Nivin Pauly is in a hurry. That is not surprising because the much-in-demand young star is juggling several roles in reel and real lives. Even in the midst of shooting for Shyamaprasad’s Hey Jude in Goa, he has to squeeze in time for promotions of his Onam release Njandukalude Naattil Oridavela (NNO) that has been produced by him as well.
Nivin is on a strong pitch in 2017 and if Sakhavu , his previous release, did not work for the critics, NNO is certainly winning a superlative response from the BO and the critics. In addition, he has a clutch of projects directed by top-notch directors and he is also making his debut in Hindi with Geethu Mohandas’ bi-lingual Moothon . But for now, Nivin is all gung ho about NNO.
As NNO, a heart-warming family flick directed by newbie Althaf Salim, successfully breaks the hackneyed template that had been made for Malayalam films dealing with the emperor of maladies, Nivin is winning brownie points for his knack in selecting themes and stories that click with the audiences as well. Inspired by novelist K. Chandramathi’s book Njandukalude Naattil Oridavela, which talks about her tryst with the big C, NNO is the pick of the Onam films.
“It is about how a family, even one that looks dysfunctional superficially, pulls together when one of them has to deal with a crisis,” says Nivin. He emphasises that it is not a sequel or a clone of the Jacobs in Vineeth Sreenivasan’s Jacobinte Swargarajyam that also narrated the travails of a family that manages to live and smile through a nightmare.
Nivin says what caught his attention was the down-to-earth characterisation of the characters in the film. “Each person has been sketched so realistically. I play Kurien Chacko, a laidback youngster without a firm direction in life. Lal and Shanti Krishna enact Sheela and Chacko, Kurien’s parents. Srinda and Ahana Krishnakumar as Mary and Sarah complete the Chacko family along with a moody grandpa. Viewers will find many traits in the characters that all of them can identify with. Althaf has kept it as realistic as possible: the characters, situations, dialogues and the emotional roller coaster each of the characters go through,” feels Nivin.
NNO brings together many of the youngsters in Premam , the Nivin-starrer that stormed the box office in 2015. Sharafudheen, Siju Wilson, Krishna Shankar and Althaf in a cameo are from the Premam team. While the bonhomie and real-life dialogues are reminiscent of Premam , thematically NNO’s is miles away from the rom-com. Althaf’s treatment of the story of NNO is refreshing and Nivin, even as producer, makes no efforts to hog the limelight. “Althaf had narrated the idea when we were filming Premam and we began working on it in 2016. It should have been released earlier but certain unforeseen circumstances forced us to postpone its delay,” explains the actor.
Coming up next is his Tamil release Richie , directed by Gautam Ramachandran, his first Tamil film that is not a bi-lingual.
Character-driven choices
The remake of Kannada hit Ulidavaru Kandanthe , Richie has the Premam hero going in for a makeover with the role of a complete badass, a rough and tough rowdy. Nivin agrees that he is trying not to get slotted into an image and says that like all actors he wants to do characters that are as different from each as possible.
Even as Richie releases soon, Nivin will be gearing up for the second schedule of the shooting of Geethu Mohandas’ Moothon , the first look of which created a buzz in tinsel town. Shot in Mumbai and Lakshadweep, Moothon has Nivin playing a character hailing from the tiny islands in the Arabian sea. To get into the shoes of the character Mullakoya, Nivin has been working with language coaches to get the right diction of the Malayalam spoken in the islands and also to speak the Mumbaiya Hindi in the film. “We had a kind of workshop and I worked with Sanjay Maurya to get the correct dialect in Hindi. It has been quite an experience to work with world-class technicians who were part of films like Life of Pi, ” says the actor.
In the meantime, he is finishing the shoot of Hey Jude , which also marks Trisha’s debut in Malayalam films. “It is my third film with Shyam sir, after English and Ivide . Most of the film is being shot in Goa and some portions of it in Kochi. He is one of my favourite directors and I am looking forward to the movie that is about relationships,” says Nivin.
So, what next? “More films but I am trying not to repeat myself. So I am looking at scripts and stories that offer something different that catches your attention.”
Let the good times roll!
