KOCHI: Keeping it simple and elegant, Koodu, one of the latest short film releases on YouTube, manages to strike the right chord. Featuring a kitten, Mitty, the movie tells the story of how the abandoned feline finds a home for itself. The movie is the third directorial venture of Vishnu R Menon. “The hardest part was shooting. Cats are not animals that obey commands, nor are they easy to train,” says Vishnu. The seven-minute movie, sans any dialogue, has successfully captured the kitten in its journey. Beautifully shot scenes manage to grab the viewer’s attention as the little creature navigates the city and its crowded lanes. The shots involving the cat look in no way staged. 

Mitty was a stray who ventured into the house of one of Vishnu’s friends. While the idea of a short film featuring a cat was brought up, Mitty was chosen to play the central character. The shooting had its fair share of uncertainty, getting the right reactions of the cat and setting the cameras to capture the agile creature. “On the first day of the shoot, Mitty fell down a small tunnel.

A few tense hours later, we managed to rescue her. The next day, we managed to get one perfect shot after three hours of shoot. It was only then that we gained the confidence that shooting with a cat was possible. The shoot, which was initially planned for three days, extended to 11 days spread across one month,” adds Vishnu.

The shoot got over by November 2019. The post-production went hassle free and the film was screened for directors who gave their inputs. The movie was released on YouTube on February 4 and has managed to garner over 15,000 views till now. The comments section, which is usually witness to a fair share of hate comments, is flooded with appreciation for the movie.

The team of Koodu includes Vishnu Mohan, director of photography, and Sanoop Balakrishnan, the cameraman, worked hard for the perfect shots. Abhijit Ashokan is the creative director and Arun Raghav is the editor. The background music has been composed by Madhuvanthi Narayan.Vishnu has received calls from industry big-shots to collaborate on projects. Currently working as the manager of an insurance company, he plans to move full time into movies.