KOCHI: How often do we give a thought about the breadwinner of the family? More often than not, their efforts to make ends meet are ignored and their hard earned money is often squandered. This is what Sajeev Vyasa, a VFX artist-turned-director, has portrayed in his film Onnum Ariyathe. He says, “This film is a contribution by the people who have worked in the film industry right from script writers to directors. This is based on a family subject. Normally we don’t think about a money purse. How the head of the family earns money. All this has been highlighted in the film.” This was a thought that the director got after having a conversation with his friend.
Sajeev started off his career working with print design for magazines, commercial advertisements and various other multi media projects. From there, he began expanding his potential and went on to become an art director, working for publications like ‘Janakeeyam Sandesam’ and ‘Mathrusabdam’. Besides this, he also worked for film/tv channels as an art director. Soon, an offer from Prasad Corporation led him to join their visual effects studio, EFX Chennai, as a visual effects artist. Since then he has been working for feature films as a VFX artist, specialising in 3D-related visual effects. He excelled in FX work which includes match moving, texturing, lighting, animation and motion graphics. He has also worked with Pixion in Chennai as a visual effects artist for feature films. It was this experience that led him to direct a film.
Onnum Ariyathe has got a distinctive subject as it deals with how the father in the family often earns and strives for his family but the family members never understand. The money purse symbolises the financial crisis that the father has to put up with.The lead role is played by Ansar U H, script is by S K Vilwan, music by Kilimanoor Ramavarma and lyrics by Rafeek Ahammed. Sajeev says, “Although it is a low budget film and done in limited time, there is no compromise in its originality.” The scenes have been shot in different places like Thiruvananthapuram and Venjaramoodu. Being a professional photographer too, Sajeev has done the camera part.
Apart from this, he has also supervised, made and directed a number of motion graphic projects and short films on his own, as personal projects and still continues to do so. All in all, he has been working in the field of print and visual media as an art director and a creative artist for over 15 years. He is also extremely passionate about photography and his photographs almost seem to be alive, ready to speak a thousand words. The movie is being screened in 17 theatres in Kerala as well as in Chennai and Mumbai. Sajeev is presently working on his next film Kakkakoodum Kuyilum Muttayum.