‘Two Countries’ may entertain you with the story of a mallu fraudster who tries every trick in the book to get to his ambitions. However, what it has done better is redeem Dileep who was struggling with a number of flops in recent years.
The actor whose golden pairing with director Shafi had been making quite a buzz in the media finds himself doing exactly what he is known to do best- entertain.
So much so that Shafi, who is basking in the success of his Christmas hit, says that Dileep was even able to evoke laughter from Canadian passers-by who watched their film shoots in Canada.
“Dileep’s comic timing is so perfect that it had generated huge laughter from a bunch of Canadians who were watching our shoot. It was a great boost for him and the team as we were aiming at a complete out-and-out comedy,” says Shafi.
The comic entertainer has not disappointed its audience in Kerala either, if the number of shows running in theatres is any indicator.
“We all have phases. Some of the films that I made did not turn out as well as I had expected. However, this movie turned out to be right in so many ways. Right from the beginning of the shoot, we have been receiving positive vibes. The cast was good. There were no delays. Everything was smooth. We were sure, we had the material to entertain the audience. But, what we had not anticipated, was the huge response to the film,” Shafi says.
Shafi believes that ‘Two Countries’ could also generate the highest collection of his career.
The director had no qualms that his movie had released nearly on the same days as ‘ Charlie’, ‘Joy and the Boy’ and ‘Adi Kapyare Kootamani’ which have all received quite a good response in theatres.
“ We did not face the pressure as we knew our movie had our own kind of family audience. As a director, I believe that any film which is able to cater to the family entertainment can make a huge hit. ‘Two Countries’ is a family entertainer. Also, we were confident of our pairing,” he adds.
The director had approached Dileep along with script writer brother Raffi for the film two years ago.
“Dileep readily agreed. He was going through a bad phase. My film ‘Kalyanaraman’ starring Dileep had been a hit and I was confident with good script and dialogues in hand, Dileep would be the best choice,” Shafi says.
Mamtha was seen as an apt choice as the heroine of the film. She plays Laya, a Canada based girl in the movie. It was also a boost as the Dileep- Mamtha duo pair had done wonders in the box office in the past.
“Mamtha is very passionate about her work. Most of the shooting which took place in Canada, was in broad daylight and in the middle of summer. In her condition, she was not supposed to face this much heat. However, she never told us anything about this. She was upbeat during the entire filming sequences. It was only after the shoot was wind-up she told us that she felt a bit tired. This is how dedicated she is,” Shafi states.