It is said that there is no better companion than a brother and no better friend than a sister. As an ode to the relationship, Sabari Daas decided to direct a short film. The film titled Veppila, which was uploaded to YouTube this month has gone viral with people praising the director for bringing out a movie that gives a chance for this unconditional love to be glorified. The short film released this month currently has more than 1.65 lakh views and counting.
Sabari says, “It was during a train journey that I struck upon this story. I immediately jotted it down and went home and discussed it with my parents. In the following days, I had a nagging feeling that I should go ahead and direct this movie and decided to discuss it with Kaarthi (Kaarthik Shankar). In fact, when I was jotting this down, I had penned the main character keeping Kaarthi in my mind.” Kaarthik Shankar, who plays the lead, has co-written the script with Sabari and has also composed the background score for the film.
For Sabari, this was his 11th movie. But he says this was the one that got him the recognition that he always wished for. “In a way this could be called my first work, because of the kind of makeover it gave me. It was with this movie that I accepted my new name ‘Sabari’,” he says.
The short film has a scene where a grandmother who is grinding her bitter medicine tells her grandson about how one must not let go of relationships no matter how bitter they are. Speaking about how he decided on the name Veppila, which means Neem, he says, “It was yet another train journey that gifted me this name. I was musing about how it would look if this story is connected with relationships amongst every age group. I thought about the various names and meaning given to relationships, that is how I ended up picking the name Veppila. It took me a day-and-a-half to shoot the movie.”
Sabari is not a trained filmmaker. He says, “Filmmaking is something that I always wanted to try out even as a child. When it comes to this movie, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. I am very happy that I was able to do good work and everyone has accepted it.”
