THE GROUNDWORK/KALIYORUKKAM
(MALAYALAM/46 MINS/2007)
DIR: S SUNIL
Cast And Crew


Starring: Thushara , Abhilash , Sreelal , Uma ,
Sreerag , Sruthi , VS Anil Kumar , Anitha
Directed by S Sunil
Produced by Kannapuram Panchayath
Story S Sunil
Screenplay S Sunil , VS Anil Kumar
Cinematography P Pratap
Music John P Varky
Lyrics DV Sreedharan
Editing Byju Kurup
Art Direction Prasanth Padiyoor
Audiography T Krishnanunni

Kaliyorukkam,’ a 46-minute film produced by the Kannapuram grama panchayat with the co-operation of Kerala State Film Development Corporation and people’s participation has a simple theme. It tells the story about a group of children who found that they don't have a playground during the summer vacations as it had been acquired for a commercial purpose. Undaunted, the children prepare a playground, which they eventually lose to their village elders who appropriate it for themselves - again for games.

'Kaliyorukkam' won the state award for the best children's film for 2007 .

One of the significant features of the film is that it is an attempt by a panchayat. And the film celebrates the 'local' in more than one way. All the actors are school-going students from the locality, who are totally at home within the film and the narrative. The visual compositions of the film very sensitively capture the 'locale' – the different terrains of the region, the landscapes, and the various moods created by the dense foliage and waterscapes in varying light shades. The children in the film speak in their own everyday language: they use the local dialect that is not sanitized to appease a pan-Kerala audience. Most refreshingly, the film never pontificates or forces the children to mouth banalities. And it is this affirmation and celebration of the local – physical and cultural – that gives Sunil's Kaliyorukkam its charming quality. One hopes the film will prepare the ground for more such initiatives.