Aju Varghese, Gokul Suresh join sci-fi film

It’s not every day that we see a filmmaker shooting his third project when his first two films are yet to release. Arun Chandu, who recently completed Sayahna Vaarthakal and Saajan Bakery, has started working on his third film, titled Gaganachari. The launch happened at Kochi.

The film sees Arun reteaming with Aju Varghese for the third time. Gokul Suresh and Anarkali Marikar play the other main leads. The latter, last seen as Parvathy’s batchmate in Uyare, is the female lead. KB Ganesh Kumar, who also starred in Saajan Bakery, has a part in the film.

Gaganachari refers to a celestial or extraterrestrial being or “the one who travels through the clouds”. Arun tells us the inspiration for the title came from director Padmarajan’s Njan Gandharvan, through which Malayali audiences became familiar with the word. 

“Ours is a futuristic tale set in 2050. It is essentially an indie feature made on a relatively minimal budget,” adds Arun.The team is shooting the film indoors. “It’s about a few characters holed up inside an apartment after an alien invasion. It has some humorous elements too.

We have put up a futuristic set inside the studio,” says Arun, who developed the script with Siva Sai during the pandemic. Surjith S Pai is director of photography while Aravind Manmadhan handles editing and Prasanth Pillai works on the music. Ajith Vinayaka Films is producing the film.