A dream come true

Even while he was assisting the award-winning cinematographer S. Kumar, Rishi Sivakumar’s aim was direction. This graduate in visual communication started his career as an assistant cinematographer to understand the technical aspects of filmmaking. Now, Rishi has fulfilled his dream, as his debut directorial venture —Valliyum Thetti Pulliyum Thetti (VTPT) — with Kunchacko Boban in the lead role, is all set to hit the screens.

“Cinema has been my passion since childhood and direction was my first choice. It was after completing my graduation at Madras Christian College in Chennai that I joined S. Kumar sir’s team. I chose cinematography first, because, along with the creative knowledge a director should understand the technical sides of a film,” says Rishi, who has assisted in four films including Indian Rupee, Padmashree Bharat Dr Saroj Kumar and Hariharan - M. T. Vasudevan Nair team’s Ezhamathe Varavu.It was during his college days Rishi got the spark of VTPT.

“Whenever I got time, I sat with my few friends including Subin (Poster designer) and Sooraj (Music director) at my house. We took six years to finalise the script.”

For Rishi, the response from his mentor S. Kumar after reading the script was the real motivational force to complete the project. “He was unaware of my direction plans while I was assisting him. Even though his son Kunjunni had asked to join us as the cinematographer, I did not tell anything to S. Kumar sir until the script was done.

After completing the script, I went to him and told him about my plans. His first comment after reading the script was that he is eager to watch those visuals on big screen. That was a big appreciation,” he says.

It was a year ago Rishi approached Kunchacko Boban with the script for casting him as the protagonist. “Chackochan was very supportive from the day of narration itself. Within seconds, he sensed all our needs and he became part of the crew. In fact, I was supposed to tell him to shed weight for the role.  But before demanding anything, he told me that he would reduce around 10 kg for the film,” says the director.

When quizzed about the film, set to release this month, he says “It is a small feel good film set against the backdrop of a village. The story completely revolves around a cinema talkies and a temple festival.”