 While studying in the Film and Television Institute of India , Pune , Gopalakrishnan was influenced by the New Wave movement of global cinema and formed a film society in Kerala , named " Chitralekha Film Cooperative " , with his classmates in 1965 . Gopalakrishnan had initially submitted a romantic script <unk> to the Film Finance Corporation ( now National Film Development Corporation of India or <unk> ) which they declined to finance . Later , he submitted the script for Swayamvaram , which Film Finance Corporation accepted and approved the loan of a ₹ 150 @,@ 000 ( US $ 2 @,@ 200 ) . However , it took seven years for him to get the film rolling , after he passed out of the Film and Television Institute of India . Gopalakrishnan co @-@ scripted the film with writer @-@ director K. P. Kumaran . The film was produced by Chitralekha Film Co @-@ operative , Kerala 's first film co @-@ operative society for film production , with Swayamvaram being their first feature film production . The film 's total budget was ₹ 250 @,@ 000 ( US $ 3 @,@ 700 ) and Gopalakrishnan used the money he had collected from his documentary productions . Initially , Chitralekha Film Co @-@ operative , the producer of the film had trouble distributing the film , so they decided to do it by themselves . 
