This short movie and its name have more than what meets the eye. Robin Machan’s short film, Sundaran, had not shot to overnight fame at first. But when it did, every credit went for its master brain. The film has grossed more than five lakh views on YouTube so far. To know what it is all about, you have no option than to keep your eyes glued to the screen till the end. Nowhere in the title or promotions, is the main intent revealed. Robin, son of yesteryear actor Machan Varghese, created it as his step towards the bigger dream, a feature film.
“In the first three weeks of uploading, the YouTube views stood somewhere in 30Ks. Things changed rapidly after that. The numbers improved with the increase in shares on social media. I am getting good reviews from everywhere. Actor Anjali Ameer called me and congratulated me a few days after the release. This is my first short film done with the purpose of making a portfolio of my works,” says Robin.
Rather than walking into tinselville bearing the identity card of a ‘born with a silver-spoon’ celebrity son, Robin wanted a testimony of his skills as a filmmaker/actor to boot. Unni, the youngest son of actor Rajan P. Dev, and Robin together have handled the department of acting along with two female actors. What appears to be another romantic tale attains more depth and meaning as the film progresses. Slowly, a transgender life comes under focus.
“The script was finalised after a lot of thinking and rethinking. So many discussions held in between. I was adamant that the movie has freshness throughout and finalised it like this. Some may think the Sundaran in the story is one of the two male actors. The name was thoughtfully fixed,” he says. The film shot at the busy Menaka Junction in Kochi was done on a good budget shelled out by three producers — Sivasankaran Nair, Sumesh Thampi and Deen Dennis.
Robin has some acting experience in Malayalam movies like Goonda and Isaac Newton S/O Philipose. His first full-length role is coming in a movie by Haridas, director of Indraprastham. Robin is seriously working towards the making of his maiden script. “Scriptwriting would be over in a month. Then, I will fully work towards making it into a movie,” he clarifies.
