The Jimmy Jib crane camera takes an aerial view of a hefty youngster standing on a wooden platform that leads to the backwaters. He seems to be lost in thought as the setting sun paints the sky in vibrant colours, creating a majestic frame. It’s a ‘song cut’ for director Aashiq Abu’s Da Thadiya . The location is the waterfront entrance of Netto’s bungalow at Edakochi.
“ Da Thadiya is about an obese guy named Luke John Prakash, played by DJ Sekhar Menon, who makes his debut as an actor. Although he doesn’t look like a conventional hero, it’s a love story, placed against a political backdrop. Luke is in love with Ann Mary Thadikkaran (Ann Augustine) and the progress and evolution of their relationship is being told here,” says Aashiq, who is riding high after 22 Female Kottayam , Salt N' Pepper and Daddy Cool .
“Luke hails from a wealthy political family. His grandfather was the first Mayor of Kochi. Luke studied law but dropped out after the second year. Music is his passion. The story is being narrated by Sunny (Sreenath Bhasi), Luke’s cousin and the other lead character in the film,” narrates the director, prior to taking a peek at the monitor to watch the visuals and give necessary instructions.
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Luke has known Ann right from their childhood. Her family shifted from Kochi after her grandfather won a lottery. Later, Ann returns to Kerala and the two meet again.
Earlier during the day, the drawing room of the bungalow was converted into the house of Hajiyar (V.K. Sreeraman), a music buff who encourages budding musicians. Luke and Sunny meet him there.
“Although I had no plans to become an actor, this character of an obese guy who falls in love seemed interesting,” says Sekhar. He agrees that he has been called ‘Thadiya’ (a fatso) in real life too, but he takes it all in a lighter vein.
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“It is when you are lean all along and put on weight later that you have a problem. I have been pretty heavy even as a child and am used to the fact by now. I do regular workouts but have never really tried hard to lose weight. I want to be active and capable of doing normal chores,” he says.
Sreenath Bhasi, a TV anchor who was seen in Ustad Hotel as one of the musicians in the music band, says: “I can relate to my character Sunny, as he is a VJ.”
Nivin Pauly enacts a character named Rahul Vaidyar. “The shooting of the sequences involving me will start after a week. All I can reveal about my role is that he is a businessman selling Ayurveda medicines that promise to help people lose weight.”
The cast includes Arundhati Nag, Maniyanpillai Raju, Edavela Babu and N.L. Balakrishnan. Da Thadiya is being produced by Anto Joseph. The movie will release during Christmas. The script has been written by Shyam Pushkaran, Dileesh Nair and Abhilash Kumar. Shyju Khaled is the cinematographer and Bijibal is the music director. Still photographer is Ramdas Mathur.