John Paul: The journey from banker to scriptwriter

John Paul’s introduction to literature and his early days as a writer were as interesting as the stories he penned for the big screen. In fact, he began writing actively only after the release of his first movie Chamaram, directed by legendary filmmaker Bharathan. Prior to that, he occasionally published short stories in various periodicals.

Palakkad, where his tryst with reading began

It was John’s reading habit that gave birth to the writer in him. John’s father, Puthussery P V Poulose, was a teacher who was transferred to Chittur in Palakkad from Ernakulam when young John was a Class 4 student. Poulose took only John with him to Chittur, while his other siblings remained in Ernakulam.

The school hours in Chittur were from 7.30 am to 11 am and John had nothing to do during the rest of the day. He used to spend all that free time playing in the large compound of his house. But, John’s father felt that the youngster was wasting his time and took him to a nearby library.

John apparently finished reading all the books in the small library within a few days. However, Poulose was disappointed as all those books were detective novels.

So, his father bought a copy of M T Vasudevan Nair’s noted work ‘Naalukettu’ and presented it to John with the hope of changing his son’s reading preferences. John loved ‘Naalukettu’ and by the time Poulose was transferred back to Ernakulam, the youngster had become an avid reader.

Idea for Chamaram was born under a tree

John completed his BA (Economics) and MA from Maharaja’s College in Ernakulam, where he always wanted to study. Immediately after completing his MA, John got a job at Canara Bank.

Even after joining Canara Bank, John used to visit Maharaja’s regularly to meet with a group of friends, who would gather under a grand old tree on the campus that was fondly called ‘Muthassimaram’. The group comprised legends like poet P Kunhiraman Nair, sculptor Kanayi Kunhiraman and filmmakers G Aravindan and Bharathan. John had become very close with this group.

During one such get-together, Bharathan expressed his wish to make a campus film. John then narrated a couple of stories to Bharathan, who liked them all. The auteur asked John to write a script, which would later become Chamaram, his first superhit as scriptwriter.

Chamaram wasn't John's first film story, or the second

John's friend M S Ravi had compelled him to write a script for a movie titled 'Kudiyattam'. However, this was during the Emergency era and the producer of the movie was in jail. Hence, the project had to be abandoned.

John’s second story for a movie was directed by then blockbuster filmmaker I V Sasi. John provided the story thread for Sasi's Njan Njan Maathram. The concept was then transformed into a complete script by renowned writer Thoppil Bhasi. After some suggestions in the screenplay, which were made by John, the movie opened to a great reception and was a hit.

After Chamaram, John collaborated with leading directors such as Mohan, K S Sethumadhavan and Jaicee.

He shared great camaraderie with revolutionary filmmakers Bharathan, Aravindan, Padmarajan, K G George, and even legendary actors Nedumudi Venu and Bharat Gopi.

When he became too busy with scriptwriting, John quit his job at Canara, a decision which involved a lot of drama.

11 years of Canara Bank

After joining Canara Bank in 1972, John wrote short stories for magazines. But bank rules stated that he had to seek permission from higher authorities before doing so and deposit a third of his earnings from writing with the bank. In the beginning, John had no problems agreeing to these rules.

However, when he turned to scriptwriting, people started coming to the bank to meet John, who by now had been regularly going on leave to meet story deadlines. Once, John even availed medical leave citing a slipped disc to complete a movie script!

The incident that ended John's banking career

An interesting incident during his time at Canara forced John to resign from the bank.

During those days, John regularly travelled by flight from Kochi to Madras for movie work. On these trips, he occasionally met Ratnakar, then chairman and managing director of Canara Bank and a native of Mangalore.

Though John spoke to Ratnakar several times, he did not reveal that he was an employee of the bank. He instead introduced himself as a scriptwriter.

Once, Ratnakar made an official visit to the Banerjee Road branch of Canara Bank in Ernakulam. Learning about the chairman’s arrival, John took godown duty that day to avoid meeting him.

However, when he later returned to his seat at the branch, a letter was waiting for John from the chairman, which read: “Meet me at my room at Bharat Hotel.”

John went to the hotel and Ratnakar told him: “I always knew that you worked at our Banerjee Road branch. But, I did not mention it during our plane trips to avoid disturbing your peace.”

Reaching home that day, John felt guilty over his conduct and decided to quit his bank job. The bank authorities urged him to continue, but John was firm in his decision and left Canara Bank in 1983.