‘Pyali’ not a children’s film: Babita and Rinni

cup The husband-wife duo directorial debut of Babita and Rin. It tells the story of brothers and sisters of Kashmiri origin, Payali and her elder brother Jiya, who have made Kerala their home.

The film, which will hit the theaters on July 8, is a dream come true for Babita and Rin. The couple, who hail from Kochi, admitted that the journey faced many obstacles along the way. “Finding a producer was the hardest part. cup It is not a children’s film, although we have two children as protagonists. Producers were reluctant to invest in a project created by budding actors, also featuring children in lead roles. Even in films promoted as children’s films, there is usually a protagonist person who gets the same amount of screen time. cup There is no such character and we were not prepared to include one,” says Rin.

The couple says that it was only after their marriage nine years ago that they started thinking about films. Babita used to be an IT professional and Rin an interior designer. “I made a short film based on Rin’s story while working with a company at Infopark. The appreciation I got for the short made me realize that I have the potential to be a filmmaker. I quit my job to focus on films, while Rin continued to work for some more time,” says Babita. He also made a 23-minute film “to understand the technical aspects of filmmaking”.

cup The concept was done six years ago. Although Rin had another project in mind as his first project, the story of cup Asked Babita. “Despite the difficulties, street children have their own ways of celebrating life. cup Such moments are about the bond between siblings and how they face difficult situations,” says Babita.

The project is the first production venture of NF Varghese Pictures, a banner launched in memory of veteran actor NF Varghese by his daughter Sofia Varghese. Later Dulquer Salmaan’s Wayfarer Films stepped in as co-producer and is also distributing the film.

“Sophia Ma’am’s family has been my client and it was at a family gathering that we told her the story cup, He did not have a production banner then. However, a year later he approached us after launching the production house. We were still looking for a producer back then and she was ready to support the project. He told us that this was his way of giving back to the Malayalam film industry for giving so much to his father and his family,” explains Rin.

winning prizes

The film won the Kerala State Film Award (2021) for Best Child Actor (Barbie Sharma playing the role of Pyali) and Art Direction (Santosh Raman). The award came as a boon to both those who were looking for a distributor at that time. “Most of the distributors we approached were not even ready to watch the film. It was our art director who suggested that we should bring a catchy trailer for which we approached a prominent name, Don Max. He took the initiative to bring Wayfarer Films. Dulquer also saw the film, liked it and came on board,” says Rin.

Barbie Sharma and George Jacob cup
, photo credit: special arrangement

Barbie, who plays the titular character, has done many advertising films and starred in films such as Baaghi 2 And India. “We were finding it difficult to find the right face for the role. That’s when Sofia ma’am showed us her ad film and that’s how we got our cup. It also took time to find Jia. Finally we got George from Dubai, who has no acting experience. He said that he did not want to let this opportunity pass by,” says Babita.

Both say that working with child actors is not an easy task. “When we started shooting, Barbie told me, I am feeling shy (I am feeling shy)! He has a habit of shooting indoor for ad films. Working with a large crew, even outside, was overwhelming for him. To encourage her, I told her that if she worked hard, she could win a prize. And he did. ,

Apart from this, there are stalwarts like Unni Mukundan, Appani Sarath and Mamukoya and Srinivasan in the cast.

Even though there has been a decline in the viewership of short films in theatres, directors say that cup Calls for a theater experience. “Some famous names are on the crew and we want their work to be experienced on the big screen,” mentions Rin.

So were there creative differences between them while making the film? “We are as different as chalk and cheese. We take it as a challenge to explain to each other and often get into arguments too. This is what has brought out the best of this partnership,” says Babita. Rin says: “In the case of” cupI didn’t have to do much to persuade him.”