Stranger beside me

Promising filmmaker Sunil Ibrahim’s Arikil Oraal is touted as a thriller that investigates the character of a friendship

August 29, 2013 08:43 pm | Updated 08:43 pm IST - Thiruvananthapuram

Remya Nambeeshan, Sunil Ibrahim, Indrajith and Niven Pauly on the sets of Arikil Oraal.

Remya Nambeeshan, Sunil Ibrahim, Indrajith and Niven Pauly on the sets of Arikil Oraal.

C hapters certainly impressed Malayali cine buffs to wait and watch with interest what young filmmaker Sunil Ibrahim would script next in tinsel town. Chapters , with which he opened his innings in tinsel town, caught the attention of the audience with its interesting narrative and storyline, in spite of featuring several newcomers in the cast.

On Friday, the filmmaker returns to the marquee with Arikil Oraal , starring Indrajith (Siddarth), Nivin Pauly (Icha) and Remya Nambeeshan (Veena) in the lead roles. Pratap Pothen and Lena play key characters of a psychiatrist and a corporate head, respectively. Box office pressures and audience expectations do not seem to have burdened the filmmaker who feels that all the hard work that has gone into the movie would certainly be appreciated by movie buffs.

Completed in 2006, the script attracted Indrajith to say yes to the movie as soon as he heard the story. But Sunil wanted to take his own time to work it out before it went on the floor.

“The theme is one for our times when most of us have multiple personas in different spheres of our lives. The city is a great melting pot and although we might be closely interacting with a person in a certain space, he might well be a complete stranger outside the environs of that comfort zone where we interact,” says Sunil. And that private zone of Icha’s takes Siddarth and Veena through a maze of ambiguity. This is where the action unfolds in Arikil Oraal .

Siddarth is an ad executive taking up a new job in Kochi. Veena, his friend, is a contemporary dancer. Siddarth and Icha, a waiter in an upmarket coffee shop, are roommates who become friends. Icha’s quirks intrigue Siddarth and he sets out to find out more about his roommate.

“There is a mystery and an investigation but there are no police sleuths or gore. It is about two friends on the trail of a person who they thought they knew well,” says Sunil who has scripted the film as well.

Gopi Sundar has composed the music of the film in which Indrajith croons a song with Shreya Ghoshal. Remya performs a dance choreographed by Samudra. The movie has been produced by debutant Ashiq Usman.

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