Nithin Lukose’s Paka picked up by Toronto International Film Festival; Anurag Kashyap to co-produce

We had recently interacted with sound designer-turned-filmmaker Nithin Lukose on his directorial debut Paka (River of Blood). The film, regarded as one of the most anticipated Malayalam releases of the year, has just been selected to premiere at the 46th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Anurag Kashyap has officially come on board as co-producer along with Mallesham maker Raj R. The former has tweeted that he is proud to be associated with the film. Thanking Anurag and Raj, Nithin, a Wayanad native, said the moment is a “dream come true” and that he has “waited patiently for years” for it.

Proud to be associated with @pakathefilm .. playing at @TIFF_NET pic.twitter.com/RsukZiE49J

— Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) July 28, 2021

“The idea was to tell a universal story while keeping the film rooted in the cultural attributes of the remote village I grew up in and the people I love. It’s a matter of pride that a regional Malayalam film is getting a platform through a globally renowned festival like TIFF.”

The official synopsis of the film describes it as a “Romeo and Juliet–esque vengeance tale set deep in the forests of Kerala, where the river is witness to a violent, generations-old feud”. The cast of Paka features Basil Paulose (Randu Per), Nithin George (Luca), and Vinitha Koshy (Ottamuri Velicham), among others. Faizal Ahamed composed the music, and Srikanth Kabothu helmed the camera.

Arunima Shankar edited the film, and Akhil Ravi Padmini handled the production design. Jobin Jayan, Aravind Sundar and Pramod Sundar worked in the sound department.An alumnus of Pune’s FTII, Nithin has worked on the sound of over 25 films across various languages, including Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi. He worked as the supervising sound editor on the Kannada hit Arishadvarga and Dibakar Banerjee’s last film Sandeep Aur Pinki Faraar.