Vijay Babu is one actor who never does run-of-the-mill roles or movies, whether it is 'Nee-Na', 'Double Barrel' or 'Akashavani'. Coming up for the actor is a character which has never been attempted in Malayalam before probably, that of a Booker Prize-winning writer. 'Yes, I will be playing a Malayali writer who writes in English, something like a male version of Arundhati Roy.
In fact, the brief that I received was exactly that,' says Vijay. Titled 'Ayal Jeevichiruppundu', the film will be directed by Vyasan K P, who has scripted the film 'Avatharam' earlier. 'The film has me and Manikantan Achari of Kammattipaadam as the main characters. While I'm a known writer, he is an ordinary man. The film revolves around a journey both of us undertake,' says Vijay.
'My character is suffering from a writer's block and on meeting the other person, he learns to see life from a different perspective altogether, and I'm able to write again,' adds Vijay.
Its director tells us, 'The lead characters belong to different strata of society, with Vijay playing a wealthy man who has everything in his life. The story evolves when the duo coincidentally meets up in Goa and then progresses as they travel further together.' The filmmaker also says that both the characters are based on real life people.
On the genre, Vysan says, 'It will be a feel-good movie, shot extensively in Goa. But the focus won't be on people revelling on the beaches. Rather the movie will explore the unseen locales of Goa ' travelling through its villages. We have even roped in eight Konkani artistes for the movie.We are planning to start shooting from October 12.'
Apart from Vijay and Manikandan, the team is also on the lookout for a Mumbai-based actress to play the female protagonist.