There is a fallen bicycle on the ground, perhaps it has been pushed down in a fit of rage. Yes, four-year-old Evin Davis was angry and sad at the same time and that mix was leading to a meltdown — complete with tears streaming down his face, an accusatory finger pointed at the persons inflaming his ire and a strong voice speaking and defending something. The video soon went viral, sending social media into a tizzy and with good reason. Evin was sad that his favourite team Brazil had lost and just could not accept that defeat. Added to that were his elders who were riling him and Evin was blazing mad.
There was one director, Aniesh Upasana, who first saw the viral video with a smile on his face, then a second time with a thought in his mind and the third time through a director’s eye. He has a reason.
He is in the process of directing a film Madhurakinav, the story, screenplay and dialogues of which are by Aniesh himself. The film is a Malabar-based one and has children in it.
He explains, “I was looking for a child with naughtiness written on his face and a certain body language and conducted several auditions but could not find the right boy.” But things changed when he saw the viral video. “At first I could not believe my eyes that Brazil had such a hardcore fan in a four-year-old. I saw a fanboy who knew he was being captured on camera but was not self-conscious. He was defending his team and what I found absolutely endearing were the left-handed pointing of his fingers and angry body language. I knew I had found my actor without any further need for an audition,” Aniesh says. He immediately uploaded the clip on his social media page with an appeal to help find the boy.
Never underestimate the power of social media and within four hours, the uncle of the boy contacted him from Kuwait. By the end of the day, Aniesh was on the phone with the boy’s parents at Nedumbassery in Kochi. He says with a laugh, “When I asked for the phone to be passed onto Evin, the first thing he told me was that ‘Uncle, Brazil lost’. I controlled my laughter and asked him if he wanted to act in a film and he immediately perked up and said he would.” Aniesh is still waiting to meet Evin and jokingly says, “Now, Evin is a star and is busy giving interviews. I hope he gets the time to see me.” The moral of the story is being a Brazil fan helps!
