Even as the Mahesh Narayanan-Fahadh Faasil film C U Soon , shot during the lockdown, is going places, another Malayalam director Khalid Rahman is ready with his movie, Love , starring Rajisha Vijayan and Shine Tom Chacko in the lead. Love, completely shot during the lockdown, is likely to have an OTT release.
Khalid was all set to direct his third movie, Thallumala with Tovino Thomas when the total lockdown came into effect. “We were charged up to begin the shoot. After that it was not easy to be sitting at home doing nothing! I had to do something and thus was born this story. Once the government allowed shooting with a limited crew, I was ready to roll out the project,” says Khalid.
Khalid Rahman
Love revolves around a couple, Anoop (Shine) and Deepthi (Rajisha). While the trailer hints at a thriller, with the couple being shown at loggerheads, Khalid explains that there is nothing larger than life about the film. “Viewers will be able to easily relate with the characters and their conversations,” he adds. Among them in the cast are Sudhi Kopa, Gokulan, Johny Antony and Veena Nandakumar.
Staying together
Although the government permitted shooting with 50 people, Love was finished with 28 people. The cast and crew moved into an apartment complex in Kochi for the shoot. “That is a place where we friends gather regularly. We opted for it because we didn’t get any other place to shoot! Although we had asked around, no one was willing to give a space, especially with residents’ associations raising objections,” he says. There were just four apartments in the complex, of which three were used by the team.
The shoot took 24 days and the entire project was wrapped up in three months. Khalid adds that he was very clear about the team he wanted in the project. “Since I had pitched in the idea, I wanted to work only with those people who were game for it,” he adds. This team included the film’s producer, Ashiq Usman, also the producer of Thallumala, and Jimshi Khalid, Khalid’s brother, who cranked the camera. Jimshi was also the cinematographer in Khalid’s directorial début, Anuraga Karikkin Vellam (AKV) released in 2016.
A family entertainer, AKV had won Rajisha the Kerala State Film Award for the Best Actress. Khalid’s second film, Unda , starring Mammootty, had also received critical acclaim.
Rajisha Vijayan and Shine Tom Chacko in a promotion still of Khalid Rahman’s ‘Love’ that was shot completely during the lockdown
Calling Mahesh’s C U Soon “a brave attempt and a good film”, Khalid says that Love has been a satisfactory experience as a filmmaker. “I could execute so many things that was there in my mind. It also showed that we could work in a controlled environment in spite of a lot of limitations,” he adds. The 90-minute-movie has music by Yakzan Gary Pereira and Neha Nair.
So what was the toughest part about making the film? “Deciding to make the film itself (laughs)! That was not an easy decision to take. Once it went on the floors, we did have apprehensions about one of us falling ill. But we were prepared for the worst. Even if 10 of us fell ill, we might have gone ahead with the rest of the crew and cast,” he laughs.
