Dancers in bright colours and loud make-up are all set to swing to the tune of a peppy song in the middle of sacks of red chilli. The venue is a floor inside the Navodaya Studio at Kakkanad that has been converted to resemble a remote village, with a few shops and houses. The scene is for debut director Gopalan Manoj’s Saaradhi .
“This is a road movie that is a thriller. Christie (Sunny Wayne), an ambulance driver, is taking a body from a medical college in the city to a high range town. The trip turns eventful when several incidents crop up during the course of the journey.
“Sreenivasan plays an important role in the film as a socially committed person. Nedumudi Venu is an elderly person, a relative of the deceased, travelling in the ambulance along with a few others. Vinutha Lal is the heroine,” he adds.
The song sequence, which is currently being shot, will introduce Sunny’s character. “It is a ‘kuthu pattu’ that is popular in Tamil films and we thought it would be a fitting start to the following scenes,” says Gopalan.Sunny joins in the action. “Christie is a bit rough in his nature and is not really committed to anyone in life. All he is bothered about is his payment once the body reaches the destination. There are some twists and turns in the story, with some fun sprinkled in between,” says Sunny, who is also acting in Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Double Barrel , the shooting of which is going on.
The shooting shifts to Cherupushpam Studio near Udayamperoor the next day, where a police station has been set up. Sreenivasan, who is facing the camera after a while, says he is acting in the film because he found the script interesting.
Saaradhi is being produced by A.D. Sreekumar under the banner of Movies Nest Creations. Noushad Shereef is the cinematographer and Gopi Sundar is the music director. Stills are by Anup Chacko.
