Sreenath Bhasi, Sudhi Koppa to lead director Tom Emmaatty's next

Oru Mexican Aparatha director Tom Emmaatty is gearing up to work on his next feature Duniyavinte Orattathu. Sreenath Bhasi and Sudhi Koppa will be playing the lead characters along with newcomer Prasant Murali. Anwar Shereef (Forensic, Oru Mexican Aparatha) is also part of the film.

Tom tells us the film will be a light-hearted entertainer centred on a bunch of folks living in Mattanchery. Sreenath Bhasi, Sudhi Koppa and Prasant Murali have been cast as three friends. “It will be about the conflicts in their lives and how they deal with it,” says Tom, who will be shooting entirely in Mattanchery after two months. “We will be following all the necessary precautions with a minimal crew.” 

Prashant Murali, who is playing the third lead, is also the film’s co-writer (with Safeer Rumane). Tom cast him after being impressed with his work in the short film Ajinomoto. “I saw the short film and when I called him excitedly, I learned that I had contacted him just when he was going around in Kochi hoping to pitch a script. I heard his story, liked it, and asked him to work on the script from my place.” 

Tom looks at the pandemic situation as something that could prove beneficial for Malayalam filmmakers. “A lot of different ideas are to be expected during this time. We have been going through a certain pattern for a long time which, I think, will be broken now. After a point, people get bored with the same pattern,” he says. 

The team hasn’t yet decided whether their film will go for a theatrical or OTT release. “We have in our hands an unexpectedly fresh subject, so naturally everyone would want the film to go to theatres,” he continues. “It will all depend on how the film shapes up and its overall energy. But the fact that we have alternatives is a good thing. Before, a film’s fate was decided by the first two days of its run in the theatres. Now it has changed — cinema is going to a whole different dimension. As of now, we can say everyone is feeling positive, and we are ready to get back to work again.”

Produced by Linto Thomas and Prince Hussain and co-produced by Sneha Nair and Jabir Ottapurakal, the film will be shot by Joseph cinematographer Manesh Madhavan.