Going by the famous Boney M song, Rasputin is an irresistible Casanova. But Susheelan, the hero of Jinu G Daniel’s Rasputin is a sheepish, shy-around-girls introvert. “Rasputin is supposed to be a man no Russian woman could refuse. Susheelan is an antithesis to Rasputin,” says the director. The film, a coming-of-age drama, zooms into the lives of Susheelan (Vinay fort), Radhenathan (Srinath Bhasi) and Gopalan (Aju Varghese) who share an apartment.
Jinu says he would like to call his film a ‘dramedy’, a mix of drama and hard-hitting humour.
“The trio work with the same MNC. Though Susheelan and Radhenathan are cousins who grew up together, they are as different as chalk and cheese. While Radhenathan aka Rad is the quintessential playboy, Susheelan finds women intimidating. Gopalan, with his high-power reading glasses, is striving hard to be a ladies man. To fix Susheelan’s problem with the female folk, Rad introduces him to Dr Smitha, a high-class escort,” he explains the basic story premise.
Joy Mathew plays another key character as Vayalil Satheeshan or VS, a sworn moralist and anti-American. Susheelan’s dad and Radhenathan’s uncle, he hates everything western and is into paying impromptu visits to keep an eye on the boys.
“One day he arrives at the apartment to find Susheelan, who has gone to another city to meet Smitha, missing. While Rad is trying hard to convince his uncle all is well, there arrives his pregnant ex-girlfriend. What follows forms the crux of the storyline,” says the director.
While Vandana Menon plays Dr Smitha, Archana Gupta appears as Ambili, Susheelan’s childhood sweetheart. Other than the lead players Sunil Sukhada, Nandu, Srinda Ashab, Pavithra Menon are also part of the cast which also stars Shritha in a small cameo.
The film is littered with humour, most of it stemming from Rad’s interaction with his tyrant uncle.
“Rasputin is not about sex or girls. It’s a pure coming-of-age film where the characters go through a process of self discovery where they realise what life is all about. It shows how these three characters are transformed and how they make peace with the older generation,” he says.
Ask him whether it’s a new-gen film and Jinu says: “I don’t know what that term refers to, but Rasputin definitely has no drugs and cuss words.” He adds that Rasputin is not a hero-heroine-villain film.
“It’s not a superstar film or big budget film that boasts of spectacular visuals or action sequences. But it deals with an interesting subject, and instead of forty plus heroes playing youngsters we have actors suiting the characters, which I think will be a refreshing change.”
The film produced by E P Varghese under the banner of Blue Moon Pictures, will hit the screens next week.