As we reached the bungalow near Navodaya studio at Kakkanad, ad-filmmaker-turned-feature director Srikanth was busy discussing the shoot of his directorial Aby with his production controller Manoj Poonkunnam. In the meantime, the actors and other technicians were taking a break in the huge drawing room after lunch. Vineeth Sreenivasan, who essays the lead role in the film, was waiting for his next shot in a bedroom on the ground floor.
Even as his debut production venture Aanandam is all set for release and is in the final post-production phase, the multifaceted film personality was in a cool mood. Quizzed if he was nervous, he says, “In fact, I don’t have any tension compared to what I faced during the post-production of Oru Vadakkan Selfie and Jacobinte Swargarajyam. More than that, I have got lots of brilliant persons include Vinod Shornur, Shafi Chemmad and Bonny Mary Mathew to help me and take care of post-production works. That’s why I can sit here in front of you and become part of another project as an actor.”
Vineeth with Team AanandamWhen Vineeth started his career as a singer with Priyadarshan-directed Kilichundan Mambazham, he was noted by the film buffs as the son of actor Sreenivasan. Later, he carved a niche as actor, lyricist, screenwriter and director. Now Vineeth has added one more role in his life — film producer. “To be frank, I have been planning to bankroll a film for the past few years — after I started direction. As part of that, I have sat for discussions with Vinod (Shornur) ettan (who was the production controller of Vineeth’s first three films and producer of Oru Vadakkan Selfie) for two of my directorial ventures. Though one in that list reached the screens through another production banner, one did not take off.”
“It was Vinod ettan who suggested that I hear the screenplay of Aanandam written by Ganesh Raj, who was assisting me from Thattathin Marayath till Jacobinte Swargarajyam. In fact, I was well aware of this film since he joined my team. When I read his screenplay draft, I found it very interesting. I conveyed the same to Vinod ettan, who was planning to produce the film. It was then he suggested me to take up the production along with him. As I found it a good subject and with a good team, I said yes,” says Vineeth.
Eventually, it turned out that Vineeth became a producer at the same age when his dad ventured into film production. Sreenivasan was one of the producers of Hello My Dear Wrong Number released 30 years back. Interestingly, Vineeth has earlier bankrolled for the much-discussed short film Eli, a sexy tale, directed by Premam-fame Alphonse Puthren, years before he wielded the megaphone for Neram. “It was through Nivin Pauly that I got acquainted with Alphonse, who was then settled in Chennai. He was staying in a small room near Nungambakkam there, which was filmed as Nivin’s house in Neram and his main aim was to do a film in Tamil. He had already done two short films and a music video when we met. During our conversation, his good craftsmanship was very evident. Once, he shared the basic thread of Eli with me and I found it interesting. The only problem before him was finding a producer and I agreed to fund for him,” says Vineeth under his banner ‘Black Money Productions’.
When it comes to Anandam, it is being produced under the banner ‘Habit of Life’. Quizzed about the change in name, he clarifies, “It was just for that short film I named my banner ‘Black Money Productions’. But later, when I decided to start a production house, I wanted to name it ‘Habit of Life’, just because the only habit of my life is cinema. All my observations from the morning itself are just for movies.” Cinematographer Anend C Chandran is the common technician in Aanandam and Eli. Vineeth points out that the next one year has been reserved for acting. “There will be no directorial ventures next year. Currently, I am doing Aby directed by Sreekant ettan, whom I know for the past few years. My next film would be directed by Leo Thaddeus and some other films are there, which I cannot reveal right now,” he sums up.
