Remya Raj is on cloud nine. She sounds extremely happy while sharing the experience of seeing the theatre houseful and overflowing when her short film Midnight Run was screened as part of the 11th edition of International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala. Getting vocal about the success of her maiden venture, she says, “The encouragement that I have received cannot be expressed in words. I was fortunate enough to have a well-acclaimed crew behind Midnight Run. This was the reason why I expected to have a good number of people at the screening. However, the response we received was unbelievable.” She adds that usually people clap their hands once the screening is over, but the audience liked Midnight Run so much so that there were more than two instances when the crowd clapped and appreciated the short film.
The short film, which has actor-director Dileesh Pothen and child artist Chetan Jayalal, is about certain events that take place in a single night. It is the story of a young boy who happens to take a ride on a truck and later discovers that the journey has put him in trouble. He fears something very unfortunate is about to come his way. The short film, therefore, narrates the ability of fear to transform a person. When asked about the thought behind the story, Remya says, “One of my friends is B.T. Anil Kumar’s friend. My friend narrated to me a story that Anil had once told him. I thought of making it into a short film and I therefore wrote the script based on the story. I was very particular that an experienced actor had to handle the character of the truck driver as the entire film is shot at night and the actor had to drive the truck properly and at the same time deliver dialogues also. Time was very less as we had only three nights to shoot. However, we finally zeroed in Dileesh Pothen, who is an amazing actor.”
Anil is also the screenwriter for the upcoming Prithviraj movie Kaaliyan. Other members of the noteworthy crew behind Midnight Run include Gireesh Gangadharan, who has handled the camera, and Thondimuthalum Driksakshi fame Kirandas, who has done the editing. The short film has also been chosen to be screened at the seven Hills International Festival, Hungary. Remy, however, has bigger dreams. She shares that her ultimate dream is to make it big in directing feature films. She had also announced a project with Fahad Fazil called Vambathi four years back, which could not take off due to the actor’s date issues. “I have to make feature films and I am very sure that I will. Now I can fearlessly approach any producers with scripts and show them Midnight Run if they have any doubt about investing in a debut director’s project. No matter how many movies I make, I will definitely do Vambathi as it is my first kid and I am extremely in love with it. I cannot shelve the project for any reason,” she says, adding that this is just the beginning and she has miles to go.
