Ek Kahani – A Dubai Story, a Malayalam short film with a simple story about trust and friendship, is winning hearts on YouTube. Directed by debutant Anoop Varghese, the 25-minute film about non-resident Indians in Dubai and their little big dreams, has struck a chord with viewers.
Poster of Anoop Varghese’s short film Ek Kahani – A Dubai Story | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Anoop, who has also written the story, says the film is partially based on a real-life incident. Speaking on phone from Dubai, where he works as a resource manager at Siemens, he says that it is a common practice among friends in the United Arab Emirates to pool in money to buy lottery tickets with big prizes. “In my film, one of the friends stays true to their bond although the other friend does not reciprocate. I wanted to celebrate the goodness of humanity through that true friend. I feel the celebration of goodness has made the short popular.”
A published author with two books in Malayalam to his credit, Anoop’s craze for movies instilled in him a desire to see his stories on screen. That is when he met Abhilash S Kumar, director of Chattambi, who was in Dubai in connection with some work there.
“That was before he directed Chattambi. Abhilash was still looking around for a subject and when I showed a story of mine, he decided to turn it into a short film, Break Journey. I worked with him as an associate director on it.”
Alex Joseph, cinematographer of Chattambi, was another person with whom Anoop shared his movie dreams and discussed stories. When he narrated the story of Ek Kahani, they encouraged him to turn it into a film.
Anoop Varghese | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Auditions were held to select the cast and he tried to ensure that the short film adhered to professional standards of filmmaking.
Shot completely in Dubai within three days on a budge of ₹6 to 7 lakh, the film has sync sound and an original music score.
Motivated by the success of his film, Anoop has set his sights on a feature film. “I made this film to convince myself that I could write and direct a movie. Now that I have done it, I hope to be at the helm of a feature film soon.”
