Comrade in Kerala
CIA director Amal Neerad opens up on his movie making preferences, his cast, production ventures and his take on piracy.
It has been 10 years since his maiden film Big B hit the screens in Kerala. Years went by and now his seventh directorial Comrade in America (CIA) is running to packed houses. Since his first hero Mammootty to his latest, Dulquer Salmaan, Amal Neeerad has gone a long way up the ladder.
About the birth of CIA, he says, “In fact, it was with another story that Shibin Francis, who is settled in the US, came to me. But I did not feel that I could do a film on that. During later discussions, he told me about a news article he had come across in the US — about border crossing. I found it an interesting thread and asked him to work on a story surrounding that. He came with a detailed one-liner in two months and CIA just began.”
So it was not a planned move to make a film on a communist protagonist? “Not at all. As I said earlier, it was based on the incident in the US that the entire subject was formed,” he points out.
When we check the filmography of Amal, all his protagonists are established actors — stars. Why does he always prefer to make films with stars? “I always select actors based on who is perfect for my characters.”
“When it comes to Fahadh and Dulqu-er, I approached them because they are my friends. As we are friends, we normally bounce ideas with each other. It was how these films happened. In the case of CIA, when I heard the subject, I felt that Dulquer is apt to essay the lead role and thus approached him. Gladly, he too liked the subject,” says the director.
Apart from being a story writer, director and cinematographer, Amal Neerad is now a producer as well as distributor. “I turned to production as a defence mechanism. For our distribution banner A and A Release, I am partnering with Anwar Rasheed. We formed these banners for our own films. Our aim was not to make more money; we just wanted to execute our projects without any confusion. If we go with someone else’s funds, it is more risky.” Premam was the last film that came out through A and A Release before CIA.
Quizzed about the status of piracy issues in our state, he says, “When such a thing happened during the release of Premam, we took necessary steps and could initiate the arrest of the persons behind the act. But the fact is that piracy is still active. Many people are entering theatres with camera to shoot and upload the new movies to websites. This is not an isolated incident; it is a threat to all movies. I would like to say that film-based organisations and our government should take necessary steps to eradicate piracy.”
So, what is his next plan? “To be frank, I have not yet planned my next directorial. As of now, I can say that I would be cranking camera for Anwar Rasheed’s next directorial. When it comes to my production, I will be co-producing Aashiq Abu’s next film, along with Aashiq’s own banner." he concludes. The movie with Tovino Thomas in the lead role is being filmed based on the story by Amal himself, while screenplay is provided by Syam Pushkaran and Dileesh Nair.