Sabu Cyril remembers production design pursuits for Pavithram, Kaalapani

Thiruvananthapuram: I wasn’t eager to work in movies while studying in art school. I was passionate about doing advertisements, says noted production designer Sabu Cyril while attending the session “Kalathinte Shilpi” moderated by veteran journalist NP Surendran at Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters on Sunday.

“I started as a mechanical engineering student before shifting to arts. I wasn’t planning to work in the film industry or like it. However, director Bhadran requested me to help him construct props for his movie ‘Iyer the Great’. Later, Bharathan called me to construct a shark for the film ‘Amaram’.  I ended up becoming its art director,” he said.

Sabu revealed that during his schooltimes he used to help his uncle and noted Malayalam director A Vincent in his 1984 Malayalam movie Krishna Parunthu while studying in school.

The production designer of Bahubali, RRR and many other magnum opus movies explained that a person wishing to flourish in the field should have an opportunity to showcase their talent. He believes that he was fortunate enough to make it to the top.

Sabu Cyril also shared some memorable moments from his career as an art director in Malayalam.

“While shooting Pavithram, we converted a wedding hall into a hospital. Mohanlal later told me that he felt the movie was filmed in a real hospital. In the case of Kaalapani, we reused the set made for another Hindi movie,” he said.

He also pointed out that doing period films is very hard to the amount of research and time required to construct larger-than-life structures. “When Kaalapani was filmed, we had to rely on libraries and hours of research to determine the era, costumes used, and other details. It was not the time of the internet. So it was quite a challenge,” he added.