Harikumar moved from his home in Thiruvananthapuram to Ernakulam two-and-a-half years ago. He found a flat in Kaloor, to stay near the parents of Edmund Thomas Clint, whose story had struck him so hard he wanted to research all about him and make a film. Harikumar, known for such films as Sukrutham and Udyanapalakan worked hard to know about Clint, the child prodigy who drew tens of thousands of beautiful paintings before passing away at the age of seven in 1983. “I got enough material to make about four films, but am making just one, two hours and 15 minutes long,” says Harikumar.
He has included as much of Clint’s paintings as he could, and on Thursday, there will be an exhibition of these in Kochi, where he will also announce the film, its cast and crew. The film will begin in the background of this exhibition in contemporary times before going back to the past to Clint’s story. “I have been touched by the story before but it was reading his biography written by his childhood friend Ammu Nair who lives in the US that brought me the idea of a film possibility.” None of the 8,000 odd children who came for the audition fit the bill, and Harikumar selected a child who appears in ad films. “I will announce all that on the 2nd.” For now, all he says is he is the director and Gokulam Gopalan, the producer of the film called Clint.
