During that bustling part of the day, in the heart of Thrissur town, one camera and a cinematographer went chasing the shots through its meandering lanes. Little did director Nishad Hasan know that his name was being appended to the list of names like Haroon Rashid, Mohamad Issack, Alexander Sokurov and Amos Gitai. Prolly, he may rewrite the chronology with his latest movie Viplavam Jayikkanullathanu, completed in a one-hour-fifty-minute single shot. Having won the URF World Records, he aims the ultimate —the Guinness World Records.
A month-long marathon rehearsals later, the mammoth crew, of 60 characters and about 1,000 junior artistes, as claimed by the director, achieved the target. The movie runs through four songs, three fight sequences and two flashbacks.
“The complex sectioning was intentional in order to retain the quality of the movie. Apart from the rehearsals, four trials were held prior to the actual shoot. The plot revolves around a political theme taking place during an election that demanded so much preparation and planning from our side,” says Nishad.
The crew had cleaned up the Ayyanthol Lane to do some graffiti on the walls. Another street and its shops were painted yellow to shoot a theme song. With so many things running inside his head, Nishad found time to prove his acting chops, directed the action sequences and handled the choreography too. Wonder what inspired him and how? The inspiration was not from a Russian Ark or Ana Arabia. Assumptions may prove wrong.
“I really ran short of money to fund my movies all through the pre and post production stages when I got struck by the idea. Earlier, I had completed a short film, Vattam, with just '100 in hand. Initially, this project had a producer, who dropped it midway. Finally, our crew drummed up whatever they could to carry forward the project,” he says. He thanks his associate directors — Jineesh K. Joy, Mustaq Muhammed, Sanil K. Babu, Arun Sivadas and Adhin Ollur - who stood by him through thick and thin. Pavi K. Pavan is the DoP. A theatrical release of the film is planned before January, 2018.
The Guinness Record for the longest uncut movie rests with Haroon Rashid’s One Shot Fear Without Cut of 3 hours 28 minutes and 4 seconds (excluding opening and end credits) duration, filmed in Mumbai in 2010.
The story is not over. A Tamil remake of the film in the same format is on the cards in a month’s time. If things pan out well, he may rewrite the way a record is set.
