A Keralite never really loses touch with his roots wherever he may be staying in the world. His heart still yearns for the times spent chatting with his friends at small wayside tea shops, the river flowing near his home, the tasty nadan food made by his mother, the festivals and most importantly the movies and songs that have been an integral part of his growing up years. Of course it does not matter that the small tea shop is now a barista or that the cinema hall is now a multiplex or that the river is now polluted. Sooraj and Ann hail from Kerala, but have settled in Singapore for the past 12 years. Sooraj works as general manager of a publishing company and his wife Ann is an Electronics Engineer.
Though very busy professionals, the couple have taken their nostalgia for Kerala to interesting heights through a web series on YouTube under the name ‘We are a Sambhavam’ started in April 2015 with a spoof video of a male version of Deepika Padukone’s ‘My Life My Choice’.
They then went on to do a Malayalam dubsmash compilation with popular 80s’ Malayalam comedy dialogues, which was shared across websites and gained them fame as a Sambavam couple. That gave them the confidence to work on more projects. Soon after, a video titled ‘Premam Hangover’ which showcased the aftereffects of the movie Premam went viral and gave them an identity on the web platform. Sooraj states, “People started liking our chemistry as well as the simplistic comedy —the key always was to present them in a way that common people could relate to. We made the initial videos without anybody’s help, but still maintained the quality. From that point on, I decided to put more effort and started learning video editing, colour grading, and other technical aspects. The internet was my only guru!”
A look at the videos and you cannot help, but relate to the incidents and characters depicted in them. Comedy seems to be a prominent vein in all the videos and Sooraj says, “Comedy is part and parcel of my life. I was always fascinated by comedy, comedians and the change laughter brings to one’s mood. It’s quite challenging to make someone laugh, so we have always felt proud that we could tickle the funny bone of the viewers.” Most of the videos, very popular amongst the Malayali diaspora across the world, have episodes of funny incidents from the couple’s lives which show Sooraj as the long-suffering husband and Ann as the shrew who cooks only tomato rice. Says Sooraj with a grin, “Contrary to the videos, Ann is an excellent cook, passionate about singing, dancing, fashion designing, and acting.” What about himself? “I am passionate about photography, filmmaking and blogging. I used to be an active blogger 10 years back. In my school and college days I wrote and directed skits too.”
Coming back to the videos they do, Sooraj and Ann now have a sitcom series Singappooram. The video ideas are spontaneous and an episode is shot, edited and released within eight to 10 days. Talking about how the web series evolved, Sooraj explains, “The ‘Premam Hangover’ brought us a platform to perform and people started expecting and requesting more videos so we started thinking what next? We decided to do short videos showcasing funny incidents in married lives. So we came out with this idea of Singappooram (Celebration in Singapore). We made two videos showcasing different stages of married life, which every married couple could relate to. Those videos were widely accepted, which is when I decided to take it forward, include more characters and develop a storyline that can be accepted by everyone without any age bar!”
When the rat race becomes a race against time, what is sacrificed is enjoying the lighter moments in life. Sooraj and Ann univocally state, “Our objective in starting this channel was to show the lighter side of life and make people realize that life is not as complicated as they think, if they take it the right way. Our videos are definitely a stress buster for us and for others. At the end of a tiring day please watch it and I can guarantee it will lighten your mood. Laughter is the best medicine for all our worries, and we are proud that we could contribute something positive to the society.” Directing a feature film is Sooraj’s ultimate aim.
