Struggles behind M-Town's patriotic films

Be it Keerthi Chakra, where Mohanlal's character Major Mahadevan puts his life on the line for his country or The King, where Collector Joseph Alex played by Mammootty stands up for freedom fighters, Mollywood has had a fair share of films that stir patriotic fervour among the audience.
And making these movies has been no cakewalk, reveal the directors, having had to push boundaries often during the process.When Major Ravi filmed Kurukshetra right under the nose of the Pakistani artillery in Kargil and Rajiv Anchal captured Kashmeeram in sensitive locations sans military permission, it was to all done to keep it as authentic as possible. And that's precisely the reason why, come Independence Day and we huddle up in front of the TV to catch these movies in all their pomp and glory.
Kochi Times reveals what went behind the making of these iconic films:
Keerthi Chakra (2006) DIRECTED BY Major Ravi
'We were walking targets for Kashmir militants'
It was after a gap of 16 years that a film was shot in Kashmir. Curfews and militant attacks were the norm but Mohanlal and I were determined that we wanted to shoot Keerthi Chakra in Kashmir, because it showed the atrocities of militants. There were grenade blasts in 13 sites before and soon after we arrived at the location. Mohanlal was given a bullet-proof vehicle and also had guards with him all the time. But each day came with a challenge. On the final day of our shoot, a militant-run daily carried a news item about our team shooting in Kashmir. It was basically an alert for their troupes to attack us, if possible. I was informed that we had to wind up the shoot as soon as possible because the longer we stayed, the more vulnerable we were for the militants who were planning a bomb attack. Everyone on our set was tense that day. I asked Mohanlal if he was worried. But he smiled and said, 'We are all together, why would I be worried?' Being a superstar, he didn't have to risk his life nor did the crew members, who were paid just Rs 600 a day. But they did, and I salute them. Keerthi Chakra owes its success to them.
Kaalapani (1996) DIRECTED BY Priyadarshan
'The ship carrying our horses and cars caught fire'
The major struggle for us was to convincingly recreate the 1910 era for the movie. We had to get every detail right ' from the material of the costumes to even the hair and moustache styles of the artistes. We couldn't shoot in what remained of the original 'Kaalapani' in Port Blair. The pre-independence prison was shaped like a star and had six wings, of which four had collapsed by the 70s. So, we had to erect a massive set in Chennai mirroring the original. Miniature models were used to show the bird's eye view of the facility. For the outdoor shoot, we had to transport two horses and a few vintage cars to Andaman, as the islands had none. We transported them by ship, which caught fire, resulting in the loss of half the properties on board. We were shattered but thankfully, the horses were safe. We gave them away to the Andaman government later because the islands have had none since India achieved independence. As for the cars, we had to return and make models from scratch. There's a scene in which we show a taxi stand in Calcutta. All the cars shown are immobile models made by Sabu Cyril.
Kashmeeram (1994) Scriptwriter A K Sajan
'We blew up a petrol bomb near the PM's residence'
We faced hurdles one after the other from the first week of the making of the film. Our stuntman Gun Rajendran brought in a box containing the dummy AK47 guns which were supposed to be used by the cast, to New Delhi by train. Once he reached the Delhi station, Rajendran somehow thought it was good idea to take a count of the number of guns before he brought it to the location. He opened the box right there on the railway platform and started laying the guns on the floor. The security personnel obviously assumed Rajendran was some kind of a terrorist mastermind and knocked him out before he could put the third gun down. Finally we had to call minister E Ahamed, who bailed us out after the cops were convinced that they were not real guns. A week later, we were shooting a few kilometres from Prime Minister Narasimha Rao's house when someone from our crew accidently blasted a petrol bomb. In a second, a battalion of soldiers routed us. We had to seek the help of pretty much all the Malayali ministers in Delhi for the security to allow us to finish shooting the movie.
Nair Saab (1989) DIRECTED BY JOSHIY
'The Censor Board refused to clear the movie'
Mammootty and I had done the film New Delhi in 1987 and that gave the producers the confidence to fund a project to be shot in Kashmir. But we shot the film without the permission of the armed forces in sensitive areas and so got into trouble with the Censor Board for that. The regional board refused to censor the film till we secured a no objection certificate from the Indian Army. There weren't any DVDs or VCDs then; so we played the movie on a screen and then recorded that on a video cassette. Mammootty, Joy Thomas, Liberty Basheer and I then took the cassette to New Delhi to show it to T N Seshan, who was the defence secretary at that time. He watched the movie and told us that he liked it and was keeping the cassette. He immediately called up the Censor Board and asked them to clear the film. And that's how we were able to release the film in time.