A nattily dressed group of men are staring into the camera. After they exchange a few witty dialogues, the camera zooms in on the hero, who is looking bemused. The scene being shot is the build up to a humorous scene in debut director Sudheesh Sankar’s Villali Veeran , with Dileep as the hero. The location is a plush house with a vast courtyard at Padappilly, near Thodupuzha.
“This is a feel good entertainer, with a message,” says Sudheesh. The film was earlier titled Budhdhettan.
“Sidharthan (Dileep) is a vegetable vendor who is the sole breadwinner in his family. Since his father is in jail, he has to take care of his mother, his sisters and their kids. In an effort to make ends meet, he gives up his dreams and desires,” narrates the director.
But to make a quick buck, he decides to marry Narmada (Namitha Pramod), who hails from a wealthy family. The scene being shot shows him coming to meet her parents.
“Mythili plays Aiswarya, a woman who was close to Sidharthan at one point in time in his life. The story starts from a remote village and moves to an urban area and finally to Mumbai. There are twists and turns in between. The film is a comedy as well as a thriller,” says the director, who was active in the TV serial circuit before switching to films.
Nedumudi Venu, Lalu Alex, Kalabhavan Shajon, Siddique, Sai Kumar, Suresh Krishna, Vinayaprasad and Seetha are in the cast. Director Rafi plays an important character in the film .
“This scene is quite hilarious as Sidharthan is being presented to the girl’s family as a non-resident Indian,” says Dileep, with a chuckle. “More than a comedy, Villali Veeran is the story of the bond between a father and son. Siddique plays my father in the film,” adds the actor, whose Avathaaram will hit screens soon. Namitha, meanwhile, plays an ad filmmaker in the movie.
“My character, Narmada, is a bit of a firebrand,” says Namitha. This is the youngster’s second movie opposite Dileep after last year's Sound Thoma.
Villali Veeran is being produced under the banner of Super Good Films by R.B. Chaudhary. Anil Nair wields the camera, while S.A. Rajkumar composes the music. Stills are by Abhilash Narayanan.
