A non-linear narrative is tricky to execute, but that’s the beauty of Ombatthane Dikku: Dayal Padmanabhan

The filmmaker brings his Yogi and Aditi Prabhudeva starrer film to theatres on January 28.

Yogi in a still from the film

When Dayal Padmanabhan first announced a release date for his film Ombatthane Dikku, it was headed into a four-way clash at the box office, so he decided to bow out of the race and moved it ahead into the new year. January 28, it was to be, but within days of this announcement, there was a spike in Covid cases again, forcing the state government to impose restrictions, including night and weekend curfews that seriously curtailed the cinema business. While several filmmakers wasted no time in pushing their releases ahead, Dayal did not budge, waiting patiently for word on the discontinuation of weekend curfew. The night curfew was not much of an issue, as far as he was concerned, but he needed weekends and as luck may have it, with only days to go for the release of the Yogi and Aditi Prabhudeva starrer, the government called off weekend curfew.

“Releasing a film during the pandemic, and with only 50% occupancy is a challenge, but we have seen earlier that audiences head out to movie halls if they are convinced that there is good content on offer. We’ve been dealing with the pandemic for over two years and people have gotten accustomed to living with it, by maintaining safety protocol. A movie outing has always been a major element of the social life of most people and they’ve been deprived of that for a long time. I believe that audiences want to watch good cinema and, hence, I am bringing my film to theatres,” says Dayal.

So, on Friday, Dayal will present his film, which is his adaptation of the Tamil film Kurangu Bommai, to audiences. The filmmaker has been open about the fact that Ombatthane Dikku is based on an adapted screenplay, but adds that it is not a scene-by-scene remake. “See, my rationale is simple, just as good literature is translated from one language to another, cinema with good content can be adapted for different audiences. The trick lies in ensuring that a content-rich film is not bogged down by an art-house tag and, instead, is presented as a commercial movie. Ombatthane Dikku will be an example of how a commercial flick can be loaded with good content as well,” says the filmmaker, adding, that the story of Ombatthane Dikku revolves around a the contents a duffel bag.

One of the major USPs of the film, says Dayal, is its non-linear narrative, which is not common in Indian cinema, but was essential to effectively convey this story. “Non-linear narratives are tricky to execute; if you falter once, there’s no coming back from there. I believe that the beauty of Ombatthane Dikku is its very effective non-linear narrative,” he says, adding that the ensemble cast is the other major strength of the film. “Yogi leads the cast of Ombatthane Dikku and having him onboard ensured that the narrative felt realistic. That’s the magic his acting lends to a film. He was very ably supported by Aditi, Saikumar, Prashant Siddi, Sampath, Sundar and Muni, among others,” he signs off.

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