Greed and bad deeds

KOCHI: There is a Tajikistani saying, ‘For a greedy man, even his tomb is too small.’ Shyam Krishna has portrayed this basic human vice of never being content through his short film, ‘Mallanum Madhevanum’. This 10 minutes 31 seconds-long film blends elements of fantasy with the mystery of an open-ended climax, leaving the rest to the viewer’s imagination.

“Our crew is a group of Kannur-based film enthusiasts. ‘Mallanum Madhevanum’ was shot in three days at Taliparambu in Kannur. The helicam shot of the forest was taken before the shoot began. We finished shooting in January and the post production work was done during the lockdown period,” said Shyam. He is the director, writer and editor of the film.

Film actors Vineeth Vishwam (Angamaly Diaries) and Nithin Raj (Abhasam) have played protagonists in ‘Mallanum Madhevanum’. The film begins with a narrative where a grandfather tells his grandson a bedtime story about two thieves stuck in a forest with their loot, after being chased by the police.

The story takes a dark turn when greed gets the best of them both and they forget that they are friends and crime partners. K K P Vengara and Raffan Rasheed dubbed for the grandfather and child, respectively. The background music adds to the suspense and anxiety the movie maintains from beginning to end. 

The film has already received good response from viewers and on social media platforms. It has also been sent to the Kolkata People’s Film Festival and a Mumbai-based film festival under the ‘Best Short Film’ category. The other crew members include Tharun Sudhakaran (cinematographer), Sreeraj P V (producer), Sanal Vasudev (music), Charan Vinayak (sound design) and Sameer Shahjahan (VFX and colouring).
Watch it on the YouTube channel ‘Hallucino’.