Back with a bang

“Eleven months… Yes it’s been 11 months since my last film reached theatres,” starts Dhyan Sreenivasan, the actor who made a heroic come back with recently released Ore Mukham. For Dhyan, gap is not a new phenomenon in his career. After his debut film Thira released in October 2013, he was back only in 2015 with the Onam release Kunjiramayanam. “During all these gaps, I was not away from cinema because I love it. But I did not appear in any film for a few months as another film was about to start and it got delayed. It will start soon. In the meantime, I was busy with the pre-production of my directorial venture,” says the actor.

So, is he too all set to wield the megaphone? “Almost; I have completed the scripting and have been travelling to find locations and meet actors. Hopefully, the film will start rolling from mid-2017,” Dhyan tells DC. Quizzed about the actors he has zeroed in for his film, he says, “It’s too early to reveal such details now. It has been my dream for the past few years to direct a film. In fact, its pre-production started soon after the release of Thira, but then, I heard about a film under production which was similar to mine. And I dropped that project. It was then I got the call from my friend Basil Joseph to Kunjiramayanam and later to Adi Kapyare Koottamani (AKK). Post the release of AKK, I got enough time to concentrate on my script. When it comes to actors, all I can say is that a Tamil actress will essay the lead role along with a star from our industry. The film is set against the backdrop of Chennai.”

Back to Ore Mukham, Dhyan says it was around three years ago that he got the offer. “I think, it was a few months after the release of Thira, Sajith came to me with the script of Ore Mukham. We sat down to discuss this project and decided to do it after a few years as some preparations were needed. Now the film, has reached screens and is getting good response,” he says. Dhyan admits that his Zachariah Pothen of Ore Mukham is completely different from his previous roles. “Of course, the character is fresh compared to my previous roles. He is a person with different shades. Even his friends cannot judge him easily based on his activities. If my previous characters Bhanu (AKK) and Lalu (Kunjiramayanam) were a little freaky, Naveen (Thira) was a pavam and energetic one,” he says. The actor is keen in assessing the importance of roles that come to him.

“I prefer films with good storylines as well as good roles. I am a bit selective about it,” says Dhyan, who has committed to two films as an actor. “The very next film I will be doing is Thomas Sebastian’s movie starring Sharafudeen and Sreenath Bhasi. It is set against the backdrop of Malappuram-Kozhikode region. The other film is directed by Rajesh Nair and has achan (Sreenivasan) in the lead role,” he says. His dad Sreenivasan, an actor, writer and director, has bankrolled three films. Later, Dhyan’s elder brother Vineeth also ventured into production. So, when would Dhyan don the producer’s hat? And he laughs in response, “As of now, I cannot predict that. That might also happen.”