Vipin Atley rushes in 45 minutes late for this interview accompanied by his cousin. The waiter at the coffee shop recognises him and smiles. Recognition; definitely a high for a budding actor. Vipin shakes his head, a mass of curly hair, “The other day, just to escape ‘selfies’ at a theatre, I got into a bus. Thought I’d go incognito and suddenly I was surrounded by people in the bus posing for selfies with me. The downside is people near my home in Vazhakkala, including shopkeepers, recognise me now and I can’t buy stuff on credit anymore,” he says with a straight face.
Vipin Atley made his debut as actor and scenarist with Anoop Kannan’s Homely Meals, the film was produced by director Lal Jose’s production house LJ Films . Lal Jose, in a television show, even vouched for the film.
The film has no big or small names, just a bunch of fresh faces supported by a cast of veterans such as Nedumudi Venu and Manoj K. Jayan. The response to the film was mixed, however the film is still being screened in some theatres in the city a couple of weeks after release.
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Atley is pragmatic. “There was no big ‘artist’ in the film. There is a mental block when it comes to watching a film that does not have a ‘star’ or an ‘artist’ attached to it. Even producers want artists.” He adds that the audience wouldn’t have ‘got’ the references to the television industry, “only someone with a passing acquaintance with the industry would get it.” Unlike his goody two-shoes character in the film, he is live wire.
He hosted a television show (like in the film and which inspired it), he worked as an assistant director for films and ad films all the while writing script after script, building a stack in his house. His room is lined with A4s, his cousin chips in.
He ‘almost made’ four to five films, with various people who are established names in the industry. He follows in the footsteps of actor-scenarists such as Balachandra Menon and Srinivasan.
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Later this year Homely Meals happened. Anoop Kannan was looking for a project after his Jawan of Vellimala and discussions on the script led to Atley coming up with this story, which is loosely based on his experiences.
At some point Atley (who is in his early 30s) ended up being the lead actor as Allen Mathew.
Homely Meals is the story of Allen who dreams of a career in the television industry.
The film is a hilariously trippy ride about a television show and how it gets made with the help of a ‘crew’ of good-hearted goons. Some of the situations are too hilarious to be true, but Atley swears there is no fiction.
The film is the opposite of the ‘all persons fictitious’ disclaimer. Most of the characters in the film have been inspired by life, the goons included, from the programming head of the channel, essayed to perfection by Manoj K. Jayan, to the novice editor Basil.
A few characters have been added for cinematic effect. “Palarivattam Mosappan, Bachu, Praveen, D’Cruz (real name DJ Thomin) are all my friends. The character essayed by Srinda is actually a guy, he became a she to provide the romantic angle. In the film all of us are new friends, while in reality we have been friends for a long time. Some of the action shown in the film actually happened.” The fictitious restaurant Homely Meals run by Molly Kannammaly has a real counterpart, Your Choice, in Palarivattam.
A conversation with Atley is a guaranteed laughathon – trying to learn photography with a renowned photographer, his mother’s faith, his escapades – Atley knows how to tell a story.
A love for cinema led him to choosing films and filmmaking as a career. His family has nothing to do with films, “the only film I got my mother to see was this one.” And he goes on to recount what happened when he took his grandfather to see a 3D film and unleashes the next round of side-splitting jokes.
Irreverent, he pokes fun at how television channels work, society, attitudes and himself. He is very in the moment.
Behind all the joking and poking fun a very sharp mind is at work. Scripting and acting was too much work, he says.
He is now working on his next project, striking while the iron is hot. “In this industry if there is a gap, people will forget you.” He wants to write scripts, direct and act, “I’ll act in films scripted by me because I fear I might get stereotyped otherwise.”