According to mythology, urumi is a coiled sword from Kerala, which when wielded by an expert leaps out with a fearsome hiss and slashes the enemy while winding around him like a steel serpent. In the movie Urumi, director and cinematographer Santosh Sivan has depicted the powers of this ancient myth and tried to challenge the Western historical notions with amazing special effects.
“The Portugese trader Vasco Da Gama is hailed by Westerners as the ‘discoverer’ of India. But he was no discoverer, he was an invader, the first of the colonialists who plundered the country. It is ridiculous to say that Vasco da Gama discovered India,” says the ace filmmaker.
“We were always here. There was no need to discover us,” he adds. The movie revolves around the tale of Kelu (played by Prithviraj), a 16th century warrior of northern Kerala. Appalled by the violence and oppression unleashed by Gama in his land, Kelu forges an urumi and starts a revolt.
“We have set the film on a fictional platform but in a historical backdrop,” says Shankar Ramakrishnan, who penned the script after much research. “Historians portray the arrival of the Portugese from the Western point of view. We are trying to show how people who lived here saw it. It is literally the story of a boy who wanted to kill Gama.”
Prithviraj, who has a co-produced the movie, says he was fascinated by the theme as soon as Sivan brought up the idea on the sets of Mani Ratnam’s Raavanan. “It was the most challenging role of my career,” he says. “I hurt myself with the urumi several times while shooting. I started using it after three days while Kalaripayattu masters give it to students only after years.”
Genelia D’Souza, who plays a Muslim princess, had a tough time coping, but enjoyed the hard work. “The director did not even allow me to smile all through the shoot so that I could get under the skin of the character,” she says.
