‘Made in Heaven - Kanmani Kanmani’, a music video scripted and directed by actor-producer Noble Babu Thomas, feels more like a short film. “I have been looking for a term to describe it; a musical short film didn’t fit. So I went with ‘music video’,” he says. Released on June 16, it has garnered more than seven lakh views.
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The video is about a woman who takes her boyfriend home to meet her parents; it also chronicles their reaction and acceptance. Rather than a single song, the video feels like a short film as dialogues are interspersed. The eight-minute video is produced by Shaan Rahman, who also composed the music for the track sung by Benny Dayal.
“The Helen team — Shaan, writer/director Mathukutty Xavier, writer Alfred Kurian Joseph, and lyricist Vinayak Sasikumar — gave me the confidence to give this a shot,” he says, of his unexpected ‘debut’ as director. Noble co-produced, co-wrote and acted in Helen , which was co-written/directed by Mathukutty. Alfred was also one of the co-writers of that film, with Shaan composing its music.
Noble B Thomas
What started out as a one-liner, which Noble wanted to pitch to Mathukutty, became his directorial debut. “Seeing how I had a clear idea of what I wanted the video to be, he suggested that I should direct it. That is how I ended up directing it.” Noble has also acted in it.
Since work had slowed down in the film industry due to the pandemic, he came up with the idea of the music video, something that could be worked keeping in mind COVID-19 protocols. The feedback has been that it is a ‘feel good’ video, amid the bad news that the second wave brought with it. He says it was intentional, “Most of the content that was coming out was bleak. I wanted something that would give people a reason to smile.”
Acting and directing was not easy, he confesses. “Mathukutty was there, so was Alfred. That made it easy.” The video was shot in Wagamon, before the second wave struck. He is happy with the how it has shaped up. However there is one thing that he wished he could have done. “In the last scene the girl’s brother comes home. I would have liked to elaborate that thread also but by then the COVID-19 situation had changed and there was no way we could film.”
Happy as he is about his serendipitous directorial debut, Noble intends to focus on his acting; he will soon star in director Alfred Kurian’s upcoming project.
