It has been around two years since he debuted as a filmmaker with Asif Ali-starrer Kili Poyi, which was one of the first movies of stoner genre in Malayalam. After a brief sabbatical, director Vinay Govind is back to the film world with his second movie — a heist film — Kohinoor, also with Asif Ali in the lead role.
Vinay was working on another script after his debut movie, but it got lagged owing to his busy schedule as an ad filmmaker. “After Kili Poyi, I thought about various subjects for my second film and my prime focus was to try out a different genre which should be different from my previous film.”
“That was how I landed in a romantic subject — Amar Chithra Gadha with Nivin Pauly in the lead. Though the subject was ready, the script demanded more time to get completed. That was then I came to know about this script via Aju (actor Aju Varghese),” says Vinay.
It was in May last year, writers Ranjeet and Salil narrated their script to Vinay. “Along with the subject and the genre, I liked the period in which the story has been set. I decided to go on with this project first.”
“Kohinoor is set in 1988 and is being narrated against the backdrop of then Kozhikode. That period is very close to heart for me as most of the Malayalam films which influenced me later, such as Irupatham Nootandu and Aryan — were released in that year,” says the director, who too was born that year.
Filming a movie set 27 years ago was challenging. “As it was not such an ancient period and we cannot find much change in the outlook and appearance of people, there were only minute differences. Even if it was a tough process, all the technicians — from makeup to costumes and art to music — had worked hard to look it natural. The support of producers (Asif Ali, Saji Jaffar and Brijeesh Mohammed) also made the ride smooth,” Vinay sums up.
