As it often happens, Ernakulam Town Hall is jam packed for a programme. This time around, it is for the Chief Minister’s ‘mass contact programme’. However, this is a reel version created for director G. Marthandan’s Achcha Din , in which Mammootty plays the hero.
“Durgaprasad (Mammootty), a native of Jharkhand has been living in Kerala for the past 20 years or so, eking out a living as a sweeper in a mall. He lives in modest surroundings with his pregnant wife, Sheethal (Mansi Sharma). The film is about his life,” says Marthandan. The director had made his debut with the Mammootty-starrer Daivathinte Swantham Cleetus . Mansi is a Punjabi actor and model.
The scene being canned has Renji Panicker holding court as Chief Minister Thomas Chacko. Huge boards outside the hall bear images of his smiling face while politicians, police officers and people who have come to meet the Chief Minister mill around the place.
A few shots of Mammootty reaching the venue in a bicycle are taken and the hero leaves the place in a huff. “In Kerala, we are so dependent on indigent workers from many north Indian states. But even then they are treated as second class citizens by us. We make it a point to keep them at a distance. Durgaprasad dresses up like a north Indian as his wife wants him so but he is a Malayali at heart. He speaks Malayalam, celebrates Onam and watches Malayalam movies,” says A.C. Vijeesh, scenarist of the film.
Renji, clad in an all white attire, says since he was a politician before turning writer, he is not uncomfortable in the garb of a politician. Along with fellow actor ‘Appunni’ Sasi, who is playing a local leader, Renji waits for his scene.
Achcha Din , produced by S. George under the banner of Cyn Cyl Celluloid, is a Ramzan release. Pradeep Nair wields the camera, Bijibal scores the music. Still photographer is Ramdas Mathur.
