'A lifelong dream that remained unfulfilled'; T. Padmanabhan remembers Shaji N. Karun 

Renowned writer T. Padmanabhan has shared a deeply emotional tribute to acclaimed filmmaker and cinematographer Shaji N. Karun, who passed away on Monday. Reflecting on their decades-long bond, Padmanabhan recalled how the director had harboured a lifelong dream of adapting his celebrated story 'Kadal' into a film — a dream that fate never allowed to materialise.

Speaking to reporters, Padmanabhan said that he had tried to contact Shaji the day after the latter received the prestigious J.C. Daniel Award. However, Shaji's health had deteriorated to the point where he could not even answer the call. "Our friendship cannot be captured in words," Padmanabhan said, recounting how he would often visit Shaji’s home on Udarasiromani Road in Vazhuthacaud during trips to Thiruvananthapuram, where they would spend hours talking and walking together.

According to Padmanabhan, Shaji had once discussed the Kadal project with actress Jaya Bachchan, who had expressed strong interest in portraying the central character of the mother. "Amitabh Bachchan's production company had even agreed to back the film. In a subsequent interview with an English publication, Jaya Bachchan remarked that when she looked in the mirror, she could see the mother from Kadal reflected back at her. Unfortunately, the collapse of Amitabh Bachchan’s company brought the project to an abrupt halt. Though Jaya later offered to produce the film independently, Shaji declined," Padmanabhan said.

"Later, an actress who had acted in one of Shaji’s films approached him and said she would produce the film if she were given the role of the mother. Shaji insisted that the writer should be given a respectable remuneration. She agreed and came to meet me at my house in Kannur, where she gave me an advance of one lakh rupees. However, that project also did not materialise. Later, a team from Kolkata offered me double the remuneration and sought my permission. But the actress who had initially given the advance did not agree to release the rights.

It was when I arrived in Thiruvananthapuram yesterday to accept the Kaattal Literary Award, organised in connection with the Kaattal Book Festival, that I received the sorrowful news. The news of Shaji's demise is heartbreaking," Padmanabhan said.