Malayalam film-maker Aashiq Abu is all set to lay his hands on horror genre! That’s right. And his first horror outing is none other than a fresh adaptation of legendary writer Vaikom Muhammad Basheer’s short story ‘Neelavelicham’. The makers unveiled the first look poster of the film featuring Tovino Thomas recently. Apparently the film is eyeing a December release this year.
For the unfamiliar, this is not the first time veteran writer Basheer’s ‘Neelavelicham‘ is getting a big screen adaptation. Earlier this short story was adapted into a movie by Basheer himself called ‘ Bhargavi Nilayam’ starring Prem Nazir, Madhu, and Vijaya Nirmala in lead roles. ‘Bhargavi Nilayam’, directed by A Vincent hit the screens in 1964. It is also widely considered as the first horror film from Malayalam Cinema. The film was not only a critics darling but also a bona fide blockbuster back then.
There were many reasons that led the film to unimaginable success. One of them being a fresh horror premise and the other, it’s super-successful and soulful album. M.S Baburaj composed an album for the ages, which even today is regarded as his perfect masterpiece by music enthusiasts. Celebrated poet P. Bhaskaran penned the lyrics, still fresh in the minds of malayali audience. I mean who hasn’t hummed atleast once in their lives to ‘Thamasamenthe varuvaan’ and ‘Vasantha panchami naalil’? We all drunk our tears down when ‘Pottithakarna Kinaavu’ played and ‘Ekanthathayude apara theeram’ is still the lullaby for loners.
Besides the obvious casting comparisons surrounding Tovino Thomas, Roshan Mathew and Rima Kallingal whose earlier versions were played by Madhu, Prem Nazir and Vijaya Nirmala, the biggest snag for Aashiq Abu’s newest adaptation of the classic would be to recreate the magic of Bhargavi Nilayam’s soundtrack. Now let’s be very honest, it’s Impossible for music director duo Bijibal-Rex Vijayan to recreate the magic of a once-in-a-lifetime soundtrack. But here’s one sigh of relief. The first look poster mentions P. Bhaskaran as the lyricist.. So quite possibly we are getting a new version of the same Original soundtrack of Bhargavi Nilayam.
However it’s yet to be seen how much justice Aashiq Abu and his team will do to this classic. Considering the lukewarm response Aashiq Abu’s last film ‘Naradan’ starring Tovino Thomas gained both critically and commercially, we have our fingers crossed for this one.
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