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Kuberan
Sunderdas,
Dileep all set to take on the box-office
 Sunderdas
made his debut as an independent director in 1996 with Sallaapam,
a big hit that launched into film industry, besides Sundardas himself,
artistes Dileep and Manju Warrier. After Sallaapam, Sunderdas made
films like Kudamaattam, Sammaanam and Varnakkaazhchchakal. And now,
Sunderdas is on to his next directorial venture, Kuberan, which
is nearing completion and is to be released as one of the Vishu
films this year.
Kuberan, produced
by Menaka Sureshkumar under the banner of Revathy Kalamandir, has
Dileep in the lead and tells the story of Siddharthan, a young man
who always dreams of becoming a Kuberan, ie, a rich man. Siddharthan,
who comes to Coorg from Kerala, finds a job in a resort, The Paradise
Resort. His main job is to entertain tourists and other guests by
standing completely motionless, donning the garb of historical and
mythological personalities like Emperor Akbar, Chatrapati Shivaji,
Swami Vivekananda, Sage Durvasa and Charlie Chaplin. He lives in
a small house opposite a palatial bungalow and always dreams of
owning the very same bunglow.
 In
the meantime, Siddharthan gets as his companions three kids - Dhanan,
Kanakam and Lekshmi, who have nowhere to go since their mother had
dumped them with Siddharthan before committing suicide. Siddharthan
looks after the children with loving care and he does everything
possible to keep them happy. As a part of realising his dream, he
spends the first of every month in the palatial bungalow opposite
his house. The bungalow is usually lying vacant and Siddharthan
and the three kids find their way into the bungalow by bribing Theyyunni
and Abdu, the caretakers of the bungalow. Siddharthan and his gang
spend a full day in the bungalow, living like real rich people and
lavishly spending hard-earned money. But once he is caught redhanded
by Pooja, the real owner of the bungalow. This leads to a clash.
There are some very new developments too to Siddharthan’s story
after the entry of Pooja, who has a past of her own.
While Dileep
does the role of Siddharthan, Samyuktha Varma plays Pooja. Debutante
Uma is in the role of Gouri, Siddharthan’s lover. The film
also stars Master Vignesh, Baby Keerthi Suresh, Baby Alishami, Harisri
Ashokan, Indrans, Jagathy Sreekumar, Kalabhavan Mani, Janardhanan,
Mohan, Riza Bawa, Manka Mahesh, Bindhu Ramakrishnan and Suresh Krishna.
Among the child
artists, Master Vignesh, who is doing the role of Dhanan, is already
an established child artiste and has acted in many films like Vaasanthiyum
Lekshmiyun Pinne Njaanum, Madhuranombarakaattu, Oru Cheru Punchiry,
Theerthadanam and Pularvettam. Baby Keerthy who is doing the role
of Kanakam is the daughter of the producer Menaka and Suresh Kumar
and little Alisha, who plays Lekshmi, is the daughter of Vincent
and Seena, hailing from Irinjalakuda.
Though the story of Kuberan is set against Coorg, the film is shot
fully in Ooty. Costume designer Indrans Jayan and art-director Saloo
K George have tried their best to recreate the atmosphere of Coorg
in Ooty. VC Ashokan does the script while Salu George cranks the
camera. Gireesh Puthencherry’s lyrics have been set to tune
by Mohan Sithara. Editing is by L Bhoominathan.
Since Kuberan
is directed by Sunderdas and since Dileep, who is presently basking
in the glory of hits after hits, does the lead role in it, there
is much to expect out of the film by way of box-office returns.
Let’s wait till Vishu, when the film will finally be brought
to the theatres.
—Unni
R Nair
Photos - N Vijayamohanan
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