An experienced Malayalam film director, a Tamil movie, a Bangalore star, and most of the shooting done in New Zealand. That’s Serndhu Polama, a romantic travel film scheduled for release soon. With 39 films in Mollywood under his belt and having worked with most of the leading stars there, director Anil Kumar enters Kollywood with this film that stars Vinay Rai (of Unnale Unnale fame) and Madhurima.
“Tamil is not a difficult language for me, and Kollywood is certainly not an alien industry,” says Anil, “Compared to the Malayalam industry, I find the technicians a lot more professional here.” The makers of the film hope to release the songs by June and the film by the end of that month. Interestingly, a big portion of the movie has been shot in New Zealand.
Serndhu Polama , which also stars Thambi Ramiah in an important role, is a travel flick that sees the two lead characters embark on a journey that takes them from Auckland to South Island. “While there are a lot of flashback elements that reveal why the characters do what they do, there is suspense too in the shape of a crime that’s been committed. That is an integral part of the script as well,” he says.
And why did he choose New Zealand as locale? He replies matter-of-factly, “The film’s producer, Sasi Nambeesan, is a citizen of that country. But getting permission to shoot in locations there was still difficult — the authorities there are quite systematic and require paperwork at least two months in advance. It required a lot of planning but we managed to go through the 40-day shoot quite smoothly.”
And when he set eyes on the locations, all the effort and coordination was well worth it. “They were breathtakingly beautiful,” beams Anil, “As my script had a lot of romance, the locations matched well. I can confidently say that New Zealand is one of the most beautiful places on the globe.”
Serndhu Polama is almost complete except for a few scenes that will be shot in Chennai next week. “Dubbing is now underway,” says Kumar, “We are also planning to shoot the promo song soon.”
