He lives in the past and broods over memories that haunt his very existence. Jeethu Joseph’s Memories is an episode from the life of Sam Alex, a police officer. The film that will hit the screens on August 9, will have Prithviraj donning the garb of the cop yet again. “The film is an out-of-the-box attempt, a far cry from my previous flicks,” says the director, who had two back-to-back hits, Mummy and Me and My Boss, in the last three years.
“Memories is my most ambitious project,” reveals Jeethu who has also written the story of the film. “Sam Alex is different from the usual cop characters. For a change, he is a chronic alcoholic, making hell of his life. He was once an efficient police officer, but his life changes dramatically after certain incidents. The film unveils a portion from his life,” says the director.
“Since he has already proved his mettle in his profession in the past, Sam is assigned to investigate a case. A hurricane of events follow, including shocking revelations, professional jealousy and family drama. Though the film at times traverses in an action mode, it is not an action film. Memories is more of a mystery movie,” says Jeethu.
“While developing the story, I concentrated more on the characterisation of Sam, the protagonist. The story centres on his life, his anguish and what charts his fall from a super cop to a drunkard who clings to his past.” says the director. He feels that Prithviraj has done his role excellently in the film. “In fact, his performance is a notch above my imagination,” he says.
Meghna Raj plays Teena, Sam’s wife while Mia George is Varsha Mathews, a bubbly journalist who enters the troubled cop’s life. “Though both the characters are not lengthy in terms of the screen presence, they have ample significance in the story,” says Jeethu who adds that he does not believe in casting heroines as side kicks. “I always make it a point to carve female characters with their own identity,” he says.
Quiz the director whether there is pressure on account of the impressive box office success of his last outing, he says, “Frankly speaking, it has never been a criterion for me, except that I wish not to create losses for the producer who shells out money for the film.”
Nedumudi Venu, Vijayaraghavan, Madhupal, Rahul Madhav, Suresh Krishna, Sreejith Ravi, Irshad, Vanitha Krishnachandran and Praveena will also be seen in Memories.
Sejo John is the music director of the film, who has been associating with Jeethu since Mummy and Me. There are two songs, sung by Vijay Yesudas and Shelton Pinheiro. The background score is by Anil Johnson, who debuted with Three Dots. The cinematography is by Sujith Vasudev. Memories is produced by P K Muralidharan and Santha Murali under the banner of Anantha Vision.