Debutant Sajin Babu came in from the cold as the award-winning director of Asthamayam Vare (Unto The Dusk) in 2014. The film, which premiered at the Mumbai International Film Festival, won the Rajatha Chakoram of the International Film Festival of Kerala and was screened at several prestigious festivals.
Three years later, Sajin’s second movie, Ayaal Sassi , is ready for cinemas. Unlike his previous film, which was made with newcomers, this one has a cast of well-known actors. After a private screening of the film in Thiruvananthapuram, the director was all ears to listen to views about the movie starring Sreenivasan in the lead role. And their opinion about the film did not disappoint him.
Filmmaker Sajin Babu
Scripted and directed by him, Ayaal Sassi , reveals the many layers of life and living in a cosmopolitan city, which seems to be in a hurry to shake off its traditional moorings, through the life of Sasi, a Bohemian. Sasi, an artist, manifests the best and worst of such people trying to move centre stage from the margins of society.
So they change their names, shun their roots and put on an image they have created for themselves. Sajin’s film maps the lives of such people with a deft touch, all garnished with generous helpings of subtle humour, and, at the same time, tackles issues of caste, organised religion, consumerism and gender.
While talking about the film, Sajin, says it was a series of real-life incidents and people that inspired the film. Without burying the theme in layers of confusion and sub-plots, the film’s straight narrative takes the camera into the mind of the publicity hungry has-been artist and his coterie of friends.
“I happened to read about a new-fangled coffin that was being developed and I used that as a major thread to weave the story,” says Sajin.
A sense of deja vu grips viewers watching the two-hour satire that has been kept as real as possible in its casting, dialogues and narrative. That is because Ayaal Sassi is about people we have seen, met, interacted with and know about. “Yes, it is about people in our midst, especially people flitting in and out of the cultural strata. Sasi, Sreenivasan’s character, is a combination of many people all of us know,” he agrees.
“Sreenivasan sir read the script and gave me open dates for the film. I requested him to lose weight and he lost several kg for the role. Refusing to even take money for the film, Sreenivasan sir slogged along with all of us for the film. He had no qualms in giving retakes or for working in long shifts,” says Sajin.
Kochu Preman, Anil Nedumangad, Divya Gopinath, Sreekumar and Rajesh Sharma play significant roles in the film that was shot in and around Thiruvananthapuram.
Sajin has not spared any of the main players in this slice of life, whether it be politicians, self-serving religious leaders and their followers, or avaricious relatives and byte-hungry mediapersons. Through Sasi’s interactions, viewers get a ring-side view of a series of events that expose a self-serving, superficial society.
Filmed by Pappu, the film’s long sequences have been shot with a moving camera and, to keep it real, avoided abrupt cuts and jumps in the narrative. “We had worked out the shots and scene before the actual shooting and so we were on sure ground,” explains Sajin. Produced by newcomers P. Sukumar and Sudeesh Pillai, the film’s superb background score has been scored by Basil. Sajin hopes to release the film in May.
