Everyone is on the lookout for a good day and so is director G Marthandan through the life of Durgaprasad from Jharkhand. Titled Acha Dhin, the second directorial outing of Marthandan, narrates a interesting story of North Indian couple Durgaprasad and his wife settled in Kerala.
“In Kerala and majorly in Kochi, there is a huge inflow of North Indians as migrant labourers, Army and Navy people and IT professionals among others. But, many a times the people here are hostile to them and always keep them at a distance. Acha Dhin revolves around these minority people’s woes and blessings they face from the society here,” says Marthandan.
Mammootty plays Durgaprasad in the movie. “Durgaprasad is from Jharkhand. He loves and marries a girl from his village who happens to be from an elite community. Due to unfortunate circumstances, they flee their land and come down to Kerala and settle here. They have been in Kerala for the past 20 years and Kerala is their adopted home,” says Marthandan.
Ask him whether the characters will be speaking Hindi, he says, “Though they are Hindi-speaking people, Durgaprasad loves Kerala. For him, Kerala is the place where he and his wife got a safe abode in their life. And he shows his gratitude for the place and its people by speaking Malayalam and living like a Malayali.”
Mansi Sharma who has acted in Punjabi films, and epic teleserials like Devo Ke Dev Mahadev and Mahabharat, essays the role of Sheetal, Durgaprasad’s wife in the movie. In the movie she appears as a pregnant woman.
On spotting Mansi for the role, he says, “The days for the shoot were approaching and I wasn’t able to find a heroine. Then one day while at home, I happened to see an advertisement of a private cellular company. The ad ended with the frame of Mansi and instantly her image striked me as Sheetal. She has a strong theatre background and the role in the movie is equally meaty,” he says.
The movie, a complete family entertainer, imparts a strong social message too. “If we have erred a soceity, then it is on us to correct it and the same applies vice-versa. The movie speaks about the need of people to react to wrong doings,” says Marthandan.
The director who is associating with Mammootty for the second time, after Daivathinde Swantham Cleetus, says, “I am lucky to work with such a great actor like Mammootty for the second time. And A C Vijeesh who has penned for Mammootty-starrer Emmanuel, is the scenarist. Both Vijeesh and I are working with him for the second time.”
Renji Panicker will play the role of Chief Minister Thomas Chacko, Maniyan Pilla Raju as police officer. Sudheer Karaman, Padmaraj Ratheeh, Pashanam Shaji also appear in prominent roles.
Bijibal has composed the music for the three songs penned by Santhosh Varma. Pradeep Nair wields the camera. The film produced by S George under the banner of Cyn Cyl Celluloid will hit the screens on Ramzan.