Malayalam short film ‘Oru Poocha Paranja Katha’ tells the story from a cat’s perspective

oru poocha paranja katha (Life of Mottu) is the story of a cat named Mottu. The film is Mottu’s POV. “It’s their story so they have to tell it,” says director Arjun Ajith. Given that cats, unlike dogs, are extremely difficult to train, Arjun has pulled off an entertaining miracle.

The short film begins with Mottu coming to his ‘owner’s’ house as a kitten along with two other kittens, Chotu, who dies after some time, and Chikku. As the two cats grow up together, Mottu develops a crush on Chikku who is ‘in love’ with another cat in the neighbourhood. The film is based on how Mottu copes with heartbreak through the ‘traditional’ route of going into alcoholism before discovering himself. “It was not alcohol, just black tea,” Arjun clarified.

“I tried to train the cats, but I was not very successful. Then I started recording the footage in two stages, now there is a lot of it: about 10 hours or so. I decided to keep it short and 14 minutes long. Initially I even thought of it as a fake film. Of course, there was a script for this short film,” says Arjun, who filmed the cats on an iPhone during the pandemic. It was a two-and-a-half year job, “and the kittens grew up during the making.”

Poster of his film. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Filming was not smooth as Mottu disappeared for six months. “We had no clue where he had disappeared to. Filming was halted for that period. When we found him he was emaciated and limping; he had to be nursed back to health. However, we filmed him in that condition – as the heartbroken Mottu.” Since Arjun has moved out of the house he was living in at the time, he does not know where Mottu and his friends are. One of the calls he received was from director Lijo Jose Pellissery, who was curious as to how Arjun managed to film cats.

Arjun Ajit Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The comic effect has, without question, been achieved by actor Sharat Sabha, who has dubbed for Mottu. Sharat’s voice, dialogue delivery and humor in the action elevate the film. “Many people, including a few actors, had dubbed for the role. But for some reason it wasn’t working out. However, when Sharat offered to give it a shot I thought, why not? He spent a day on it and it came out well.”

The film has traveled to some film festivals like Navrang National Film Awards where it won some awards, Moomba Film Festival (Special Jury Award and Best Concept), and Pan Asian Film Festival. Other short films directed by Arjun are figure, Maruthu, Njan Ponmutta Edunna Poovan KozhiAnd orphanWhich is under production. He has also directed the Malayalam film marathon Apart from a documentary film perumbavorinte thanima,

Oru Poocha Paranja Katha is streaming on YouTube