All of the cast and crew of a new short film Moonnaamidam , from Antony Sony, the director, and RJ Shaan, actor and scriptwriter, to Aby Tom Cyriac, the music director, and Abdul Rahim, the cinematographer, are in their 20s and are movers and shakers in the Malayalam film industry, top associates in their respective fields.
To boot, this short has been produced by actor Jayasurya. Incidentally, it’s the actor’s first attempt at producing a short film. “I had wanted to encourage new talent for a while now and was waiting for the right opportunity when Shaan and Sony came to me. The short has an impressive storyline that viewers will easily be able to identify with,” says the actor.
Moonnaamidam , according to Sony and Shaan, who are both assistants to ace director Rosshan Andrrews, is not your regular short film. “It’s a very script-oriented film that talks of that private of private spaces that we each retreat into; the space that gives us the most joy. For some it may be the space they retreat into when they read, for others when they sing, act… It’s this ‘third space’ that we defend when someone steps into it,” says Sony, who earlier made the popular short Sir Laddu . Shaan chips in: “ Moonnaamidam is a one-scene movie that happens inside a room, which is itself a new format for short films.”
The 15-minute narrative unfolds through a conversation between the two protagonists, played by Shaan and Rachana Narayanankutty.
“It’s not a case of Hum tum ek kamre me bandh ho and there is no titillation. It’s a romantic tale with loads of drama, yet it’s very realistic and minimalistic. There is a sort of mystery to the characters. We get to know about both of them only through the dialogues. For instance, we don’t even know their names – Abhi and Prabha – until the very end and even then we don’t know if its their real names or not, only that its what they call each other,” says Shaan, who is also a popular radio jockey. He adds that the story was inspired by a real-life story and by an interview with Prithviraj that he did a while ago.
“This was before Prithviraj’s marriage. I had asked him if he had ever fallen in love. He told me: ‘Being in love means being vulnerable. I want to be vulnerable to only one person.’ I thought it was a powerful statement and it stayed with me all this while. Moonnaamidam is about being vulnerable and how it evokes reactions, sometimes volatile,” adds Shaan.
The film will be released on YouTube in the next couple of weeks. It has been edited by Sagar Das, who is turning independent with Ranjit Sankar’s upcoming Varsham , and costumes are by Shoba Aswin of Karalkada.
The short, say the youngsters, is a prelude to a feature film. Picture abi baki hai meri dosth !
