Either you like him or you don’t. But you can’t ignore director Vinayan, who has been Malayalam cinema’s rebel without a pause for a while now. The veteran director is now ready with his new film Little Superman 3D , which is set to hit screens this week.
“The hero of the film is Willie Wilson, a 11-year-old boy, who has extraordinary intelligence and abilities. Willie was living happily with his parents and sister until tragedy struck. His father had taken a bold stance against a few corrupt individuals and as a result they fatally attacked him and his family. Willie is the lone survivor of the attack and the story is about his efforts to identify those behind the crime, intertwining dreams with reality. The film is really an exploration of the imagination and talent of young children,” says Vinayan.
Master Deny plays Willie. Madhu, Renjith, Praveena, Baby Nayantara and Ansiba Hassan are also in the cast.
“It took almost eight months to complete the post-production works, for which around Rs. 3.5 crore has been spent. We have included top-notch special effects and it was made possible by joining hands with some of the best known international studios in the business,” he says.
Though his films have seldom been appreciated by critics, Vinayan manages to come up with different themes and storylines for his films. For example, his last film was Dracula 2012 . “Looking back, I am not very happy with Dracula 2012 . I had too many limitations as it was based on a well-known character from Bram Stoker’s legendary book. Little Superman 3D is totally different and is aimed at kids and families,” he explains.
This time too the director had to overcome several hurdles to make the movie given that he always courts controversy, be it his battles against several unions in the film industry or his volatile remarks about industry insiders.
“I have the support of the majority of producers, distributors and exhibitors. However, some unions continue to create difficulties for me. During the making of my latest film, music director M. Jayachandran had to opt out at the last minute due to tremendous pressures from several quarters. Actor Shammi Thilakan was also forced to say no to a role, which he had agreed to do initially. Despite all the challenges, Little Superman 3D is the fifth film that I am making and I am proud about it,” says Vinayan.
He adds: “When I don’t respond to something that I feel strongly about, I start losing my sleep. All I can say is that I will continue to raise my voice against unhealthy practices in the film industry even if my ego has to take a battering.”
The director is currently working on the Tamil version of his film Akashaganga . He has plans to do a film in Hindi, based on his own Adbuthadweepu and also another Malayalam film, with fresh faces in the lead.
There is no stopping Vinayan.
