Udhayanidhi Stalin – Namitha Pramod – Parvathi Nair starrer ‘Nimir’ is directed by Priyadarshan, one of the country’s most celebrated filmmakers. The film produced by Santhosh T Kuruvilla under the banner Moonshot Entertainment has now wrapped up the shoot and is gearing up for release. The film features South industry’s most celebrated Darbuka Siva and Ajaneesh Loknath composing music.
“So far, I have produced 4 Malayalam films and this is my maiden debut in Tamil film industry. I feel proud and elated to have a legendary filmmaker like Priyadarshan, who has already directed 93 regional films, which are box office winners. We at ‘Nimir’ team are gleeful to see that the film has come out well,” said producer Santhosh Kuruvilla.
“Nimir is a much important film in my career and I have inherited a lot of experience working with a well experienced team. I feel lucky to have got an opportunity to share screen space with Udhayanidhi Stalin,” said Parvathy Nair.
Udhayanidhi Stalin said, “One day, I got a call from Priyadarshan sir asking me to act in his direction. In fact, he hadn’t watched any of my previous movies, which in one way I would say is good. When we are performing along with renowned actors, we remain awestricken. Such was an immense experience working Mahendran sir. I was yet more fascinated to hear him say that he got many opportunities to act after ‘Theri’, which he refused. But he gave a nod to ‘Nimir’ only for the sake of Priyadarshan sir. I am really lucky to have shared the screen space with him. After watching the film in preview, my wife appreciated me saying that I have done a better job than Manithan, but only halfway to Fahadh Faasil’s performance. I am so much happy that she approved me of my performance. Everyone who saw ‘Nimir’ has acknowledged it as Priyadarshan sir’s best till the date. We are planning to release the film on January 26.”
Filmmaker Priyadarshan said, “There have been quite long intervals between my films over the past few years. The reason is that I didn’t want to spoil the reputation earned over the years. At this situation, where only 8 films are left to touch my 100th directorial, I take earnest efforts to choose each film. Moreover, the films that we make should first impress us. I don’t want to confine myself to filmmaking in a particular region for I would love to get acknowledged as National filmmaker. The film required an actor with ordinary yet realistic look and I felt Udhayanidhi would do justice to the role. I told him not act, but behave like the character and he completely got transformed into it. He plays an ordinary person named National Selvam, a photographer who has never been a disturbance to anyone in the neighbourhood. But his life takes a turn, when he is strongly embarrassed and decides not to wear slippers until he seeks revenge. We have just adapted the premise of original version and have modified the screenplay with commercial ingredients. Samuthirakani and M.S. Bhaskar have been more helpful throughout the shooting.
We have tried projecting an ordinary youngster’s lifestyle in village backdrops that everyone could instantly relate with. The entire film was shot across backdrops of Thenkasi in a span of 36 days and Udhayanidhi Stalin acted without wearing slippers for 28 days. After dubbing his portions, Mahendran sir complimented Udhayanidhi saying that his performance is better than the best performance of Fahadh Faasil, which is a real big delight. Working with Mahendran sir as an assistant was a long dream run, but it didn’t happen. But now I am happy to have worked with him, which will be an ever-cherishing memory to me.
Vairamuthu and Thamarai have penned lyrics with youngsters Ajaneesh and Darbuka Siva composing music. It is always great working with a younger team as I can get what I look up for.”
Filmmaker Priyadarshan concluded saying, “Many have been asking me that over past 20 years that I have been making only ‘Art Films’ and not commercial movies. Nimir will be the best answer to this question. I am dedicating this film to cinematographer Vincent and filmmaker Bharathiraja.”
