Novel in Calcutta Festival

The prestigious Calcutta International Film Festival, to be held from November 10 to 17 in association with the Government of West Bengal, will feature three Malayalam films in its competition section.

Surprisingly, East Coast Vijayan's debut film Novel, which was not too popular among the critics or masses, will compete in the section, which will also have the State award winners: M.G. Sasi's Adayalangal and Lenin Rajendran's Rathri Mazha.

Adayalangal, directed by M.G. Sasi and produced by Aravind Venugopal, has won the State awards for the best feature film and best director of 2007. The film is based on the life and works of noted Malayalam writer P.C. Gopalan (1926-1974), popularly known as Nandanar, whose novels and stories depicted life in the army camps and battlefields during the 1940s and 50s.

Rathri Mazha has won several State awards in 2006, including Best Director (Lenin Rajendran), Best Music Director (Ramesh Narayanan), Best Male Singer (Sreenivas), Best Female Singer (Sujatha Mohan) and Best dance choreographers (Madhu Samudra-Sajiv Samudra). It was chosen as one of the Indian entries for the Asian, African and Latin American Competition segment of the 38th IFFI.

When it comes to Jayaram-starrer Novel released early this year, the film, intended as a romantic flick, sadly turned to be a pathetic show; what could be told crisply as a short film, was thoughtlessly extended to create hours of drag. The only highlight of the film was actress Sada, who won plaudits for her first Malayalam role.