NAVODAYA STUDIO
Who is the hunter?
Who is the hunted?
This web page is a
Pre-visualisation
Documentation
for the film's
Production Design.
November 2023
E4E
PRODUCTION
motivators
C. V. Sarathi. Suresh Kanthan. M. Najeeb
N. G. John. Vakkachan Vachaparambil.
title calligraphy
Narayana Bhattathiri
still photography
Shaju John
poster designs
Jayaram Ramachandran
മുതല 3D (Crocodile) Vembanad. AD 1931.
written 2023 april
PLOT
A spate of crocodile attacks in Kerala’s lake Vembanad.
An Englishman arrives to hunt the man-eater.
The hunter becomes the hunted.
Illustration above by Abhilash N.
St. Mary’s Church, Vechoor. 5 April 1931. Palm Sunday.
A pontoon bridge on kettu-vallom (cargo boats) was done that morning.
The festival procession was traversing the waterway over the floating wooden passage. Suddenly everybody heard Themmaady Thommy - their local rowdy, screaming.
What everybody thought a log of wood, drifting nearby, was a huge Crocodile, with one of its fingers missing.
It caught hold of Thommy and started dragging him (leisurely!) through the panic stricken crowd running helter-skelter.
Before the croc could jump into the waters, some brave among the religious rushed to save Thommi.
But they were held back by the less religious from nearing the hapless man screaming for help.
"He deserves it … the vermin … he had injured many … also the croc”.
The crocodile dived … and then it raised it's snout … holding up the victim for everyone to see. After ‘announcing the capture’, it submerged below the Vembanad waves.
That was only the beginning.
Bombay Harbour. Alexandra Dock.
28 April 1931.
P&O Liner Carthage has arrived from Southampton.
The southbound train Deccan Mail is ready to depart.
Bombay Harbor 1931. Digital Illustrations by Sethusivanandan
"Sailors, ... can you tell me where ship Carthage is berthed?"
"Here at the Ballard Pier ... there she is!"
Elizabeth Corbett (24 years), arriving from London, is met by a messenger from the Governor’s office.
"Excuse me ... Miss Corbett? I have a telegram for Major Alan Corbett."
"That's my father ... he is supposed to be here to receive me ...
Suddenly Elizabeth points upwards
Ah! ... There he is ... with the Dock Master.
Announcing his presence, not my arrival".
Art Exec Madhu T
with reconstructed waterwheel
SYNOPSIS
AD 1931. British-raj times.
Kuttanad - Kerala's rice bowl, was then at the height of its farmland expansions.
With armies of laborers, vast tracts of paddy fields were being reclaimed from Vembanad lake. The fear of random crocodile attack brought all human activity to a sudden standstill.
For centuries, ‘dewatering wheel' was the essential tool in Kuttanad paddy fields. These man-driven wheels were used from the time of the earliest settlements here. Erected along the water channels, starting with clusters of 4-leaved, 8-leaved and 12-leaved wheels, water was lifted up in steps till it reached the biggest 'four men operated 24-leaved wheel' that pushed a torrent out into the backwaters.
Water was let into the fields after every harvest and had to be de-watered before the next sowing. The bigger among the 'kayals' would take couple of weeks of day & night labor to dewater. These wheels were gradually replaced by coal/steam engines in the 19th, then kerosine engines and finally electric pumps in the 20th century.
Maps & Resources
Rahul K Sukumaran,
Kuttanadan Initiatives.
Pettiyum Parayum is a pumping contraption of local design. Made of wood and fastened with iron bracings, this is a low-head/ high-discharge mechanism used in Kuttanad for the last 100 years. "Para" is a wooden well in which an impeller (vertical fan) whose shaft when driven by a belt lifts water into a "Petti" (box). The Petti, also made of wood, is actually a discharge tube of rectangular section. The inventor of the contraption is Chembum-tharayil Zacharia of Kavalam village. Affectionately called 'American Kariyachan', the genius on returning from England after his studies, designed the so called 'Injun Thara' (engine & pump house).
The Injun Thara, with the Pettiyum Parayum installed in it, was popularized all over Kuttanad region. They were used for de-watering the land's million paddy acreage. The genius of this design is that this is a low-head/ high-discharge centrifuge – a pumping mechanism ideal for Kuttanad, where the water levels are never more than 6 to 10 feet in difference.
The illustrations below are taken from kuttanad stories (2016)
acrylic & oil on canvas by RK
A crocodile attack
At Alleppey Zilla Court, Corbett listens to an attack victim
A Kuttanad Bund-breach
The Madras Presidency, heeding the Alleppey District Magistrate H. Munroe’s distress call, sends in 57 year old army veteran, the celebrated Croc-killer of Ganges - Alan Corbett.
For the natives of Kuttanad, a savior has arrived!
A proverbial Victorian, Corbett wears the white man’s burden on his sleeves. He is accompanied by his daughter Elizabeth, newly returned from England. Elizabeth Corbett (24 years, aspiring artist), an archetypal Edwardian, swears by Marie Spartali and Virginia Woolf.
Sans crocodile, the conflict had already started.
To help with his firearms, Corbett enlists the assistance of Thomaskutty, a dashing and English-educated young man of 27, the son of a local landlord.
But there is an obstacle.
Thomaskutty is about to get married.
"കുഞ്ഞുമോളേ, ... ആ മദാമ്മപ്പെണ്ണിനെ സൂക്ഷിച്ചോ ... നിൻറെ ചെറുക്കനെ അവൾ അടിച്ചോണ്ടുപോകുമേ ... !"
("Watchout Kunjumol, the white girl shall steal your groom!")
[“Kumari William Tell!” whoops Elizabeth].
That is what everybody warns Kunjumol (24 years) - Thomaskutty’s betrothed.
But surprise! Elizabeth discovers a markswoman with exceptional sense of aim in Kunjumol.
Corbett with his famed sixth sense could anticipate the man-eater’s every next move … but finds himself outguessed by the reptile!
It reaches a point when doubts arise in everybody’s mind ...
Who is the hunter? Who is the hunted?
After marauding all over the embankment, the huge one is coming straight at her … a horrified Kunjumol realize.
Calling Alice for help, together they turn the big metal harpoon around …
“Fire … dammit, I say FIRE!” screams Alice at Kunjumol.
Yet, Kunjumol holds back from firing, in wait for the beast to come closer.
In vain Sraank Nair is firing his rifle to deter the beast from nearing Alice and Kunjumol.
The beast leaps towards the girls.
Kunjumol fires, the harpoon spear piercing the beast in midair.
It lands on the girls … they scream.
Pinned down under the beast, the girls are staring over the snout into the eyes of the beast.
Time stands frozen.
The jaws of the beast suddenly open with a gurgle.
The girls scream again … in unison.
Slowly they realize it was the beast’s dying gasp.
SCENE 63
The reptile smashed open the PARA (centrifuge) and entered through the PETTI (wooden duct) of the pump house.
It enters the paddy field! … Panic reigns as everybody start fleeing.
models - Isha, Vasilisa
Eeeee ... !
models - Thara, Priya
PRE-VISUALIZATION VIDEOS & PHOTOGRAPHS
proof of concept
[October. 2023]
models - Andrews, Isha, Vasilisa
d.o.p
Althaf Hussein
art director
Adwaith Sunildas
sound design
Arun Varma
sound mix
Ajith Abraham
editing
Livingston Mathew
vfx director
Nidhin Ram
croc animatronics
Anuraj S.
production controller
Aneesh Chandran
makeup
Pattanam Rasheed
colorist
G. Balaji
art team
Madhu T, Sanjith, Jayanand
designs
Jayaram Ramachandran
directorial support
Rajesh Abraham Lijin Jose Suraj Varma
The sweeping bird screeched.
The child collecting aambal flowers, took it for a friendly gesture and smiled.
But, the plover bird was informing its host that breakfast was ready!
Vakkachan Vachaprambil
M Najeeb
Varghese Panakkalam
Nidhin Ram
Althaf, Suraj, Sivaprakasan Kumar Adwaith
Anuraj
Vinod
Aneesh Chandran
Vakkachan (G.M. Vacha) instructing, Lijin directing madakuthal process.
Thomas Panakkalam
Rajesh Abraham
Althaf
Lijin Jose
GEO Kuttappan (right)
A.M. Nazeer (centre)
listening to Script by
S. Harish (left)
Jibin Thomas
Arun Varma
Vakkachan Vachaprambil
Livingston
Adwaith
Althaf
Vipin
Syrian song choir team @ Palai
Supplying 500 ponkurishu &1000 muthukuda from Irinjalakuda,
Thomas Karimalickal also played the Kuttanadan Namboothiri.
kudos to Edakkulam Thomachan, the instant pontoon bridge builder
Suresh Kanthan
Ajith G Abraham
A.D.1930 Procession staged on 5 Sept 2023.
courtesy Syro-Malabar Curia, Kakkanad. Diocese of Changanassery.
Parishes of Pulincunnoo, Kayalpuram & Champakkulam.
jM.S. Swaminathan Foundation. Major Irrigation Dept. Alappuzha.
Sunney Sebastian C.A. is seen here
(at NeST, among N. Jehangir’s collection of vintage vehicles) identifying a car for the AD 1931 Bombay Alexandra Dock Ballard Pier scene of film MUTHALA 3D.
Victorian & Edwardian (Sociology, Fashion and Literature)
Resource Persons
Rosanna Tharakan-May & David William May.
David William May
MA in English literature, Edinburgh University
Now Senior instructor at Zayed university Dubai.
Rosanna Tharakan-May
BA (Hons) English Literature and Classical Studies, University of Surrey.
Now Editor at Sharjah Tourism
Video conferencing with Kochi,
from Dubai David William May is
voice dubbing for Croc hunter Corbett.
illustrations from kuttanad stories (executed in 2016)
acrylic & oil on canvas by RK, the Art Director who has seen it all.
The classic Kuttanad, the one which was there till mid-20th century, no longer exists today. Hence the backdrop has to be re-constructed (literally) to depict the bygone era of the 1930s for the sequences of film Muthala.
Apart from the main cast that calls for exceptional performance, identifying ‘lean’ performers for supporting roles is crucial. This is to match the body structure of the people in the 1900s. Low-caste women were not supposed to cover their upper torso.
Storyboard for Muthala pre-viz video shoot.
