Atoning for Guppy fiasco

When his Guppy got good comments after its DVD release though the film could not perform well in theatres, the majority of the viewers had promised Tovino Thomas that they will not miss his next film when it hits the screens. Now his new flick Oru Mexican Aparatha, in which Tovino essayed the lead role, has reached screens and interestingly  most of the releasing centres has houseful shows. “Many of those who watched Guppy, after the release of its DVDs, contacted me via phone and Facebook, congratulating our attempt and saying they felt sorry as they missed it in theatres. They assured me that they would definitely watch my new films in theatres and now I am happy to see that they are keeping their word,” says the actor.

Tovino was part of Oru Mexican Aparatha from its conception stage. “It was while acting in Roopesh Peethambaran’s You Too Brutus in Thrissur, Tom Ematty, who was then assistant director of the film, shared the basic thread of OMA with me. From then, he wanted me to portray the protagonist and Roopesh ettan the antagonist. Though we started talking about this project in the beginning of 2015, only now could we come up with the film,” he says. In OMA, Tovino enacts two characters — Paul and Kochaniyan in two different periods. “It is predominantly Paul’s story, when Kochaniyan is the back bone of the story. He plays a key role in the whole story of Paul. That is all I can say now,” he laughs.

OMA comes with a bunch of newcomers. “Finding a producer for a film is not an easy task and it was facing such struggles we got director Anoop Kannan as producer. He is a person who has directed two films; so, he was capable of understanding the needs of a director. Along with that, majority of the technicians — from our director Tom Emmatty to the cinematographer Praksha Velayudhan are debutants,” says Tovino, who has Basil Joseph’s Godha gearing up for release.