Back in the 1980s, Malayali filmmaker John Abraham and his Odessa Collective team went around villages in Kerala asking for money to make a ‘people’s film’. They entertained villagers with music, street plays and skits. In return, thousands of people chipped in small sums of money, bought food for John and his team and took care of their stay.

The result was the 1986 cult film Amma Ariyaan . The film broke all conventions of film-making, distribution and exhibition. Made in the pre-internet era, it was the first crowd-funded South Indian movie.

Today, a group of creative people are in the process of making the first crowd-funded Malayalam movie with online contributions. “ Oraalpokkam has no producer in the conventional sense,” Sanalkumar Sasidharan, who directs the film, told Business Line . “The money will come from people who are fascinated with our project and who trust us.” Oraalpokkam (meaning ‘as tall as a man’ in Malayalam; but Sanalkumar translates it as ‘six-feet high’) will be a 90-minute movie that will trace the travels and travails — internal and external — of one partner after a couple splits up.

Kazhcha Film Forum has tied up with Springr ( www.springr.me ), which is a ‘crowd-funding platform and community-building tool for creative projects and ideas’ for sourcing funds for the film. Springr promises to help creative people ‘access funding beyond official channels by talking directly to consumers, fans, peers and like-minded strangers.’ Those fascinated with the film idea can go to the Springr website and make a funding commitment. Those paying more than Rs 25,000 will have a unique way of redeeming their investment — they will get the internet rights of the film. They can screen the film and keep a half of the proceeds for themselves.

“In terms of funding, ours is a guerilla attempt,” Sanalkumar says. “ Oraalpokkam will be a low-budget movie, with just Rs 35 lakh as the cost,” he said. “The creative people associated with the film will not take fees,” he said.

Crowd-funding (Wikipedia defines it as the collective effort of individuals who network and pool their money, usually via internet, to support efforts initiated by other people or organisations) of movie-making is gradually picking up in India. Until recently, it confined itself to documentaries, mainly for public interest. Many environmental documentaries have been made with the help of this platform. However, because of their high cost and complex nature, feature films could not attract crowd-funds.

Chennai-based poet-activist Meena Kandasamy will don the female lead role in Oraalpokkam while actor and filmmaker Prakash Bare will be the male lead.

>basheer.kpm@thehindu.co.in

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