When one is in love, three letters are the key to making all dreams come true. Every confession of love is made in the expectation of those three letters which seem to hold the key to all hope of future happiness – the magical YES. A young team of film makers, most of them students, has come together to make a short film, ‘Yes’ based on a young man’s proposal to the object of his affection, a classmate.
It was uploaded on Youtube on February 12 and has since garnered close to a lakh views.
For 17-odd minutes we see how Ajith musters up courage to profess his love to his classmate, Nikita. How he reacts to her response shows the endearing aspect of young love, very different from the young men prepared to kill and die in the face of rejection. Though not preachy, the film sends home a positive message that a rejection is not the worst thing that can happen.
The backdrop is, of course, an engineering college, where most of the actors and technicians study. Amal Jyothi College of Engineering, Kanjirapally whose claim to film fame is that Aanandam was also shot there. The film opens with a rather ominous ‘based on true events’, which it is says the director, Akhil Joseph, a final year B.Tech student of the college. “I cannot let out what happens in the end, then the suspense is lost. We have left the end open-ended,” he says. But there is enough in the film that reveals what happens to the budding love story. It is a story that plays out in different forms on every campus, but the telling is interesting in that it is sans pretentions. These are young people telling a story from their point of view.
“We made it on a budget of Rs. 8,500. We are all friends, and films are a common passion,” Akhil says. The script is by Justin Mathew, Ananthu G. Krishna (cinematography), Ajmal Sabu (editing), and Joel Johns (music and BGM). Ajmal is an ex-student of Amal Jyothi and Joel is a student at Chethana, Thrissur. The cast, like the crew, comprises college mates and classmates - Anwin Johnson, Sushyanth Ninan Koshy, Nikhil Zach, Jeevan George, and Veronice Piji among others.
Though there was a script, there were no scripted dialogues. The actors were explained the concept, the film was shot live as the actors responded (the dialogues) in ways they would, given the concept and the situation. An aspect of the film that has the team excited is that it, now, holds the record for the longest single shot scene for any Malayalam short film. “It is a record we are thrilled about, the scene in 9 mins 30 secs long.” The film was shot in a day, on campus. Akhil is grateful to his college and students for the response the film has garnered without any promotion or publicity.
Films are the next logical step for most of these youngsters and going by the number of engineers in the film industry it appears that engineering colleges are the nursery for future film technicians.
The short film has been made under the banner of Credox Talkies.
