Right now, one short film that is trending on YouTube is Ramaniyechiyude Namathil, created by team Ramaniyechi. The title may evoke a feeling that the film is about a woman called Ramani. But, that isn’t exactly so. Though Ramani is the talking point in it, the stars of the short film are a cobra and a man who adventurously escapes its bite.
Directed by Liju Thomas, an assistant director in films, the story of Ramaniyechiyude Namathil takes place in a well. “The credit of the film’s success goes to the team,” says Liju, who has assisted directors such as VKP, Joy Mathew and Aneesh Anwar.
Ramaniyechiyude Namathil is Liju’s first independent attempt. The shooting of the film took place in an unused well in Vadakkancherry. The team has used a real cobra for the shoot. “Fear is the gripping factor in this short film,” says the director.
Besides the snake, there are two characters in it — Ramani chechi’s husband and his friend. The husband suspects that his friend admires Ramani chechi. It is this suspicion that leads him to push his friend into the well to get bitten by the snake.
For Arun Kumar, the friend in the film, who acted along with the snake, it has been a fearful experience. He says, “Though snake trainer Shamsudeen was there with the cameraman and director inside the well, I was afraid of a snake bite. But, I was concerned about the film more than anything else.”
Liju’s uncle Kutti Naduvil, the scriptwriter of the film says, “In our place, one day I saw a snake in a well. People had gathered around the well to see the snake. What would happen if an onlooker slid down into the well by chance? That visual actually inspired me to come up with this idea. In this world, a man will think of killing his friend only if he eyes his wife. Hence, I brought the fictional character Ramani,” says Kutti Naduvil.
A few days ago, YouTube took the video off, Liju says, “That was based on some wrong information. Someone had reported to YouTube that there was obscene content in it. There is nothing like that. We have tackled it and the film is available online now,” says Liju assuring that team ramaniyechi will be back with a feature film soon.
The short film was screened at various festivals such as FEFKA short film festival and bagged many accolades. “The film was made actually last year. So far, we have got more than 30 awards for the film in different categories,” he says.
