The trailer of Karam, which dropped out of the blue last month, rather stylishly and dramatically announced director-actor-producer Vineeth Sreenivasan’s next directorial film after last year’sVarshangalkku Shesham.That he was working on a film, let alone that it was ready, was kept under wraps. “It is precisely for this reason…for that element of surprise. We did not want anyone to know; if word got out, then information about the film would have also got out, like the story and the location! This way, people could go straight to the trailer and wonder ‘How did that happen!’” says Vineeth, a tad gleefully over phone from the UK.
Karam, which releases in theatres on September 25,looks very different from the signature, feel-good Vineeth Sreenivasan films, like Thattathin Marayathu, Jacobinte Swargarajyam, Hridayam and Varshangalkku Shesham. With Noble Babu Thomas in the lead, the two trailers have generated quite a bit of curiosity. “We have ensured that the trailer has been cut in such a way that nothing is revealed.” All one gets from the trailer is that the film was shot in a foreign country, and that it is action-packed.
But this much Vineeth will say: “It is about how a man on a mission in a foreign country survives and gets out of that place. He is in survival mode and does what needs to be done to get out of there alive.” He clarifies it is not a survival thriller.
Vineeth Sreenivasan
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Special Arrangement
After Thira, Karam is the second Vineeth-directed film that wasn’t written by him; Noble, who is also Vineeth’s long-time friend from college, has penned the screenplay apart from playing the lead role. “Noble had been working on this story for a while, and he came to me for feedback on it. He had been intending to direct and act in it. Over the next two years, I have seen the progression of the draft and many iterations of the story.” Vineeth had, anyway, been toying with the idea of a thriller, which is why, in 2023, when the pre-production of Varshangalkku Shesham was on, he asked Noble if he could wait a year.
“I told him if he could wait for a year, I would direct it. This film I asked for myself,” he says, laughing. Travelling with the story ties up with choosing Noble to play Dev Mahendran, the protagonist. “The entire time I heard the story and its versions, it was through Noble’s voice. I visualised him in a military sequence from the story, all dressed in military gear. This was even before I committed to the project.”
The reason he chose the story harks back to his love for thriller films, he confesses. “Though I watch all kinds of films, I feel a certain attachment to thrillers. When it comes to films I act in, some of my recent films like Mukundan Unni Associates and Thankam were thrillers;I also produced Helen, which was a survival thriller.”
Vineeth speaks of aspects of a thriller that appeal to him and uses Helen, co-written by Noble, to illustrate his point. “It had a hook, which I found interesting. Now that Helen is stuck in the freezer, how does she escape? That is the hook point. Similarly, for instance, like in the 1992 film Malootty, the hook point is how they rescue the child when she falls into a borewell. Karam too has one, and that drew me to it,” adds Vineeth.
Vineeth Sreenivasan along with the crew of ‘Karam’
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Special Arrangement
He enjoyed the prep-work, finalising the screenplay and the revisions and calls the process interesting, enhanced by his love of thrillers. The other thriller Vineeth directed was Thira (2013), which did not do well in theatres, but, like many films, found its following with people revisiting the movie
With around 90% of the film being shot in Georgia, parts of Azerbaijan and Russia, and parts of North India and Kochi, filming was a whole other ball game, says Vineeth. “Filming was tough. We were on another continent, the weather was unpredictable, and we were working with a foreign crew, most of whom did not speak English. While shooting in those countries, everything better be planned. If you get an impromptu idea, you just fold it and put it back in your pocket [laughs]. What we do [Malayalam industry] is film from, say, 6am to 9.30pm; you cannot do that there. If the shift starts at 9am, it has to end at 9pm. Lunch and rest breaks, plus the time spent trying to communicate or correct any miscommunication and weather changes, are all included in it, which means the productive hours are extremely limited!”
Vineeth Sreenivasan, Noble Babu Thomas, and Visakh Subramaniam, while shooting ‘Karam’
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Special Arrangement
While these were what he refers to as the broader issues of making the film, there were also the ‘microscopic’ issues, like the crew missing home. “Since I was one of the most patient people on the crew, I was there for those as well.”
On co-producing the film, he says, “I knew the budget would be huge, and I did not want Visakh [Subramaniam] to take it all on himself. We have not scrimped or cut corners in any way.” Adding that this experience has been a learning curve for him and Visakh, Vineeth says they now know what it takes to film in Europe in terms of the overheads, budgets, visa procedures and other variables.
Visakh Subramaniam on co-producing ‘Karam’ with Vineeth Sreenivasan
This will be the third film producer and distributor Visakh Subramaniam of Merryland Studios and Vineeth are working on together after Hridayam and Varshangalkku Shesham. “The pre-production of Varshangalkku… was on when Vineeth suggested that we collaborate on a third film, a thriller.” The project was finalised after a sitting postVarshangalkku Shesham. Visakh’s faith in Vineeth’s vision and confidence when it came to the subject is evident as he speaks about their latest collaboration.
Vineeth told him that there could be no compromises. “He narrated a scene and told me that we would have to invest in the production quality, get the best technicians and technology. That it would be an international kind of movie. Of course, we could not fix the budget at that point in our discussions, but we also knew that there could not be any compromises. Vineeth also told me that his production house, Habit of Life, would co-produce. Which meant he was confident about the subject; I told Vineeth, ‘If you are there, count me in.’ From the get-go, we have been completely into the film. It will be a trendsetter if we manage to pull it off.”
The two have been friends since Visakh produced the Dhyan Sreenivasan-directorial Love Action Drama (2019) in which Vineeth acted. He echoes the challenges Vineeth mentioned in filming Karam. “It was, unexpectedly, a huge learning experience for us, as producers. It felt like we had no control over things unlike how it would have been had we been shooting in India. There could be no last-minute changes; we had to get prior permission for everything — where we intended to shoot, the exact area, the camera angle…”
The unprecedented, record-breaking success of the Lokah is cause for happiness and hope for Visakh, as it is proof that the audience will embrace a film imagined and made differently. “Its success gives me confidence because only then can we producers think of investing in films that are different. There is no point in saying a film is great after it releases on OTT. Only if a film does well in theatres does a producer get the confidence to take risks. Folks have to go to theatres and watch it. Look at Dulquer [Salmaan], he invested in other actors, believed in the content and got the best technicians… and it translated into Lokah,” Visakh adds.
From left: Noble Babu Thomas, Vineeth Sreenivasan, cinematographer of the film Jomon T John and producer Visakh Subramaniam on the sets of the film
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Special Arrangement
This is also happens to be the first time that Vineeth will not be in the country for the release of a film of his — he is in the UK as part of a stage show he committed to a year ago. “This film has been many firsts for me,” he laughs.
“We had planned [before filming started] for Karam to release earlier this year, in April-May. We thought of filming in October-November 2024. However, we could not get visas for some of our crew. By the time that was sorted, the weather wasn’t ideal — not only would it be cold, but sunlight hours would be fewer too. So, we ended up filming when we thought we would release it, and that is how I am here.”
He then adds, “Don’t tell Visakh, but I am really calm and at ease here! Yesterday [September 21], we went for the stage rehearsal, and it was so relaxed. I am enjoying this; otherwise, if I were back home, I would be overthinking and getting all worked up. I enjoy singing, and when I am singing, I don’t think of anything. But jokes apart, everything, including the censor certificate, was done by the time I left on September 17. The rest will be taken care of by Visakh and my team back home.
Since Karam is a thriller, a question about the possibility of a sequel to Thira is inevitable. He says there was a screenplay he liked, but it cannot be done now since some of the actors have grown up, and a couple of the actors have died. However, he does want to work with Shobana again. “If I go to Shobana chechi and say, ‘Let’s do a wacky film,’ she will be game. She is in a space where she wants to do something she has not done before, and I hope to someday do that. Dhyan [Sreenivasan], however, is focused on doing something with Thira 2, and he will be able to do it.”
Karam releases in theatres on September 25
