‘I like to make thrillers with the least-expected elements,’ says director Vipin Das

Vipin Das’ second film, Antakshari, an investigation thriller, drops on SonyLIV on April 22

Vipin Das loves narrating out-of-the-box stories. His directorial debut, Mudhugauv (2016), was a caper comedy about an eccentric don with a strange problem. In his second film, Antakshari, which drops on SonyLIV on April 22, Vipin tells the story of a police officer (Saiju Kurup) who is hooked to playing ‘antakshari’.

Saiju as Das is often the butt of jokes for his craze for ‘antakshari’. But this habit eventually takes a dangerous turn. Vipin emphasises that he likes to make thrillers with the “least-expected elements”. In Mudhugauv, the hero is a carefree youngster Bharath (Gokul Suresh) who has the habit of kissing the person near him whether he is nervous or happy. One of them happens to be Ramakrishnan Bonacaud a.k.a. Rambo (Vijay Babu), a don.

His “weird themes”, however, were being rejected all these years. “I have written some seven stories. If the producer liked it, the actor didn’t and vice versa. I never got into that space where I could convince everyone and that’s why it took six years for my second movie,” he says.

Antakshari’’s case was no different. Some of the leading actors were not keen on doing it. “Also, since my first film didn’t do well at the box office, no one wanted to take a risk. Finally, it was Saiju and producer Al Jassam Abdul Jabbar of Sulthan Brothers Entertainment who stood by me. The production house gave me the freedom to choose the artistes I wanted,” Vipin says.

He credits the involvement of director Jeethu Joseph. “He had read this story several years ago and suggested some changes then. Later, we decided to collaborate on a project with Mammootty, which didn’t happen. After that, he got busy with Drishyam 2 and other projects. When Saiju joined Jeethu chettan’s new project, 12th Man, he told him about Antakshari. That was how we connected again. He liked the movie even though I had not made the changes he had pointed out! He was even ready to associate with it. It was because of his presence that we were able to take it to the OTT platform,” Vipin says.

Vipin plans to bring out an extended version of the film in future. “The original product is three-and-a-half-hours long. But we had to edit out certain scenes keeping the family audience in mind. This version is a two-hour film and if it works I hope to release the full version as a series. The content is ready for streaming and the producers are okay with my plan,” he explains.

He admits that while making Antakshari he had no plans about the release. “Having faced so much of rejections I had decided that it was going to be my last movie. I was desperate to prove myself and wanted to bring out this film at any cost. That’s one reason why I explored the possibility of a series. I am happy that it is coming on a streaming platform because if there isn’t enough footfall, theatres usually pull out the movie after a week or so,” he says.