Driven by his passion for movies, Sujith Sahadev started his career as an associate editor in the film industry. After having worked on 22 films beyond language and cultural barriers; Sujith has stepped into the shoes of a director with his debut Malayalam short film ‘Side effect’. The film, a family drama thriller, has been scripted, directed and edited by Sujith. It revolves around three characters whose life takes a twist because of an abrupt or unforeseen moment. The 20-minute movie, shot entirely in Thiruvananthapuram, was released five days ago on YouTube and has garnered over 44,000 views and counting.
“Although I have been working as an associate editor for more than 20 years now and have worked for films in different languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi; making a film of my own has been a dream of mine. So, I thought of finally going ahead with a story thread I had in mind to make the short film,” says Sujith.
After turning the idea into a script, he discussed it with his friends from LBS College of Engineering, Kasaragod, who readily agreed to support him. What makes the short film more interesting is its title which refers the side effect the doctor, the protagonist of the film, has to experience. “I have kept the script simple and open to interpretations. The film consists of just three characters with limited locations,” says the director. The movie was shot in just two days.
Produced under Artistic Banners Coalition in association with Anangoor Bros; the cinematography has been done by Vipin Chandran. Background score has been rendered by Prakash Alex while Abhilash Kunjukrishnan is credited as the associate director.
The short film has already been screened at various film festivals. It bagged Sujith the best editor award at the Stoned Monkey International Film Awards held in Bengaluru last year and Pink City International Short Film Festival in Jaipur. Vipin was presented with the best cinematographer at the Contact Short Film Festival, 2019 held in Thiruvananthapuram. ‘Side effect’ has also been selected for Kolhapur Short Film Festival and Lift-off Sessions July 2019. After the success of his short film, Sujith is currently planning his next work, which will be a feature film.