Prem Shankar sounds tense. His debut movie, Randu Per, is one of the two Malayalam movies selected for the competition section of the 22nd IFFK. “This should have been my fifth or sixth movie,” says the advertisement professional-turned-film maker, who gave up his lucrative job in Bengaluru to pursue his passion full time. Randu Per (Two Persons), starring Basil Paulose and Santhy Balachandran (Tharangam-fame), speaks about an urban-based romantic tale, of how the couple handles a breakup after a five-year-old relationship.
“Most of the scenes are inside a car, but it is not a road movie. It’s a love story, but more of a conversational one,” he says. The whole story happens over the night of November 8, 2016, the day demonetization was declared. But that too forms just another social premise. The man, a wannabe film maker, deeply disturbed by the breakup, documents the whole night using hidden cameras. As the lovers talk about it in a car, the man driving and conversing with the girl, it becomes an eventful journey. The movie, which has a duration of 1 hour and 50 minutes, has Suraj Venjarammood, Alencier Ley Lopez and Sunil Sukhada too on board. The whole shoot happened at Bengaluru, but the movie has no mention about it. “It could be any place, anywhere in India. It’s not the place, nor the setting that is important. The focus is on the story, the content,” says Prem.
According to him, it’s an era where movie making is no big deal. “We have a huge technological democracy with all sorts of gadgets and facilities in place. Anyone can make a movie. Finding the backup and support are the most difficult parts,” he says. For Prem, the struggle has been real. With film dreams, he knocked on every door to find the apt cast and the producer. Years went on and finally, his collegemate Arunkumar K.S. came forward to fund his dreams. “He didn’t even ask for the script or story. And I am glad that mine had the opportunity to compete in this prestigious festival with so many excellent world movies.” An actor, Basil had readily agreed to act and Prem found Santhy whose performance in Harold Pinter's play The Lover impressed him. “Watch the movie and you too will know that my choice of actors was right,” he adds. The world premiere of Randu Per is scheduled at 11.30 am on Tuesday at Tagore Theatre.
