In Arun Kumar Aravind directorials — be it Cocktail, Ee Adutha Kalathu or Left Right Left, the lead characters break all the typical moulds of a hero or heroine. What’s unique about his movie subjects then? Arun says his movies are inspired by the day-to-day events that occur in everyone’s life but are not talked about much. His upcoming Kaatu is also unique in many such ways. The characters of the retro flick are inspired by two short stories of veteran director Padmarajan. Moreover, the screenplay is being penned by Padmarajan’s son Anandapadmanabhan.
Explaining it as pure coincidence, Arun says, “Anandan had already written a story inspired by two of his father’s short stories. It was during a meeting with him that I got to listen to the story which I loved instantly... because it is a tale, which perfectly fits into a movie. The story narrates certain happenings in the life of a group of people living in a village near the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border.” Asked about the nature of the story, Arun says that Kaatu has all the elements that we expect in a story. “There are lighter moments, anger, fight, thrilling experiences and also suspense required to justify the various happenings,” he adds.
Though Asif Ali and Murali Gopy will be playing the central characters in the movie, Arun feels that every character has a pivotal role to play. The editor-turned-director's last movie was One by Two released in 2014 and now, after a gap of two years, Kaatu will hit the floors by July. He calls the gap the preparation period for Kaatu and a couple of other projects that are in the pipeline. Commenting on whether he has tried something different this time due to the controversies faced by his earlier movies, Arun says, “Controversies do not wait for anyone. If they have to pop up, one or the other topic related to your movie becomes a point of controversy. I do not see those as a promotion technique and never attempt a subject thinking that this will kick up a storm and bring me or my movies to the limelight.” He concludes saying, “I am a director and I will work on any story I feel is worth telling.”
