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

Oru Poocha Paranja Katha (Life of Mottu) is the story of a cat called Mottu. The film is Mottu’s POV. “It is his story so he gets to tell it,” says the director, Arjun Ajith. Given that cats, unlike dogs, are notoriously difficult to train, Arjun has pulled off something of an entertaining miracle.

The short film starts with Mottu coming to his ‘master’s’ place as a kitten with two other kittens, Chotu, who dies not much later, 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 pans on how Mottu copes with heartbreak via the ‘traditional’ route of slipping into ‘alcoholism’ before finding himself. “It was not alcohol, just black tea,” Arjun clarifies.  

“I tried training the cats, but I wasn’t too successful. I then started recording footage over two phases, there is so much of it now: around 10 hours or so. I decided to keep it at a short and crisp 14  minutes. Initially I also thought of it as a mockumentary. There was a script, of course, for this short film,” says Arjun, who filmed the cats on an iphone during the pandemic. It was the work of two and a half years, “and during the making the kittens grew up.”   

The poster of his film
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The filming was not smooth because Mottu disappeared for six months. “We had no clue where he had disappeared to. With that filming paused for the duration. 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 friends are. One of the calls that he got was from director Lijo Jose Pellissery, who was curious about how Arjun had managed to film the cats.

Arjun Ajith
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The comic effect is achieved, without question, by actor Sarat Sabha who has dubbed for Mottu. Sarat’s voice, the dialogue delivery, elevates the film bringing in humour to the action. “Several people, including some actors dubbed for the role. But somehow it wasn’t coming together. However, when Sarat offered to give it a shot I thought, why not? He spent one day on it and it came out well.”  

The film has travelled to a few film festivals such as Navarang National Film Awards where it won a few awards, Mumba Film Festival (special jury award and best concept), and the Pan Asian Film Festival. Other short films directed by Arjun are Chithra, Maruthu, Njaan Ponmutta Edunna Poovan Kozhi, and Aanathra, which is under production. He has also directed the Malayalam film Marathon apart from a documentary film Perumbavoorinte Thanima.

Oru Poocha Paranja Katha is streaming on YouTube