Thankam, which is closer to Joji, will be our most cinematic movie yet: Syam Pushkaran

Scriptwriter Syam Pushkaran’s movies, which include Kumbalangi Nights, Maheshinte Prathikaaran, Salt N’ Pepper and Joji, has a following of their own. So, it’s hardly surprising that the writer’s next movie, Thankam, has already generated a good buzz in the industry before its release.

The film, starring Biju Menon, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Aparna Balamurali and Girish Kulkarni, is helmed by Theeram director Saheed Arafath and is touted to be a crime drama that is set in Thrissur, Coimbatore and Mumbai.

In a recent press meet held in Kochi, Syam opened up about the movie, which is also co-produced by him, Fahadh Faasil and Dileesh Pothan under their banner Bhavana Studios. “Compared to our previous movies, Thankam is more cinematic. It’s a fictional social crime drama that is closer to Joji. So, the element of risk is comparatively less as it’s more cinematic,” said the writer, whose banner had last year brought out Basil Joseph’s Paltu Janwar.

The upcoming movie, which is set to hit theatres on January 26, revolves around a group of jewellery workers. Syam, however, clarified that it doesn’t have too much connection to the lives of those employed in the sector. “It’s not related a lot with the social reality. This movie looks at an isolated incident and is a cinematic representation,” he explained.

Meanwhile, the writer said that he is working on scripts for both Mohanlal and Shah Rukh Khan, and the movie with the former could happen sooner than many thought. Syam also revealed that he is now open to try different genres. “When we started out, people called our films ‘new-gen movies’ and then it became ‘realistic’ films and now it’s ‘natural’ films. You can call them anything, it’s fine,” he says. “Right now, I have got my share of awards and money, and want to experiment more. When Pulimurugan released, I wanted to try ‘mass’ films. Hopefully, we can do that.”