At the location of writer-director Jeethu Joseph’s Memories , inside the FACT premises at Eloor, Kochi, a couple of uniformed police officers are ready to enter an old, modest house. Prithviraj, who plays the hero, leads the investigation team as they start searching every nook and corner of the house. The shot ends with all of them looking at a particular point. The action is being taken using two cameras, simultaneously.
“I would call this story a family thriller with some elements of a mystery thrown in. Prithviraj plays an IPS officer named Sam Alex, who lives in his memories, some of which are pleasant and the others, haunting. To escape from those troubling memories, he hits the bottle. He is entrusted with the responsibility of investigating a case at a certain point,” says Jeethu.
Jeethu has earlier directed Detective, Mummy & Me and My Boss . The cast includes Meghna Raj, Miya, Nedumudi Venu, Vijayaraghavan, Madhupal, Vanitha, Rahul Madhav and Sreejith Ravi.
The unit waits for a shot in the dusk, which is meant to capture a close-up of the actor looking out of the window. Once it has been canned, everyone heaves a sigh of relief and proceeds to the next, which will have Prithviraj coming out of the house while speaking on his cell phone.
“The pain the character goes through attracted me to the script. He is disinterested in life,” says Prithviraj.
Recently, he did the roles of police officers in Mumbai Police and Aurangzeb as well. How does he make the cop roles look different from one another? “No two characters wearing a uniform will be alike,” comes the reply.
The proceedings go on till midnight and on the following day, the shooting begins at a plush bungalow near Marine Drive. This is Prithviraj’s home in the movie, and in the shot, he is talking to Vanitha, who is playing his mother. Rahul Madhav, who plays the role of his younger brother, is getting ready to face the camera, next.
“I can’t talk much about my character as there is some amount of suspense in the story. My character is arrogant due to his immaturity. He is also irresponsible,” says Rahul, who is sporting a clean-shaven look.
Memories , produced by P.K. Muralidharan and Shantha Murali under the banner of Anantha Vision, will hit the screens in August. Cinematographer is Sujith Vasudev and music director is Sejo John. Stills are by Abhilash Narayanan.
