Director
Ranjith's
latest
Malayalam
film
Thirakkatha,
starring
Prithviraj
and
Priyamani
in
the
lead,
turned
out
to
a
huge,
unpleasant
controversy
in
the
recent
history
of
cinema,
when
some
reports
pointed
out
that
the
Thirakkatha
is
completely
based
on
one
of
the
biggest
Tamil
film
industry
romances
of
the
late
70's
between
Kamal
Hassan
and
late
actress
Srividya.
Talking
about
the
issue
at
a
'meet
the
press'
programme
in
Kozhikode,
which
was
attended
by
actors
Samvritha
Sunil,
Augustine
and
producer
Subair,
director
Ranjith
denied
the
romours
and
said
that
Thirakkatha
is
not
a
story
about
the
late
actress
Srividya,
perhaps
we
can
find
some
similarity
with
her
life
and
ailment
in
the
film.
"Filmmaking
is
a
business;
at
the
same
time,
I
reserve
my
freedom.
The
content
of
the
film
Thirakkatha
is
about
the
undercurrents
of
film
industry
itself.
But
it
is
not
a
story
about
Srividya.
She
hesitated
to
see
or
to
talk
to
anyone
in
her
last
days,
though
she
suffered
a
lot
with
her
ailment," said
Ranjith,
who
knew
Srividya
very
closely.
Notably,
the
promotional
posters
of
Thirakkatha
feature
Srividya's
photo
along
with
Padmarajan
and
Bharathan,
two
of
the
greatest
directors
of
70's
and
early
80's.
The
buzz
is
that
Ranjith
had
access
to
Srividya's
personal
diaries.
Srividya,
one
of
the
finest
actresses
in
South,
was
known
as
the
'tragedy
queen'
in
her
personal
life.
She
acted
in
over
150
films
in
Tamil
and
Malayalam
before
this
lonely
lady
succumbed
to
cancer
in
2006
in
Thiruvananthapuram.
Meanwhile,
Thirakkatha
has
taken
a
decent
opening
all
over
Kerala
and
also
earned
applause
as
one
of
the
best
recent
Malayalam
films.
Priyamani
plays
Malavika,
an
actress
modeled
on
Srividya
in
the
film,
while
Prithviraj
plays
a
young
director
Akbar
Ahmed,
a
new
age
director
who
plans
to
write
a
script
about
the
romance
between
Malavika
and
another
superstar
and
her
subsequent
disappearance.