Malayalam News

‘Koode’ Is An Adaptation Of A Marathi Film

By Subha J Rao

As she does before every movie, director Anjali Menon has come out with a note about Koode too, hours before its release. These notes usually speak about the origin of the film, and the journey.

This time, she reveals how Koode came about. The film is an adaptation of Sachin Kundalkar’s Marathi original, she wrote. Happy Journey, guessed social media users, and this was retweeted by Sachin too. The original starred the versatile Atul Kulkarni and Priya Bapat.

This is the first time Anjali is working on someone else’s raw material; usually, her stories are adapted. “When my stories, Bangalore Days & Ustad Hotel, were adapted by other filmmakers I was part of many discussions that made me curious about the process. I was keen to explore the process of adaptation which I think is a real challenge to do well,” she writes.

She got to watch a regional film that touched her. And, Anjali found herself “re-imagining the story in a different way and when I discussed it with its makers, they graciously offered the adaptation rights to me”.

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Sachin and his team had requested the Marathi media and audience to not reveal the story so that the film remained fresh for those yet to watch it. Anjali makes a similar request, and adds: “For those who have seen the original, please be prepared to see a different interpretation.”

The filmmaker says she was “honoured that he (Sachin) trusted me with the story and it has been a rich learning experience”, and adds that the film is about living in the moment, the here and now. 

Two-time National Award winner Sachin, whose recent film Gulabjaam was an ode to food and memories, tweeted his reaction to the film’s release.

Subha J Rao is a Alum at Silverscreen India, and can be reached on Twitter at subhajrao or by email at subha@silverscreen.in