KOCHI: Abhilash Purushothaman works as a senior manager in a bank. However, his passion is film making. He has already made two short films. Apart from that, he pens short stories and movie scripts.
Both his short movies have been released on YouTube. While he has scripted and directed ‘Akam-Puram’, ‘The Better Half’ has been penned and produced by him while his friend Vishnu Muraleedharan directed it.
The ‘Better Half’ focuses on extra-marital affairs and the crimes associated with it. Interestingly, there are no dialogues. However, it does have gripping background music. The movie was screened at the South Asian short film festival, Kolkata and the 4th India International Deaf film festival, New Delhi.
The film has won five awards so far, including two ‘best female actor awards’ for Priyanka Nair. The male lead is played by Anish Rahman.
The 2017 film, ‘Akam-Puram’ was screened at the Hackney International Film Festival, London, Asia Pacific Short Film festival, China and in the Kolkata Film Festival. The film also bagged the Adoor Bhasi film award for the best screenplay. ‘Akam-Puram’ was inspired by the sight of a handcuffed criminal being taken to court or back to jail by police officers.
“This is a scene which we see regularly while we commute. Both the criminal and the police are there owing to a specific reason and I developed this into a story,” said Abhilash. He has already completed the script for a feature-length movie and is in discussions with prospective producers. However, he is trying to find the right balance between his job and movies. “It is not easy,” he said.