Even though he shows signs of tiredness that come with old age, he stands in the scorching sun with a red sign board that reads, ‘Meals Ready,’ to lure passers-by to come into the hotel on the National Highway. If you’re wondering what this is about, it is the plot of the short-film, Meals Ready produced and directed by the talented Nithuna Nevil Dinesh.
Nithuna, a 26-year-old girl from Thiruvananthapuram bagged the Golden Halo Award for the best filmmaker (Meals Ready) at the recently concluded international short-film festival in Kochi, Script 2012. Her 12 minute one-reeler, competed with 68 other short-films from different languages.
“I never thought that my film would be selected to the best film award category,” says Nithuna. A panel of eminent jurists and the audience gave full marks to the movie and the hand behind it. Nithuna remembers the jury remark, “Some films are made on an intellectual level. And some go right to the heart. Meals Ready is one of the latter.”
“Receiving the award from renowned filmmaker, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, was great and it encouraged me a lot,” says Nithuna who travelled from Thiruvananthapuram to Vadagara in search of the character for Meals Ready.
When asked about the concept of a silent film, Nithuna said, “I believe that the visuals are rich inMeals Ready. When I am visually able to convey the message then there is no need for any dialogue. Let the audience watch and understand rather than convey the message through dialogues.”
Her first short film called An Unusual Day was selected to the third IDSFFK (International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala) in 2010. “I was very excited. It was the happiest moment in my life,” adds Nithuna who makes short films with the money she earns from dubbing.
Nithuna, who is a professional voice-over artiste, gives all the credit for the award to her husband, Dinesh Devadas, who is an audio manager with a media organisation in the State and to her parents, Adv. Nevil Lopez and dubbing artiste, Meena Nevil. “My parents and husband supported me a lot.
I am blessed to have such a family,” says Nithuna, who finished a journalism diploma from Trivandrum Press Club and currently doing an MA in English.
Says Nithuna, “I enjoy dubbing. Direction on the other hand gets me a bit worried. I am learning all the technicalities in direction.”
Nithuna has dubbed for Nithya Menon in Urumi and Thalsamayam Oru Penkutti.
In spite of all this, Nithuna is very grounded. Maybe it’s this simplicity and poise that makes her different from other dubbing artistes.
