Eccentric, audacious, humorous, experimental… One can carry on including adjectives to any Krishand directorial. Be it his movies reminiscent ofVrithakrithyilulla Chathuram, Avasavyuham, Purushapretham, and Sangarsha Ghadana – The Art of Warfare or his new internet collection Sambhavavivaranam Nalara Sangham (The Chronicles of the 4.5 Gang), proper from the title to the story and narrative technique, he by no means ceases to shock and make you snort and suppose. The method he weaves in nuances to characters, conditions, dialogues, artwork, music and so forth makes you want if you happen to may journey with him by means of the inventive course of.
But he makes all of it sound easy, downplaying the adulation. When we catch up a few days after the discharge of The Chronicles of the 4.5 Gang he confesses he had doubts about how it could be obtained, whether or not the viewers would really like it. “I was scared to read the reviews,” he says with a snort.
A poster of Sambhavivaranam Nalara Sangham or The Chronicles of the 4.5 Gang
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In the six-episode gangster drama collection that doesn’t contain a crime syndicate, we see a group of unusual guys who by accident find yourself in a world of crime, constructing a shaky empire on petty crimes and rackets involving filching milk and controlling the native flower market.
Set in Thiruvanchipuram, it pivots washed out gangster Arun Kumar or Arikuttan (Sanju Sivaram) – referred to as thus as a result of he as soon as stole rice from the varsity kitchen — who approaches a author, Maithreyan (Jagadish), dwelling in Maharashtra, to pen his biography. The different members within the gang are Althaf (Niranj Maniyanpilla Raju), Kanji (Sreenath Babu), Maniyan (Sambhu) and Moonga (Sachin Joseph), who’s a little particular person making the ‘half’ of the group.
Filmmaker Krishand at work
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SREERAG
Krishand credit the genesis of the concept to his days on the Industrial Design Centre School of Design at IIT Bombay the place he did his Masters. “I was always into stories about aliens, time loop etc. Once one of my teachers told me, ‘You are from Kerala and why are you not saying anything about the place you grew up? That would actually help your research because you will be doing that from your memory.’ So I read Basheer [Vaikom Mohammed Basheer], MT [MT Vasudevan Nair] and others. It struck me that I could tell the story of the place where I spent a major part of my childhood.”
That place is Thiruvananthapuram, the place he was born and lived until he was 26. “There were many such small groups in the city who built their business on illegal dealings involving either milk or flowers. I started writing the story in 2015 for which I had interviewed a few people who were involved in these activities. My sister and her team helped me with collecting some data. Although I approached several platforms with the story, they were not ready for a series then. In 2020, Sony showed some interest after I pitched the idea along with Sanju and Sasi Kumar [editor of the series].”
Krishand provides that he rewrote some parts based mostly on the platform’s suggestions. “Avasavyuham was ready by then. By the time Sony agreed, the film had started getting awards [eight of them, including the National and State awards]. They acquired the movie and later gave green signal for the series.” He makes a particular point out of Deepa Antony and Annu Chelekad Masilamani, a part of SonyLIV’s inventive crew, who rooted for the collection.
Sanju Sivaram and Sambhu in Sambhavivaranam Nalara Sangham or The Chronicles of the 4.5 Gang
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SREERAG
Decoding the construction of the collection, Krishand stresses what he has always stated – that he designs the content material of his work. “I always want to try a new narrative trick or technique. In this case I didn’t want to narrate it in a single timeline. The thought was, if someone else wrote about Arikuttan, he would be the villain. But what if he writes his own story? Then everyone else is a villain. However, we don’t know if he is being honest because we know only his version. Which makes it an apt post-modern content!”
He provides, “I worked around an eco system – their family, parents’ occupation, their school… to show how the socio-political-cultural scenario made them who they are. There is an underlying sadness in the narrative as they are always on the run from people with power. They cannot lead a normal life.”
Why did he go together with fictional names of locations when the true names have been so apparent? Like Thiruvanchipuram for Thiruvanananthapuram, Kamalakumari for Kanyakumari, Ilinjam for Vizhinjam, or Ponekkav for Bonacaud. “Some of the illegal activities shown in the series have actually taken place. Had we used real names it might not have gone down well with many people. So we played it safe; besides we had fun using fictional names.”
About the forged, he was explicit about having not-so-familiar faces moreover his regulars. “Sanju has been part of the project since its inception and became my choice for Arikkuttan. Sambhu had worked in my series Kraya Vikraya Prakriya and I knew that playing Maniyan would be easy for him. Niranj’s name was suggested by our DOP Vishnu Prabhakar who had worked with him earlier. He felt that Niranj’s talent has not been explored yet and I went with his instinct. I met Sreenath during Vrithakrithiyil Ulla Chathuram and felt that he would be perfect to play Kanji, a poor psycho! Sachin was cast by Sanup Padaveedan’s [lead in Sangharshaghadana] casting agency.”
Indrans in Sambhavivaranam Nalara Sangham or The Chronicles of the 4.5 Gang
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Over 150-plus actors have been chosen by means of casting course of. As for the Thiruvananthapuram dialect, Krishand says that Sanju picked it up as a result of he had labored within the metropolis. Sambhu, in the meantime, stayed within the metropolis for a few months to study it. “My chief associate Nikhil who is from Thiruvananthapuram trained most of the actors to get the correct meter. I also pitched in. We had a list of words that could be used. And we did not use some usages and terms usually associated with Thiruvananthapuram. At the same time, I was not strict about sticking to the dialect and have overlooked some digressions.”
So how does his out-of-the field making fashion and thought course of join with the actors? “They trust me because of the preparation I make. I have a storyboard; usually I draw most of the scenes. They follow that and we finish the shoot on time,” he says, making it sound so easy.
What got here useful was the pre-visualisation he did with Deepak Sivan. “We designed the sequences with animatics. Our stunt director Shravan Satya also did animatics for the fights. That is why the stunts look slick,” he explains.
The collection scores huge when it comes to the music with 25 tracks, composed by Varkey and Sooraj Santhosh. “Music is always integral to my script. I cannot imagine scenes without that. In this case, it was a collaboration which hit a sweet spot where we could give feedback to each other. They were unafraid and that contributed big time. I was particular about not sticking to a genre or soundscape. Also I didn’t want the songs to be predictable and that is why there are English tracks.”
Meanwhile, he continues to comply with his dream of scoring music some day. “I am crazy on that front!” he laughs.
Sambhu and Sachin Joseph in Sambhavivaranam Nalara Sangham or The Chronicles of the 4.5 Gang
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SREERAG
While the colony scenes have been shot on a set at Kothamangalam, the opposite areas have been Kochi, Idukki, Ilaveezhapoonchira, Theni, Thiruvananthapuram and Mumbai.
Darshana Rajendran in Sambhavivaranam Nalara Sangham or The Chronicles of the 4.5 Gang
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Reacting to criticism in regards to the feminine characters being sidelined — Darshana Rajendran because the badass Ramani who takes on the 4.5 gang, Zarin Shihab as Pranitha, Maniyan’s lover, and Santhy Balachandran as Kingini, Arikuttan’s childhood love, he says, “If there is a sequel, their stories will be explored further. The script is almost ready. It depends on whether the OTT platform greenlights it or not. Even the lives of other members of the gang will be expanded,” he says.
Krishand provides that Santhy [currently in the limelight post the success of Lokah in which she was the co-scenarist] contributed a lot to her character, Kingini. “I had written her as someone who ditches Arikuttan. But during the making, she gave me the reason why she decided to get Arikuttan out of her life,” he says.
And what was the explanation behind his cameo as Vikraman, the celebrity, who’s a key character within the collection? “Out of necessity! The character was to be named after a popular Tamil actor but we did not get the rights to use the name. The team asked why can’t I do it and save all the trouble. Sony approved and we went ahead with that. Otherwise, I am not interested in acting at all.”
His forthcoming undertaking is Masthishka Maranam (A Frankenbiting of Simon’s Memories), with Rajisha Vijayan, Divyaprabha, Niranj, Vishnu Agasthya and so forth. Meanwhile information is doing rounds that he’s planning tasks with Mohanlal and Mammootty.
The Chronicles of the 4.5 Gang is streaming on SonyLIV
