Director Johnny Antony is all set to repeat his screen magic with superstar Mammootty in the Ramzan release ‘Thappana.’ This time the director is teaming up with scriptwriter M Sindhuraj whose last two flicks were runaway hits.
'Thappana' revolves around the life of Mallika (Charmi) after she meets Samson (Mammootty), a habitual offender who could call all the jails in the state, where he spends most of his time, as his ‘homes’. Samson joins Mallika, an ex-convict on her journey to her hamlet where they meet Kannu Kuttan (Murali Gopi), Johny (Vijayaraghavan) and Kochappi(Shajon).
“I always go for films with strong entertainment elements. But here, in addition to the entertainment, the film has the base of a strong subject and is told in a very simple manner. Personally, I’m interested in watching Mammootty as a rustic simpleton as in films like ‘Kottayam Kunjachan’, ‘Sangham’, ‘Rajamanikyam’ or my own ‘Thuruppugulan’. Samson is a villager who would go to any extent for his friends,” says Johnny Antony.
“The trend turned in favour of simple films in Malayalam starting with films like ‘Elsamma Enna Aankutty’. And even an action film like ‘Puthiya Mugham played up the father-son angle. We are following a similar simple humorous storyline in ‘Thappana’, but with strong emotional content,” Says Sindhuraj who penned ‘Elsamma Enna Aankutty’ and ‘Puthiyamugham’.
Though this is Johnny’s third film with Mammotty, ‘Thappana’ is the first film of Sindhuraj with the superstar. “Most of the directors are known by their first films and if it happens to be a superhit, the labelling would be stronger. I did a film like ‘Cycle’ after four consecutive hits as I wanted to do different types of films. Though it had fresh faces, the film did well. So I am doing ‘Thappana’ in a different flavour. Every film is a challenge for the writer and I consider those works which connects well with the viewers as my best,” says Johnny.
The film produced by Milan Jaleel under the banner of Galaxy films has an array of characters played by prominent actors. This is the eighth film of Johny Antony as a dirctor and seventh film of Sindhuraj as the writer.
Both the director and writer has a few words for Mammootty’s performance. “I am certain that the character of Samson got a special treatment from Mammukka and it will be the highlight of the film” says Johnny who does not forget to mention about Murali Gopi. “It is a delight to watch his brilliant performance as he is not over exposed. Moreover he has a great lineage in acting”.
Vidyasagar scores the music for Johnny’s film after a gap. “He was the music director for my first two films and they had some super hit songs too, somehow we could not make it for the next films” , says Johnny. Rajarathnam cranks the camera while Ranjan Abraham edits the film.