KOCHI: Hachi and Laaby are two 52-day-old Labrador puppies. Their owner played by director-actor Johny Antony, leaves them in his apartment one day. The puppies struggle to survive alone inside the secluded flat without food and water. The short film Pawssible written and directed by young independent filmmaker Akshay Keecheri is an eye-opener for pet owners, made adorable by the ‘natural acting’ of its two protagonists.
The 25-minute-long flick shows the puppies standing up for each other when things get hard. To those of you wondering if the puppies actually had to endure hunger to be in the film, Akshay says no way! “We patiently spent around five days with the puppies inside the flat. Those babies love to sleep. We fed them on time and every day after the shoot we used to take them for health check-ups too. The film does not have a storyboard and the scenes are all captured depending on their routine,” he says.
The two puppies belong to Akshay’s friend, but he ended up taking care of them for a few days after they were born. According to him, since day one, he has been observing them. “I took care of them which helped me understand how they sleep, eat and bond with each other. My idea was to reach out to those who abandon pets when they fall sick or grow old. Pets are our responsibility and nothing should change that,” he says.
It was challenging for Akshay and his team to shoot the climax scene where Labby is locked inside the balcony accidentally. The puppies work together to rescue each other. “We never trained them for any scenes. All the visuals are their own antics and natural behaviour. Hachi acts a little mature and is calm but Labby is very restless and naughty,” he adds.
The film produced by Aashiq Bava under the banner Saina Infotainments was released on the YouTube page of Saina Movies. Nikhil Surendran cranked the camera and Ramees M B edited the visuals.