THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Director Ajith Kumar is a passionate follower of Kerala politics. So much that he decided to make a film on Kannur and the political violence associated with the place. "Eeda speaks not only about the political power play of Kannur but is also representative of the aftermath of conflicts that happen in several places including Kashmir and Palestine," said Ajith Kumar.
The film thrives on a thrilling romance set amidst political chaos. According to the director, it is the adaptation of Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet based in Kannur, which has a long history of bloodshed, martyrdom and to its credit, a number of hartals.
The protagonists Anand and Aishwariya played by Shane Nigam and Nimisha Sajayan respectively meet on a hartal day. Later, the duo falls in love. They learn about the difference in the political affinity of both the families. The extreme political imbalance and the aftermath of the same in the lives of the people have been portrayed beautifully in the movie.
"With the movie as a medium of communication I wanted to portray how political power play is affecting the lives of people," said Ajith. 'Eeda' stands out from the Malayalam movies of the day. "Most of the movies forget to keep the balance between the male and female characters. But I tried to balance both the characters. The viewpoints of the female character have received the same treatment as the male character," he said.
The director, also an award-winning editor, is working on the edit of two movies. Eeda is his first debut directorial. He has received the National Award for Best Editing for 'Naalu Pennungal' in 2009 and won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Editor in 2002, 2013 and 2017.