It's almost midnight but the day has just begun at the location of director Joshiy's ‘Run Baby Run' inside the VIP stand of Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium at Kaloor, Kochi. The scene being canned is of a crucial action sequence in the movie. The scene has a couple of tough-looking guys running, as the lead pair of Mohanlal and Amala Paul watch from a corner of the stands.
“We have been shooting for the movie at night this whole week. Right now we are shooting an action sequence that leads to the movie's climax. We'll be shifting to the office of a leading news channel next,” says Joshiy, as he watches the proceedings on a monitor.
In demand cameraman
Venu (Mohanlal) is one of the most sought after news cameraman in the business. He was working as a stringer for Reuters, Delhi, before shifting to Kochi. He is from the Film Institute but prefers shooting original visuals to manipulated ones for movies.
Renuka (Amala Paul), a senior news person at a leading Malayalam news channel, is a powerful and domineering mediaperson. The two are not on good terms. “In fact, the tension between the two leads to some humorous moments in the movie. They join hands to bring their startling discovery during a sting operation into the headlines,” says Sachi, the scenarist of the film. Sachin was part of the Sachi-Sethu duo who wrote films such as ‘Chocolate', ‘Robin Hood', and ‘Seniors'.
“We teamed up to get an entry into films. Now, we have decided to work independently. Of course, if we feel like coming together again for a project, we will do just that,” smiles Sachi.
The thread for the story is from an Iranian movie, he says. “It was an entirely different story. One of the lines from the movie kept haunting me. From that thread came a full fledged script. We had several titles in mind for the movie, ‘Venuvinoppam Renuka', being one of them before deciding on the title ‘Run Baby Run',” says Sachi.
Amala Paul, who has become one of the top heroines in Tamil and Telugu after the success of ‘Mynaa', returns to Mollywood after a gap. She had done small roles in ‘Neelathamara' and ‘Ithu Nammude Katha' before becoming a sensation in Kollywood.
“People still call me Mynaa, which is heartening, as the film really brought out the actor in me. I have always maintained that I don't want to do commercials films in Malayalam. I am doing it in Tamil and Telugu. I am a huge fan of Malayalam and want to do films in my mother tongue, which, I hope, will be milestones in my career,” she adds.
She adds: “Renuka, my character in this film, is bold. She doesn't mind going to any extent to get a good story for her channel.”
Biju Menon plays Hrishikesh. He has left a news channel to start one of his own. Siddique, Shammi Thilakan and Sai Kumar are in the cast.
‘Run Baby Run' is being produced by Milan Jaleel under the banner of Galaxy Films. Cinematographer is R.D. Rajashekhar and music director is Ratheesh Vega. Stills are by Aaghosh.
