Arike (So Close) is a 2012 Indian Malayalam romantic comedy film by Shyamaprasad, starring Dileep, Samvrutha Sunil and Mamta Mohandas. The film, based on a Bengali short story by Sunil Gangopadhyay, was produced under the banner of Picture Perfect and has a script by Shyamaprasad, cinematography by Alagappan, editing by Vinod Sukumaran and music by Ouseppachan.
The film, a romantic comedy, is about the shades of love that vary in a relationship woven around three individuals.
Plot
The film tells the story of Shanthanu, a researcher in linguistics, and his two friends, Kalpana and Anuradha. Anuradha is the sensitive type who has gone through certain bitter experiences in her teenage years, when her cousin Balu approached her with love, which she later realised was just his lust for her. Kalpana is slightly capricious and loves being in love. Anuradha wants to play Cupid and bring Shanthanu and Kalpana together; she knows that they care a lot for each other, but for some reason or other are hesitant to take the next step.
Kalpana's parents are against her marrying Shanthanu and they try to bring proposals from their own (Brahmin) community. At one point Kalpana's aunt tricks her into meeting a guy, Sanjay, whom they hope Kalpana will like and marry. While they travel with Sanjay in his car, they meet with an accident, which causes some scars on Kalpana's face and gave her a disfigured toe. After the accident Kalpana backs out from the relationship with Shanthanu and gives in to her parents' wishes to marry Sanjay. Anuradha feels very bad for Shanthanu and tries to console him. It is then that Shanthanu realizes that Kalpana had actually not loved him at all. Though his actual love was near him, so close, he failed to recognise it (Where the name of this film gets significance).
Cast
Production
Adaptation
Shyamaprasad has adapted several classics on celluloid so far. Arike is the latest in that list and is based on a Bengali short story by Sunil Gangopadhyay, whose novel was also the base for the director's Ore Kadal. Says the director, "I don’t think adapting stories from other languages is an issue at all, because human emotions are universal and can be told without linguistic barriers. I am fond of adapting literature, since writing a story is not my forte and I do not believe in concocting a story for the sake of filmmaking." He also adds that Basu Chatterjee, a Bollywood director who portrayed the middle-class in many films, proved to be his guiding force while making Arike.
Themes
Like all of Shyamaprasad's previous films, Arike too is about the quest for love. Talking about the theme of Arike, the director says, "There is an obsessive quest for love in each one of us. We have illusions and inhibitions about love, yet we have an irrepressible thirst for it. We all want to find happiness in love. But whether we get that happiness is the question which I want to delve through this film."
Compared to the dark themes he took up earlier, Arike'''s tone is relatively lighter. Shyamaprasad says, "In Ore Kadal, the subject had an shadow of gloom and depression, Ritu was about the aspirations and attitude of the young working population. Arike has a breezy feel, and the story is told in a lighthearted and realistic way. I have also taken efforts to avoid cliches such as rain, sea, train that are common motifs in romantic films."
Casting and filming
The film has only a handful of characters. Shyamaprasad wanted to use live sound recording and hence he chose actors who could emote dialogues perfectly while shooting itself. Shyamaprasad says he selected Dileep to play the protagonist because he feels the actor has the look and feel of the character. This is the first time Shyamaprasad has cast Dileep in a lead role, though the actor had earlier done a role in the director's 1998 film Kallu Kondoru Pennu. The film's production started in late November 2011. The director had given all the actors a copy of the script so that they could practice their parts well.