A small bedroom inside a bungalow at Pariyaram near Chalakudy, Thrissur, is chock-a-block with crew members and equipment. It's the day's location for ‘Nidra,' an adaptation of legendary filmmaker Bharathan's 1981 film, by his son Siddharth Bharathan. Siddharth plays the lead in the movie along with Rima Kallingal and Jishnu Raghavan.
“‘Nidra' is a turbulent love story of a man who is tethering on the brink of insanity. The eccentric but intelligent Raju [Siddharth] is from a wealthy household. Aswathy [Rima] marries him and tries to help him come to terms with his illness and his circumstances. Viswan [Jishnu] is his brother but the siblings don't quite get along with each other, ” says Siddharth.
He adds: “It is for the viewers to decide how different my version is from my father's. The story, I feel, is still relevant.”
Siddharth says that it is not easy to play the lead, while making his debut film.
Rima believes her character is very different from the ones that she has enacted till now. “My characters in my movies knew what they were doing in life. In ‘Nidra,' however, I play a newlywed who is not bold. Eventually, she accepts her husband's mood swings and becomes his pillar of support. Almost single-handedly she fights to bring him back to normalcy. ‘Nidra' is an intense love story,” she says.
Contemporary take
Has she watched the original version, in which the role was played by Shanthi Krishna? “No, I haven't seen the original. However, I think my character is not really like what it was in the earlier film. This story has been placed against today's world and we are not doing a frame-to-frame adaptation of the original,” says Rima.
Sarayu, who plays Jishnu's wife in the film, is busy playing 'dumb charades' with the unit members during the break. Jishnu, who made his debut with Siddharth in Kamal's 'Nammal' was active in films for a while before turning his attention to business. He says he plans to concentrate on movies from now on. “When I took the hiatus from movies, I was planning for a brief break, but it stretched over to a couple of years. The interval has helped me make up my mind and realise that I want to make a career as an actor,” he says.
‘Nidra' is being produced by Lucsam Creations. Sameer C. Thahir is the cinematographer. Lyrics by Rafeeq Ahmed have been composed by Jassie Gift. Still photographer is Roshan.
