Oppam
2016 · India
- Director
- Priyadarshan
- Screenplay
- Priyadarshan
- Producer
- Antony Perumbavoor
- Cinematography
- N. K. Ekambaram
- Production company
- Aashirvad Cinemas
Cast
What it is about
Jayaraman is a blind lift operator and caretaker living in Kochi. Although he cannot see, his hearing, sense of smell and touch are unusually sharp, and he is trained in kalaripayattu. He looks after Krishnamoorthy, a retired Supreme Court chief justice who lives in the same apartment complex and is haunted by his past. After an incident in the building, the former judge is found dead and a large sum of money vanishes, making Jayaraman the prime suspect. To clear his name, he must navigate the police investigation while protecting a young girl.
How it was made
Regular collaborators Priyadarshan and Mohanlal planned a project for 2015 that was postponed before shooting began. Wanting to move away from comedy, they built the film around a short story by Govind Vijayan, which Mohanlal found, and Priyadarshan wrote the screenplay. Principal photography ran from March to June 2016 in Kochi, Ooty, Vagamon, Thiruvananthapuram and Idukki. Antony Perumbavoor produced the film through Aashirvad Cinemas.
Reception and legacy
It opened in India on 8 September 2016 to positive reviews, with praise for Mohanlal's performance and the script. It was a box office success, earning over 52 crore worldwide, and became the third-highest-grossing Malayalam film of all time. At the Filmfare Awards South it received five nominations and won two prizes. It was later remade in Kannada as Kavacha and in Hindi as Haiwaan.
Trivia
A project from Mohanlal
Mohanlal found the original short story and sent it to Priyadarshan. The director pointed out several logical flaws in it, so Mohanlal proposed reworking it into a screenplay.
A role written for its star
Priyadarshan wrote the character of Jayaraman with Mohanlal in mind, after years of collaborating on comedies together.
More films by Priyadarshan
Bhool Bhulaiyaa
Garam Masala
Chup Chup Ke
Billu Barber
Kyon KiOriginal Cinematopedia text based on Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.