Scriptwriters Daniell Sayooj Nair and KS Aravind on penning Kurup

Kurup, the first major release in theatres after the reopening has won the hearts of Malayalis. TNIE speaks to the scriptwriters who gave life to this mega project
A still from Kurup featuring Dulquer Salman
A still from Kurup featuring Dulquer Salman

KOCHI: The theatre phenomenon Kurup has been receiving rave responses since its release last week. In this sprawling mega-hit, the fictional life of India’s famous fugitive Sukumara Kurup is written on the silver screen by the debut writers Daniell Sayooj Nair and KS Aravind. They gave life to the story conceived by Jithin K Jose.

Away from rush and roar, Daniell and Aravind are enjoying their life at their respective jobs. They say Kurup happened organically due to their long-term friendship with director Srinath. Daniell says it was a challenging as well as an interesting journey for the team. “Of course to collect the facts about him was challenging as we had to double-check the authenticity of every information. Kurup’s life is like the basement of a house. And we built the other parts on top of it. We took more than three years for research before starting the script,” says Daniell.

The duo travelled extensively and met various people who lived during the period to collect as much information as possible about the incident and following investigation. “We wanted some authenticity while featuring his life during the Air Force training days in Chennai and Mumbai. We also wanted to accurately recreate the lifestyle of that era. We met many veteran officers and other officials who worked there in that time, including Wing Commander Chacko, who wholeheartedly helped us,” adds Daniell.

Balancing real-life incidents with fictional plots was a great challenge for the duo. “Giving justification to the characters and their roles while balancing the real and the fiction was hard. The research also wasn’t a happy period for us. Meeting the affected family members was hard. We tried not to offend them with our queries,” says Daniell.

Co-writer Aravind, who has done in-depth research about the real incidents used to be a journalist with TNIE. Being a journalist with the crime beat, Aravind was invested in the case. He was welcomed to the project due to his research skills by his friend Srinath. According to him, the film is not a glorification of Kurup, the criminal. “All characters are equally important to weave the story of Kurup. Srinath started working on the project in 2012 and we joined him in 2016. It took us four to five years to complete the final script. It was an organic process as Srinath also accompanied us in the writing process,” says Aravind.

Daniell says his favourite character in the movie is police officer Krishnadas. “The role could have been portrayed in a loud way. But Indrajith surprises with his skill of controlled acting, which I have seen only in veteran actors like Bharath Gopi and Nawazuddin Siddiqui,” he says. 

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