An out of range' movie
Johnson's debut movie Out of Range is based on an experience of a friend who had to spend five days without a mobile phone.
One day, a friend of debut director Johnson V. Devassy narrated to him a strange experience. His friend, a native of Kochi, who was then working in Thiruvananthapuram, was travelling to his home. It was after reaching his home in Kochi that he realised he had forgotten to carry his mobile phone with him.
There was no time to go back to Thiruvananthapuram or get it through someone’s help. The friend had to live without checking his phone for five days. The story shot a spark in Johnson’s mind, encouraging him to take the movie Out of Range based on the experience.
“In this era of globalisation, we are pretty much used to technology and gadgets, especially mobile phones. It is almost impossible for us to think of a world without mobile phones. Throughout our conversation, I could feel the discomfort he had experienced without his phone. This particular incident made me think more about the situation and do a movie based on it, but from a different angle,” says Johnson.
“Technology has both merits and demerits. On one hand, it helps us do things quickly; at the same time, it diminishes some of our inborn qualities. For instance, we are not using our arithmetic skills much after the invention of calculators. I have tried to treat both advantages and disadvantages of mobile phone with a touch of humour in this movie,” he adds.
Set against the backdrop of Kochi, the film narrates the story of four youngsters who decide to stop using mobile phones and how their lives change after the decision.
“They take this decision during a party over a drink. And they put a condition that whoever breaks the rule will have to do a public streaking. Next morning onwards their lives begin to change. They find it difficult to move on without their phones. Then comes a crucial moment in their life and their struggles to overcome it make the crux of the story,” explains Johnson.
The movie has Vishnu Unnikrishnan, script writer of the movie Amar Akbar Anthony, Askar Ali, Sumith Samudra, and Ajayaghosh in the lead roles. Swathy, Anjali Upasana, and Lintu Thomas are the three heroines of the movie.