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InterviewFilmmaker Anurag Kashyap is one of the producers of Paka, inspired by tales of the long-lasting feuds between families that migrated from central Kerala to Wayanad over the years. The film released on SonyLIV on July 7.Cris'Paachi' in PakaFrom an inside room of the house, a tired old voice would emerge as soon as someone steps in. Loud reproaches, reprimands, barely muffled curses come from the bed in the corner, where lay an old woman whose face you never see. Nithin Lukose got his grandmother to play the faceless woman, hidden by the camera that never looks at her. He was directing his first film, Paka, a feature that narrated incidents he grew up hearing in his hometown, Wayanad, of old family feuds and never-ending revenges. “Velyamachi (grandmother) would tell us these tales, of how families that migrated from central Kerala to Wayanad had these long lasting feuds, killing and drowning one another,...

Paka (“River of Blood”) dir. Nithin Lukose, 2021

A man is pulled from the Johnson River in Kerala’s Wayanad district, in Kerala’s mountainous Western Ghat region. At night, a group of young men sit around a fire, drinking, and pondering how the dead man got into the river. Murder, suggests one, but Johnny (Basil Paulose) says that couldn’t be the case, because the only way it would be murder would be if the man were part of the two local families – Johnny’s included – who, as we discover, have been part of a deeply rooted, long-standing feud. Think Montagues and Capulets, only set in Wayanad.

There is a ripple of tension in this scene, and in Johnny, who is planning to marry Anna (Vinitha Koshy), a young woman from the opposite family in the generations-long feud. Johnny and Anna publish their marriage banns – the formal announcement of an intention to marry,...

Formerly a sound designer whose credits include “Thithi”, winner of the Golden Leopard award at the Locarno International Film Festival, Nithin Lukose has now turned director with an impressive debut largely based on Keralite folklore passed down to him by his grandmother, which was produced by Anurag Kashyap.

Paka (River of Blood) is screening at Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles

“Paka” takes place in Kerala’s Wayanad hill country, a region which saw an influx of migrants from other parts of Kerala between the 1940s and 1970s — migrants who brought with them long-simmering grudges and tensions. In this region, Johnny and Anna, two youths from warring families, are about to get married. Expectedly, their marriage is kept under wraps, since Anna’s uncles are in no mood to bury the hatchet, while both of the patriarchs of the families, Johnny’s grandmother and Anna’s grandfather, are still intently set on revenge,...

On the basis of filmmakers like Lijo Jose Pelliserry, Salim Ahmed, Jeetu Joseph, Dileesh Pothan, Geethu Mohandas, and Rajiv Ravi, the state of Kerala (of which the official language is Malayalam) has produced by and large India’s best output over the last decade. If the premiere of his film Paka (River of Blood) is any hint, we may end up adding sound-designer-turned-filmmaker Nithin Lukose to that illustrious list. His first venture into directing and writing has plenty of the religious, historically rooted elements and intra-family discords Kerala’s cinema has often explored, especially in the rural areas of its state.

Paka begins with a superimposition explaining a generations-deep feud between two families who migrated to the region’s hinterlands. Said feud was borne from a dispute over a woman and has lasted for decades, ending up in the killing of several prominent members of either family and their disposal into the Johnson River.

In his feature debut, Indian director Nithin Lukose draws on tales of migration and generational bloodshed passed down to him by his grandmother. “Paka (River of Blood),” in which a star-crossed couple is threatened by a deep-seated family feud, resembles “Romeo and Juliet” on the surface, but its

In the rural Kerala wetlands of Wayanad, Johnny (Basil Paulose) and Anna (Vinitha Koshy) are all set to get married in secret, but their plan is thrown into disarray when Johnny’s uncle, Kocheppu (Jose Kizhakkan), is released from prison after a decade away. The history between Johnny and Anna’s family runs deep, and it runs red. Kocheppu is a key part of that history, and his return means it can no longer stay dormant. The film uses numerous, narratively appropriate radio broadcasts to set the stage for its saga, from cricket, to soccer, to news of the Indian army, but...

CinemaDirector Nithin Lukose is from Wayanad and says the story of the film is inspired by the tales he heard when growing up.Suresh NellikodeFacebook/Resul PookuttyWhen Nithin Lukose, an alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India, made up his mind finally to make a movie about the village he lives in with its rustic beauty and the mysteries it has hidden, he didn't have the faintest notion that it would get a renowned Bollywood filmmaker as its producer, and thereby make it to the Toronto International Film Festival- 2021. Nithin hails from a family in Ayilamoola, 8.5 km away from Mananthavady, Wayanad. His ancestors were settlers from Kaduthuruthy and Moolamattom of Central Kerala. The settlers had no option but to work very hard to prove their mettle. The farmers, who had been frequently and adversely impacted by human-animal conflict, infectious diseases like Malaria etc., had to stand up against...

Production

“The Masked Talent,” a new format from Korea’s Mbc, creators of global hit “The Masked Singer,” is currently in production.

Unlike the celebrity-driven “The Masked Singer” and spin-off “The Masked Dancer,” where the focus is on who is behind the mask, “The Masked Talent” is a non-celebrity masked audition format concentrating on singing skills and talents. Two episodes, to be broadcast on the Mbc channel during the Chuseok Korean Thanksgiving holidays, invites the audience to participate.

“The purpose of the show is to present the audience with the unique experience to become the masked hero and perform their showmanship,” said Park Jeong-Kyu, chief producer of “The Masked Singer” and “The Masked Talent.” “With prejudice and bias out of the way, the contestants will be judged solely by their genuine voice and talent.”

The show was co-developed by Mbc and France’s Herve Hubert, the production house for the French “Mask Singer,...