WVineet Kumar is an actor who has entered the hearts of the audience with the movie Takkan Veeragatha. The star who started his career as an actor later shined in the role of a director. He started his directorial career with Fahadh Faasil in the lead role with the film Vaaan Angalla. Now, following a short break, he is wearing the director’s shirt once more. Vineeth’s latest film is Dear Friend starring Tovino Thomas, Darshan Rajendran and Basil. The actor is sharing the details of the movie.
O. T. ‘Dear Friend’ received acceptance on T
This film was started with the plan to release it in theatres. From the very beginning, there was a full conviction that this would not be a film that would satisfy all audiences. And knew that some audience would like it. But following the covid, the audience who likes such movies have come to the theater very less. The changes in the platform where the fans try to watch the movie have been huge. With the advent of OTT, the number of people coming to theaters to watch movies has decreased. But when it comes to movies, I always demand theatre. The visual quality that we have used, the subtle things that we have used in the sound, etc., should be seen from the theater itself if the audience wants to be able to enjoy it. But for Dear Front, the film would never have reached the intended audience if it was not for a platform called OTT. Even if it does, it will be too late. Most of the calls I get now are from different parts of the world. I actually started getting the kind of audience response I was following when the movie came out in OTT.
Dear Friend has to say
Dear Friend Tovino is not actually the story of the character Vinod. I told the story of his friends. I tried to tell regarding the emotion of friends who lose friendship and those friends. We can see or know the way this film is treated. Even the audience watching the film is placed as one of those friends. There was also an insistence that the audience should get the same emotion that those friends get. One of the two shots at the end of the film is a back shot of Tovino. I don’t even want to show Vinod’s emotion there. After that, the movie ends with a wide shot. There was a deliberate attempt to end the film by leaving a mystery for Vinod’s character. Haunting is the most common message I get now because of keeping the audience in that group of friends. A week following I watched this movie, I got a message saying that this movie will not leave me. If needed, the story might have been given a completeness in many ways like what the character of Vinod did and the reasons for it. But such attempts were abandoned because we knew it would take away from what we wanted to say.
A gap of seven years following ‘He’s Not Me’
‘Ayaal Ngaalla’ is my first directorial film. After that dear friend is done. Meanwhile, there was a plan to do one more film with me and Fahadh Faasil. It took some time to script it. But the film was shelved at that time as it was not supposed to be done then. The things of that movie will happen in the coming days. Discussions regarding Dear Friend movie started almost two years ago. A natural accommodation has taken place in it all.
Basil the director and Arjun the actor
Basil has appeared as an actor in the movie Dear Friend. Similarly, Arjun is not only an actor in this film but also in the script. Not only them, Sameer Tahir, Shaiju Khalid and a team of sound technicians were also involved in the movie Dear Friend in many areas. One of the reasons I got it as the movie I intended was because of Sameer Tahir and Shaiju Khalid in it. If we had to, we might have treated this film in a way that many audiences might connect with. But I got support from the producer side to make it a film with the climax as intended. Likewise, Basil was cast with the assurance that he would fit the role. We are not looking at director Basil here. Basil has surprised me with his acting in some scenes. It was Arjun who first came to me with an idea for this story. When I heard that idea, I was able to watch a movie that I was interested in. Later, I went to the others with this story. Arjun was not seen in a prominent role following Tanmatra. And Arjun is a person who knows more regarding a life that is told in this story. Therefore his support was more helpful to me.
34 years in cinema
The first movie Pathipura was released in 1988. I was a child actor in it. I am a person born and brought up in a rural area called Vengara in Kannur district. In that village it is very rare to go to see a movie. There were theaters miles away. It was a time when I mightn’t even think of being a part of a movie. At that time, the youth festival and dance got a lot of attention and some offers came. That’s how the movie Pathipura comes to be. And because my father was a photographer, there were cameras in the house. And my father was very interested in showing movies. My father has shown me so many movies that I might not watch at that age. My passion was filmmaking rather than acting. When I had a camera at home, I used to shoot with it. It was my father who gave me that passion. Cinema has changed a lot in 34 years. And it is a very happy thing that platforms like OTT have now come to tell any kind of stories and reach them to the intended people.
Ways Mammukka Influenced
The fact that I was lucky enough to play the childhood of Mammootty’s character in Vadkan Veeragatha is something I like to remember with great pride today. The character that I am playing in the voice over of Mammooka is shown in the film as a whole. I don’t even have a single dialogue in that film. I like to remember that with great pride. And MT sir’s dialogues were so powerful. Also I like that movie a lot as a classic movie. And Mammukka is the reason why I used to live in Kannur and settled down in Ernakulam. When Mammooka came to Kannur for a shoot, I went to meet him. He says that if you stay here, you will stay here. Instead you should move to Ernakulam. Similarly, I had gone to see Mammooka before I went to start shooting for the film He is not me. I am very happy to have his blessing. He is an inspiration to me as an actor and as a person. I am a bit more fond of people who see cinema as a passion in general. The other day, I had sent a message to Mammooka saying that the movie was released on Netflix and I wanted to watch it.
God’s angel who came out of time
I was acting at every age of mine. Devadoothan is the film I did following a gap following acting in my youth. I have done most films with CB sir. There was a make-up test for Devadhuthan movie in Ernakulam. Even when I came for it, I didn’t know regarding the character I was going to play. It was only when I reached the location and started shooting that I realized the depth of the character and the film. But it was a movie out of time. Now that movie is being celebrated. Especially during the time of covid when everyone is sitting at home and watching old movies, the reach of that movie has increased.
There are very few dupe shots in the movie. There were some scenes with dogs. I did it myself. I am very afraid of dogs. But when we say for the film, there is an energy that comes from within us. That’s how the courage to do that scene comes. Such a fight sequence with dogs was done. At the end of that scene, he falls into a pit. One of the dogs that was supposed to stand at the end of the pit unexpectedly fell into the pit while the shoot was going on. If it is a pit with room for only one person to lie down. As the fallen dog lay inside it and made noise, its claws left marks all over my body. After that, following finishing that shot, actor Murali Chetan asked me very angrily the next day, are you Jayano? that What would you do if that dog bit you on the face? An actor’s biggest tool is his face. Murali Chettan has scolded me a lot for that kind of love.
Northern heroic story that gives memories
The movie was truly a celebration. With so many children, shoot locations, elephants and so on, the film had a very exciting atmosphere. There is a scene in that film where I do Kalari. I am doing Kalari with the child of the character who was called Kunhiraman in the beginning of that scene. After that, Balan K Nair sir is doing Kalari with me. He has a body like steel. We cannot stop him at that age. At that time I was afraid that I might get hit without knowing it. So there are some interesting experiences in that movie. At that time the joys in that movie were very small joys. Little joys like being able to ride an elephant. But today is the opposite. The biggest joy today is being able to be a part of that classic film. He also won the State Award for Best Child Actor for his performance in that film.
I wanted to become a director
Since my father was a photographer, if I had any technical doubts regarding the film, I used to ask my father. Father will tell me the way he knows. Although the film came unexpectedly, the truth is that I had an interest as a filmmaker even during those days. There have been conscious attempts to do so on my part. I had directed commercials. Because I started doing commercials because I wanted to stand behind the camera and learn a little more regarding its technology. Later, when he got the confidence to do a film, he did it, not me. As an actor, there are limitations when it comes to bringing the stories we want to tell to people. And I try to feed the character to the artists like an actor becomes a director. Acting never feeds into them. If I try to feed acting, my performance will reflect on it. I am not interested in that. I have never seen Tovino do such a complex character anywhere before as he did in Dear Friend. So, in each scene and each dialogue, I told what the character was thinking.
Dancer Vineet Kumar
I have studied dance for a long time. And I like it. But at the moment I am focused on film and there is a serious plan to start a dance production in the future. If it is not imminent, it will happen soon. Preparations are underway.
