Debutant Shyamdhar gets his credits as a director even as Prithviraj dons the policeman’s cap for the 12th time in his career for 7th Day .
The movie tells the story of David Abraham, a 42-year-old police officer who investigates a crime that does not exist in official records. “The story is narrated in the course of seven days. It begins in the late hours of a Christmas night on December 25 and ends on December 31. As David is under suspension, it is a one-man investigation sans any support system to come to his rescue,” says Shyamdhar.
The only person David falls back on is a circle inspector who goes beyond the call of duty to help his superior. Without flashbacks to add a dash of glamour to his persona, Prithviraj acts in the film with a salt and pepper hair style to add credibility to his character.
The filmmaker says they had no issues with the fact that Prithviraj has been seen in a spectrum of cop roles that ranges from the depths of villainy to the heights of heroism.
“Prithviraj has always done well in such roles. David is an officer who is young at heart. We were keen on an actor who would be able to project that devil-may-care attitude and we felt that Prithviraj was the apt person for that,” explains the director.
“His involvement is amazing. Akhil Paul, the script writer, Shibu G. Suseelan, the producer, and I are newcomers and Prithviraj really stood by us at each stage of the time. We debated his look in the film because one of the profiles for the character had a moustache that we felt added to the age of David. Although it meant he had to devote his time for our film, Prithviraj was all game for it,” he adds.
Prithviraj has also sung the theme song of the film, under the baton of Deepak Dev who had made the actor sing in Puthiyamugham and Urumi . Janani Iyer plays the female lead in which V.K. Baiju, and others also play significant roles. The cast includes Anu Mohan, Tovino Thomas, Praveen Prem, Vinay Fortt and Yog Jappe.
Akhil had interacted with Shyamdhar on Facebook and that is how the Kannur-based Akhil came to Kochi to meet the filmmaker. “That was in 2011. I found his story interesting but we took our time with the script and the casting,” says the director.
Does the newcomer feel tense about the other movies in the contest? “I know there are two other films featuring leading actors in uniform. But I hope viewers will take advantage of the vacation and flock to theatres to support our films,” he adds.
