Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 1866 literary fiction novel Crime and Punishment has had innumerable adaptations and inspired countless works of art over the years. Debutant filmmaker Pious Raj’s upcoming Malayalam project Siddy is one such film that has its roots in Dostoevsky’s novel. “It’s heavily inspired by the novel, but is not an adaptation. The ‘crime’ and the ‘punishment’, that is the deed and its repercussions (in the story) were the inspirations. However, the film has a soul on its own,” says the filmmaker.
Siddy follows a young law student Siddharth (Aji John), whose life changes forever when he commits a murder. The psychological turmoil that he suffers and what follows it comprises the narrative.
Pious says that the team met many actors to play the role of Siddy before fixing on Aji, who himself is a filmmaker known for films such as Namukku Parkkan and Hotel California. "When I met him, things fell into place. The fact that he is also a filmmaker made things easy for me, and he has done really well in the film," says Pious.
Siddy has cinematography by Karthik S Nair (an associate of Ravi Varman), editing by Ajith Unnikrishnan, and music scored by Ramesh Narayan. Pious also mentions he was amazed by how Ramesh, a National Award winner known for his classical Hindustani music, composed techno music for the film.
Apart from Aji, Siddy also stars I M Vijayan, Akshaya Udayakumar, Rajesh Sharma, Haridas Swapna Pillai, Tanuja Karthik, Madhu, Venu Naryapuram, and Harikrishnan.
Produced by Maheswaran Nandagopal under his Surya Film Productions banner, Siddy is slated to hit screens on September 23.
