Is a sweet, coming of age movie’
Vineet Srinivasan talks to City Times about his new movie, that is out today in UAE theatres
dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com
WITH FILM MAKERS making a beeline for school campuses in Kerala, it would seem coming-of-age higher secondary romantic comedies are passé in Malayalam cinema.
However, producer and actors of Kerala’s latest high school rom-com, Thanneer Mathan Dinangal defended the movie saying its ‘simplicity’ sets itself apart from other
movies of the same genre.
Thanneer Mathan Dinangal, loosely translatedas Watermelon Days, is being called a romantic comedy co-written and directed by newbie Girish AD. It was jointly produced by Plan J Studios and Shebin Backer Productions.
With the exception of Vineeth Sreenivasan and the 16-year-old Mathew Thomas, from Kumbalangi Nights fame, and Anaswara Rajan who debuted with Udaharanam Sujatha, most actors in the movie are newcomers. The movie opened to rave reviews in India on July 26, and is awaiting a highly anticipated release in UAE on August 8.
City Times caught up with actor, director, singer Vineeth Sreenivasan, the young actors of Thanneer Mathan Dinangal, and Dubai-based producer Shebin Backer ahead of the movie’s UAE release today. Backer has delivered hits such as Charlie and Take Off.
For most of the cast and crew, the movie’s phenomenal success in Kerala comes as a pleasant surprise. Providing a small gist of the movie, Backer plays a teacher in says acting alongside some young first-time actors was an amazing experience said it is Jaison’s (Mathew) story. For a teenager with many insecurities, he has three things that trouble his young mind and that’s enough to push him into despair.
One of these things has to do with a girl, the second is an ongoing tiff with a senior, and the third and worst one – he has an arch nemesis in the form of a Malayalam teacher, who is popular with all the students, but picks on Jaison at every available opportunity.
The Sreenivasan charm
While producer Shebin Backer is calling Vineeth’s performance in Thanneer Mathan Dinangal one of the best in his career, the movie’s shooting experience was extremely enjoyable for the junior Sreenivasan. “It was like a big family on-set,” Vineeth told City Times over a phone call from Kerala.
“Though I’ve donned the role of a teacher before, this is the first time I’ve played a character like this,” he said. “The character (Ravi Padmanabhan) is someone unusual. Also, most of the actors are newcomers and many