Synopsis
The film Unni, the first of
a trilogy, is based on the childhood endeavours
of a little boy, Unni, set in a small village
of Kerala (South India). Unni, who belongs to
the upper-caste Nair society of Kerala and is
conditioned to live in a world defined by his
orthodox mother and grandmother, finds release
to the curiosities bubbling in his little head
through his friends at the local village school.
At school, Unni enjoys an altogether different
world, a world populated by the likes of Ilyan
Mash (Smiling Master), Kutti Ana (Little Elephant),
and Meesha (Moustache) – all his teachers,
and Chathan, the odd-job man. Unni is
a film woven around a series of little incidents;
all these makeUnni a tapestry of childhood
fantasy and thrills. Integrated into this tapestry
are the implications of the absence of father
in a boy’s growing-up years. While Unni’s
father is away in the Middle East, Gopi’s
father’s perennial drunken state develops
an irreversible void in Gopi’s life. Unni
is a film about friendship, childhood discoveries
of the little truths of life, the contradicting
worlds at school and home, absence of father in
the growing-up years, mischief and punishment,
romance, revenge and death.
 Unni
has a lot of autobiographical elements, but it
is not an autobiography at all. I have just taken
the characters and atmosphere from my own experience
of growing up in a small village in Kerala, but
not the full story.For many people, there comes
a time when you turn back and suddenly look at
your childhood in a romantic way, appreciating
what a beautiful world you lived in. I had to
wait until I was forty for this to happen! Now,
I can see the barriers I had back then, but at
that time, it seemed like there were no barriers
at all. We sailed through life, and even now,
I observe these kind of friendships thriving in
villages, but feel that children in cities are
increasingly losing out on the essence of what’s
really needed to engage in friendships. Even within
Kerala, when I was looking for children from various
backgrounds, what immediately came to me was the
special bond that village children share. I used
this in casting the film, rehearsing the actors
and in my direction on the shoot.
I looked around for many places for locations,
but nothing matched the character of the village
where I grew up. I was anxious about going back
there with a film crew but it was amazing how
the initial fear soon faded away. In fact, it
was really wonderful to go back the village where
I spent my childhood and meet such a huge variety
of people, most of whom I hadn’t seen for
25 years. It felt a bit awkward at times watching
the private buses plying on tarmac roads, but
I realized that not much has changed there. Instead,
it was me who has changed. Even so, I can still
connect to the smiles of the kids and their grandparents.
I am so pleased I traveled back to this film the
village that was my own once upon a time, and
I plan this film to be the first of a trilogy:
the next phase will explore a young boy’s
life in a big city, Bombay, and finally, the third
phase will be show the boy growing up as teenager,
and having ended up in London.
It was really a wonderful experience making this
film: Personally I can't explain this experience.
I got wonderful support from the entire village.
I knew pretty much every child of the village
as son and daughter (or perhaps grand son and
grand daughter of so and so). Virtually everyone
whom I knew in my childhood came and said hello
and that was wonderul. Then I realised the gap
between me the film director and me, the person
who grew up in that area. I am very happy that
this film helped me to bridge that gap. Normally
you would believe that the slang of the language,
and many other things would have changed in the
25 years...yes, it has, but not for the children
of this age. I feel the emotions and expressions
are much more varied here that you would perhaps
get in a town. Don't ask me why!
 Unni
tries to capture those magical moments of childhood
- Unni, Ramu and Raju, lead by Gopi, venturing
out to peep into the girls’ toilet to discover
why girls squat to pee, the carpenter repairing
the roof while the class goes on, the teacher
having a conversation with the carpenter working
above, the children mockingly singing at the carpenter
about his balls dangling out of his mundu (loincloth),
Unni’s love-letter to the carpenter’s
daughter, Sujatha, handed over to the wrong girl
by the ‘messenger’ boy, Gopi trying
out his magic prowess on a little boy inspired
by the magic show at the school, Unni dreaming
of Sujatha’s skirt flying up.
I screened the completed film in the village and
that was a night to remember.. Everyone from the
village came and we all had a wonderful laugh.
Most of the time, they were comparing the role
they played with their real life role - for eg.
the real school teacher played a tea shop owner.
It was unforgettable!
Murali Nair began working in Mumbai as
an assistant director. His short film A long
Journey (1996) was the first Indian short
film screened at Cannes in the short film competition
section. His first Feature film
Marana Simhasanam ( Throne of Death)
in 1999 and this film won Camera D’or at
Cannes. He made his second feature Pattiyude
Divasam (A Dog’s Day) in 2001 and Arimpara
(a indo Japanese co-production based on OV Vijayayan’s
short story by the same name) in 2003. All films
have been showcased at Cannes. Unni (a
co-production with France and Switzerland ) is
his fourth feature film.
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