Rosshan Andrrews had a birthday wish for “cinema”. Marking the anniversary of the first projection of cinema by the Lumiere brothers in Paris on December 28, 1895. The Prathi Poovankozhi director had a poignant, heartfelt message that he shared on social media. Rosshan Andrrews who had worked as assistant director in Ayal Kadha Ezhuthukayanu and Narasimham, spoke about the “luck” he had with the very first shot of his debut film Udayananu Tharam.
“Happy birthday, cinema,” said the filmmaker. “I am perhaps more lucky than any filmmaker, because Udayananu Tharam starts with pictures of the Lumiere brothers and Thomas Alva Edison. The title credits were shot as if rolling from a camera. All this was because of my passion and love for cinema.” He goes on to narrate the story about how when the Lumiere brothers - Auguste and Louis - screened their first short film of a moving train, the audience ran in fear.
Rosshan Andrrews’ 2005 film Udayananu Tharam was a comedy drama about a struggling filmmaker, played by Mohanlal. Sreenivasan, who scripted the film, played an actor who gets a lucky break. The film won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Debut Director. Rosshan Andrrews’ subsequent films, Notebook and Evidam Swargamanu, too went on to win the State Film Awards for Second Best and Popular films. The director-writer made a lauded debut in a negative role in his latest film made last year, Prathi Poovankozhi, a woman-centric film which had Manju Warrier in the lead.
Check out his message here: