani medicines and Athar, roaming around the streets of Malabar. The film chronicles the difficulties that the old poor couples of Malabar encounter to go for a much hoped Hajj pilgrimage.
Cast
Production
Development
Adaminte Makan Abu marks the directorial debut of Salim Ahamed. It was his days as a travel agent that inspired him to choose the theme of a man struggling to make his way to Mecca for his debut film. The director says that he had written three scripts but decided to film Adaminte Makan Abu as a number of people liked the story line. He wanted his first film to be impressive. He decided to take the risk of filming a serious theme with Salim Kumar in the lead, though he did not have the glamour of a conventional hero. "I was confident that the final result would be worth the risk," he says.
Casting
It was on the sets of Best Actor that Salim Ahamed met Salim Kumar to convince him of the role. Salim Ahamed says that it was Salim Kumar's outstanding performance as a son who is forced to abandon his aged mother in Bridge, one of the 10 films in the Kerala Cafe anthology, that made him choose the actor for the role. Salim Kumar was initially a little reluctant to accept the role as he very well knew that his films as the sole hero may not fetch much commercial returns. But Salim Ahamed was confident that it was Salim Kumar who could do full justice to the role of an old vendor who is taking pains to somehow perform the holy Hajj with his wife (played by Zarina Wahab in the film). Salim Ahamed also assured Salim Kumar that his film will have top technicians in the field and hence he brought in the veteran Madhu Ambat, to do the cinematography and Issac Thomas Kottukapally to handle the music section. Salim Kumar, who is generally seen in slapstick comedy roles, didn't do any homework for this role. Salim Kumar accepted no payment for acting in this film.
Zarina Wahab, who had made a comeback to Malayalam films with Calendar plays the lead female role in the film. Besides Salim Kumar and Zarina Wahab, the film also stars several other actors like Jagathy Sreekumar, Kalabhavan Mani, Suraj Venjarammoodu, Nedumudi Venu, Mala Aravindan, Jaffer Idukki and Thampi Antony in key roles. Mukesh appears in a guest role in the film.
Filming
Shooting of the film began on 7 November 2010, and took place in various locations in Thrissur and Kozhikode. Major parts were filmed from a house in Athani in Thrissur. The set was made by debutant art director Jyothish with a shoe-string amount of 2 lakhs. The film was shot digitally to reduce production costs. Cinematographer Madhu Ambat recalls that he had planned to use 16 mm film to further reduce costs but used 35 mm film itself since he wanted to shoot lots of long shots. He says that the long shots were helpful in showing the feeling of loneliness. The film ran into financial troubles when its shooting was mid way. Salim Ahamed recalls that it was his friends who financed the film at this stage. Principal production of the film completed in a mere 31 days.
Pattanam Rasheed did make-up for all artists including Salim Kumar. The artificial beard he used initially didn't match Salim Kumar's skin tone. So, he imported a matching beard from Mumbai by spending money from his own pocket.
Music
The film features an original score by Isaac Thomas Kottukapally. Kottukapally did some research before deciding on the music. He didn't want to confine the music to a particular region alone as the subject and emotions are universal. As the story is about going on Hajj, he wanted to give the music an Arabic colour. He used notes from Arabic scales but kept that to the minimum for when the Hajj theme comes, and he used Arabic instruments like the oud. He also used the mandolin, santoor, sarod etc, that are close to the oudh. He also used the tabla, flute, drums from north Kerala and also African drums. Contrary to normal Malayalam films, Kottukapally has used minimalist music in the film. He kept a lot of silence in the film as he felt silence is very important. He used aarohana and avarohana before and after the silence, not when silence is needed.
The soundtrack to Adaminte Makan Abu features songs composed by Ramesh Narayan. Lyrics for the songs were written by Rafeeque Ahammed. The soundtrack, featuring vocals by Shankar Mahadevan, Ramesh Narayan, Hariharan, Sujatha, Madhusree Narayan and Srinivas, was released on Manorama Music.
Track listing
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Makka Madeena" | Shankar Mahadevan, Ramesh Narayan | 5:32 |
| 2. | "Kinavinte Minarathil" | Hariharan | 3:40 |
| 3. | "Mutholakunnathe" | Sujatha | 5:16 |
| 4. | "Kinavinte Minarathil" | Madhusree Narayan | 3:40 |
| 5. | "Mutholakunnathe" | Srinivas | 5:14 |
| Total length: | 23:22 | ||
Release
After the final shoot and edit, the film was sent to Censor Board in Mumbai and from there copies of the film were directly sent to national and state award committees. So, none of the crew members, including the film's director, were able to see the final version.
In late-May, the film's co-producer Ashraf Bedi approached the court alleging that he was cheated by producer and director of the film, Salim Ahamed, who did not mention him as a co-producer when the film's entry papers were submitted for the National Awards. The film was described as produced by Salim Ahamed alone. Consequently, the court banned the film's screening and distribution till 10 June.
Salim Ahmed was approached by three major distributors, Playhouse, Kas Kalasangam and Vaishaka, to buy the distribution rights of the film. Later, Salim Kumar decided to distribute the film himself under his newly formed distribution company Laughing Villa. The film is slated for public release on 24 June 2011. Previews of the film would he held at Chennai, Ernakulam and Kannur.
A controversy regarding the film's plot originated when short filmmaker Abbas Kalathod claimed that the story of the film was taken from his shortfilm Maruppacha which was released eight years ago. "With the characters of Maruppacha given an elderly treatment and embellishing the story with exaggeration, Adaminte Makan Abu was made," he says. Abbas Kalathod says that the 21-minute Maruppacha for which he had written story, script and dialogue, narrate "a story of Bappu, a youth who spares a little of his day's earning in preparation for the Hajj. He hands over the entire money to his neighbour, who nourishes such a wish. In Qabalah, Abdullah dreams of a heavenly voice which says the God has accepted only Bappu's Haj. On his return, Abdullah goes in search of Bappu. The story ends when after a prolonged wandering they meet, and Abdullah tells the entire story to Bappu." Salim Kumar called the allegations ridiculous. He said, "Adaminte Makan Abu is yet to be released. Without watching the film, the man who leveled the allegations came to the conclusion that its story is plagiarized. I came across the story that he claimed to be similar to that of Adaminte Makan Abu. The story penned by him bears resemblance to that of the film Kuttikkuppayam."
Awards
The film received numerous accolades including four National Film Awards and four Kerala State Film Awards. Salim Kumar became the seventh Malayalam actor, and the first comedian, to win the national award. State award Jury Chairman Buddhadeb Dasgupta was profuse in his praise for Salim Kumar. "I was overwhelmed. For the first 10-15 minutes I couldn't believe my eyes. I had seen the same person in comedy roles in some other films that came up for our consideration. This performance was overwhelming. He overshadowed everyone else."
The national and state award going to Salim Kumar in the Best Actor category created tension in the film industry. Director Ranjith said that he expected the award for Mammootty whose performance in the film Pranchiyettan & the Saint had received rave critical reviews. He said that Salim Kumar's performance in Adaminte Makan Abu was no patch on Mammootty's performance in Pranchiyettan & the Saint. Salim Kumar lashed out against Ranjith's comments and said it is just sour grapes. Several film pundits have backed the opinion of Ranjith.
In an interview, Pattanam Rasheed complained that the absence of Malayalis in the national award jury cost him the award for best make-up artist. He says, "I would've got it [the award] if there was a Malayali. Jury members thought Salim [Kumar] was actually an old man. As such, they couldn't appreciate my work."
Remake
In late-May, Madhyamam reported that Mumbai-based film company Mega Productions has approached Salim Ahamed with the intention of remaking the film in Hindi. Discussions were supposed to be held in early June, much before the theatrical release of the original film. Later, reports came that Karan Johar's Dharma Productions has also appraoched Salim Ahamed to buy the rights. According to the reports, Karan Johar will direct the film and Shahrukh Khan will play the role of Abu. Salim Ahamed will also be a part of the film.
References
Retrieved from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaminte_Makan_Abu
