Filmmaker overjoyed

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: On World No Tobacco Day, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy announced the Government’s decision to take action against the sale of tobacco products in the vicinity of schools. The decision has brought joy to Kullathur Mithran, whose children’s movie on the theme was rejected by an award jury which said it did not contain any message. Mithran had directed ‘Kodithookimalayile Koottukar,’ the movie which told the story of a group of children who decides to fight against the merchants of their village who sell tobacco products, five years ago.Mithran is overjoyed by the Government’s decision to ban the sale of tobacco products near schools. "'Kodikuthimalayile Koottukar’ was the only children’s movie that came before the state award jury in 2006, but they didn’t consider my movie because they did not understand the message I was trying to convey. But now I am happy,” he said. “I feel that children constitute a large group among the film audience, and I want them to understand my messages than anyone, I prefer to do serious movies because commercial ingredients will destroy my messages. The movies I shot gave me only financial liabilities, but I will do more movies against the issues in the society” he added.His first movie ‘Varum Vaarthirikilla Unni’ was about the role played by money in the youth festivals.The backdrop of the movie ‘Kodikuthimalayile Koottukar’ is a village which has a small hill ‘Kodithookimala’ where an energetic group of children from the village meets every evening. One day, they decide to fight against the slow-killer ‘tobacco’ and start spreading awareness among villagers about the problems caused by the use of tobacco. In the last scenes, they organise a rally in which the tobacco vendors of the village tell them that they have decided to stop the sale of tobacco products and destroy the tobacco products they have stored in their shops. The movie also has a character who comes back from the US to her home town to learn Malayalam.