NEW DELHI:
The world premiere of magnum opus period film ‘Veeram’, directed by 6 National Award winning Director Shree Jayaraj, held at Siri Fort.
This legendary drama screened on August 2, as the opening film for the BRICS Film Festival at Audi1 o
f the Siri Fort Auditorium. Jayaraj (Director), Kunal Kapoor (Actor), Chandramohan D Pillai (P
roducer) and Divinaa Thackur (Actress) attended the screening of the film.
Set in the 13th century Kerala, the film resuscitates the real life character made famous through folklore literature and songs. Sharing broad similarities with the rise and fall of Macbeth, Veeram spans the journey of Chandu (Kunal), a Kalaripayattu warrior who meets a tragic end as an outcome of his betrayal.
Director of the film, Jayaraj Rajasekharan Nair said,” I am happy and proud for this opportunity which I got ,presenting the first screening of my latest movie Veeram, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth especially in this quadricentennial of the great writer. BRICS has honored our work by choosing Veeram to be world premiered as their opening film.”
Keeping the tone and the content of the period drama in mind, Jayaraj decided to give his film a powerful Hollywood punch. For the very first time, the makers have brought on board 4 renowned Hollywood technicians to helm the action, make up, music and coloring facets of the film. Action Choreographer Allan Poppleton (of 300, Hunger Games, Avatar, Lord of 
the Rings fame), Oscar and two times Emmy award winning makeup artist Trefor Proud have been brought on board. Music to the movie is produced by Jeff Rona (of Phantom, Traffic and Prince of Egypt fame) and the colorist on the film is Jeff Olm (of Monsters vs. Aliens, How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda 2, Avengers, Titanic, Spiderman fame).
The film will showcase technology and interesting story telling, portraying India’s heritage and grandeur. This is made possible by the collaborative efforts of an International and Indian team of technicians including S.Kumar (DOP), under the able stewardship of the master Director of International fame, Mr. Jayaraj. Makers of the film believe in good cinema and giving due opportunity to artists who are living abroad. Veeram has chosen the cast across India and offered opportunity to actors like Arun from Doha Qatar, Goban Mavelikara, Vinod, Arun Kumar and Satish from Dubai, UAE.
Veeram will be releasing pan India and has been shot in three different languages Hindi, English and Malayalam, along with the plans to further dub in Tamil and Telugu. Furthermore, the movie has been selected as the opening film at BRICS film festival at New Delhi on September 2, 2016. The expected audience to witness this world premiere will comprise of members of the film, critics, jury, delegates and public.
More about the film:
It is about the legendary warriors of Malabar called ‘Chekavars’, who often are engaged for combat by noble men in the feudal system. A Chekavar is declared victorious in the duel when he kills or defeats his opponent. The combat type for this duel is Kalaripayattu, a forerunner to the Chinese Martial Art form that originated in Kerala in 16th Century BC. The story, though strikingly similar to Macbeth, happens in the medieval times much before Shakespeare was even born.
Furthermore, the story, just like Macbeth, revolves around the protagonist‘s desire to achieve, wherein the path is strewn with love, lust, treachery and deceit.
