Aamir Pallikal: Ayisha will give you a new cinematic experience

Debutant filmmaker Aamir Pallikal shares a few anecdotes on how the Indo-Arab project starring Manju Warrier came about
Aamir Pallikal: Ayisha will give you a new cinematic experience

Manju Warrier's new film Ayisha is gearing up for release on January 20, 2023, and ahead of it, director Aamir Pallikal shared a few anecdotes on how the film—an Indo-Arab project featuring some Arab-speaking members in the cast—came about. Aamir, who had worked as an assistant on Sudani from Nigeria and Halal Love Story, initially pitched a different story to Manju Warrier, but that didn’t materialise due to various reasons. He was also nursing a dream project, on a slightly bigger canvas.

“When the time came to start working on Ayisha, things got complicated when Covid showed up,” says Aamir, adding that the main reason for that was the film’s location, Saudi Arabia. “If not there, it was essential to shoot the film at least in an adjacent GCC country.”

Aamir and screenwriter Ashif Kakkodi (co-writer, Halal Love Story) then pondered moving on to another subject and started working on it for a while. “But when Covid gradually left the scene, the dreams of Ayishapennu began to take flight. When we narrated the story to Manju chechi, she became happy in the first sitting itself,” Aamir recalls. “Ayisha’s script took about two-and-a-half years of writing, editing, researching and rewriting, and the process concluded the day we wrapped up the shoot. I can say, with utmost certainty, that Ayisha’s script will put Ashif Kakkodi’s name on the map.”

Ayisha has Gautamante Radham-fame Vishnu Sharma as the director of photography. Aamir credits Vishnu’s involvement for successfully taking Ayisha in the direction he hoped for. “Although I had narrated the entire story to Vishnu earlier, I believe it’s essential to translate our vision of the film, from beginning to end, to the cameraman. For those two months, I was able to inject Vishnu with a complete sketch of Ayisha that I had every day, starting with each scene, its character, total mood, and how it should pan out. The result of that will become apparent when you see the film. I’m sure Ayisha will showcase Vishnu’s best effort. I believe that it fully benefited from having not only Vishnu’s voice and energy but also of his team members Sarath and Mithun.”

Appu N Bhattathiri handled the editing, while Sameera Saneesh took care of the costumes. M Jayachandran wrote the music to lyrics by BK Harinarayanan and Suhail Koya.

It must be noted that Prabhu Deva worked on the dance choreography. Mohandas worked on the production design.

Aamir wants to guarantee that “Ayisha will never disappoint you; it will give you a new cinematic experience. Although it prefers to traverse a path different from a conventional Malayalam film, it is very much a family-oriented film in Malayalam.”

Produced by PB Anish, Harris Desom, Shamsudheen MT, Zakariya Mohammed, and Zakariya Vavad, the film is expected to release in Malayalam, Arabic, English and other Indian languages.

Related Stories

No stories found.
Cinema Express
www.cinemaexpress.com