#IFFIWood, 27 November 2022

 

“I would like to introduce this movie as a social drama rather than a court room drama. I’m extremely proud and happy to be here with my 2^nd film Saudi Vellakka”, said Tharun Moorthy, the director of the Indian film Saudi Vellakka. He along with the Producer Sandip Senan were interacting with the media and delegates at the IFFI ‘Table Talks’, hosted by PIB on the sidelines of the International Film Festival of India in Goa.

Saudi Vellakka was screened under the Indian Panorama segment at the 53^rd IFFI. It will be released in theatres on 02 December, 2022.

The film is about twenty-three year old Abhilash Sasidharan who receives a summons warrant by the court for a long pending case. He is shocked as his dream of a Gulf visa will be at stake if he becomes a part of this tiring court procedure. Desperate to find out the truth, he gets to know that the real issue was a small conflict between two neighbours snowballing into a bigger one in a place called Saudi, in Ernakulam that changes the lives of everyone involved.

The Producer Sandip Senan said that it’s a movie which revolves around a very small community in Kochi where there is a place called Saudi. “The story begins with a small coconut falling on the neighbor’s head and there begins the issue. It prolongs for years. It is where we portray how a system takes through the life of a person, a family and how it revolves around a family and how humanity moves on. We have to look upon the humanity part of the community as well. The system emerges to be a bigger part in their lives that changes them and they evolve over the years. The culmination is also interesting. This is a very emotional journey of an 85 year old woman”, he said.

When asked about the casting process, the Director said that we were searching for new talents, some rooted actors. So we used some street casting techniques and finally after all permutations and combinations we finalized on Binu Pappu and Lukman Avaran. “I’m very much comfortable working with Binu, he is a chief associate. We discuss a lot about the movies, we share the same vision and mission. Lukman’s eyes has an innocence. We never found such an artist with such eyes to communicate the emotions. So it was easy to cast him", he said.

The Producer when asked about the risks involved in casting the old lady actor said that he is used to this risk. “The script demanded a fresh face, and we were in the hunt looking for lots of old women and we narrowed down. It’s a long emotional roller coaster journey. As a producer what I feel is we should travel with the script and as we travel, the movie evolves. The casting is also part of this journey that the movie takes us along with. We are in search of somebody, and somebody would come to us”, he said.

Talking about the Malayalam film industry, the Producer said that by virtue of talent and content, I would say Malayalam industry is big, but in terms of volume of business, Malayalam industry is small, so we are bound to take the risk.

 

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PIB IFFI CAST AND CREW | Manas/ Monika/Shailesh/Darshana | IFFI 53 - 152

 

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