Routemap to creativity 

Express News Service

KOCHI: Routemap, a humour thriller that narrates a tale from lockdown,is the debut attempt by Sooraj Sukumar Nair, a techie working in Technopark. The story revolved around the life of protagonist Sooraj. Just before the Janata curfew was announced, Sooraj’s ex-girlfriend returns. The movie talks about the changes in their life from then on.

The film was shot mostly in Thiruvananthapuram. It also features locations like Chennai and China and the scenes were shot and compiled long-distance. Though the shooting schedule could be completed in a matter of 20 days, the pandemic delayed the work. “We faced a lot of issues in Chennai. The shooting was underway when the triple lockdown was in effect. Once, a policemen stopped the production, but when they came to know about the movie, they were helpful,” says Sooraj who directed the movie. 

The movie was conceived for a dear friend, says Sooraj. “My friend lost a flurry of projects during the pandemic and the movie was an ode to him. But eventually, we couldn’t work out our association with him so we chose another actor in his place,” says Sooraj. The story thread was conceived in a week, he says. “We decided to do something with our limited resources. And that’s how the movie came out,” he said.

He maintains that one can always shoot movies within a controlled budget “This brings hope to newbies and people who are passionate about movies. We did it with a limited budget and resources,” says Sooraj.  The movie is in the final stages of post-production and will be released in theatres in either December or January. According to Sooraj, everyone can relate to the movie. “The lockdown period was an important aspect of all our lives. So everyone will be able to relate with the events in it,” he says. 

The title song of the movie titled ‘Lockdown Avasthakal’ sung by Vaikom Vijayalakshmi was released a few days ago. The movie is produced by Sabarinath G. The story and screenplay is by Sooraj and Arun R Pillai. The cinematography is by Ashik Babu and Kailash S Bhavan is the editor. The cast includes Maqbool Salman, Nobi Marcose, Shaju Sreedhar, Sunil Sughadha, Sinseer, Anand Manmadhan and Dijo Jose Antony.

For Sooraj, cinema has always been a passion. “I just want to create movies that entertain people. I watch all kinds of movies, and I only look at its ability to entertain me. And that’s what I hope to offer to my audience,” he says. “With this movie, I learned a lot. It was like a warm-up for my next film which will be set on a bigger canvas,” he adds.