An established theatre and small-screen actor, Aneesh Ravi has shown his prowess in both serious and comic avatars on television. Tickling your funny bone through the sitcom ‘Karyam Nissaram’ currently telecast in Kairali TV, the actor has, however, chosen a serious topic for his next venture. The short film Rs 12 Vayassu’ will be premiered on March 8, International Women’s Day, at 9 am in Kalabhavan Theatre.
Inspired by everyday situations faced by women in society, the 40-minute shortfilm revolves around the life of an unwed mother and her daughter. The theme for the 40-minute-film had been forming in his mind for long, says the actor.
“I had been thinking of directing a short film for a year now, and this topic was there at the back of my mind, which eventually shaped up into a story.”
Elaborating on his short film and its theme, he says, “I intend to give out a warning to everyone, rather than a message, to create more awareness on issues faced by women in society. You read such news everyday in the papers. The film starts with a quote by Gandhiji, ‘The day when women can walk freely on the roads at night, we can say that India has achieved independence’, which is still not a reality. Except for an exceptional few, women do not feel secure travelling alone in any place here.”
Having shared more screen space currently with ‘Karyam Nissaram’ actor Anu Joseph, Aneesh has chosen her for essaying the title role as well. Elaborating further, he says, “Anu is an actor with enormous potential. She can play both comic roles as well as extremely serious roles with conviction. She portrays in this film a serious character of an insecure, unwed mother who feels forced to take a dramatic step to save her daughter. Her role reaches more gravity towards the climax, showing the sorrowful situations she faces.”
Though Aneesh had conceived the idea and penned the script for an earlier short film ‘The Candle’ a year back, the actor regards ‘12 Vayassu’ as his debut. He states, “’The Candle’ was a short duration film taken using a handicam. ‘12 Vayassu’ is meant to be a more elaborate venture. I hope to use this film as part of a campaign to create more awasreness on the topic. We are also willing to approach interested organisations for the same.”
Like most shortfilms dealing with grave issues, the end is not all hunky dory.
Saying that he doesn’t mind criticism coming his way for being too negative, he adds, “One can always portray bold women as characters, but how many of them are there in real life? Would you be more attracted by the few ordinary looking flowers or a larger bunch of colourful fragrant flowers? Their story is what I have shown.”