Swapnasundari, the upcoming Malayalam film starring Rajith Kumar, Sanif Ali, Sreeman Mohan, and Muhammad Sajid Salam, will be a romantic thriller, director KJ Philip told Silverscreen India.
The film is produced by Shaju C George, Salam BT and Subin Babu. One of the songs from the film, Arikathaay Azhake, composed by Vishnu Mohanakrishnan, was released on Friday. Four music directors have composed the five songs in the film.
In conversation with Silverscreen India, director Philip, a teacher by profession who is making his directorial debut with Swapnasundari, said the film’s first half will be a romance while the second will be a thriller. “The film is about how a young man happens to get connected with an unknown girl through a wrong call. The young man goes from Ernakulam to Poopara to meet that girl. However, he is unable to meet the girl and learns that there have been a series of mysterious murders of women in the locality. Rajith Kumar plays Zilla Panchayat President Zachariah Punnoose, who is involved in the investigation.”
The filmmaker added that Swapnasundari will discuss the issues faced by people because of the misuse of mobile phones and cases of impersonation. The film also features four main female characters, played by Shinu Syamalan, Sharon Sahim, Sharlet Sanjeev, and Divya Thomas.
Philip noted that the idea for Swapnasundari’s story came from his friends Royitta and Kumar Zen. The screenplay was developed by Seethu Anson. Royitta has also handled the film’s cinematography, along with Sanoop.
Filming commenced in September 2020 and was wrapped up in December. The film was shot in parts of Thalayolaparambu, Poopara, Munnar, Abu Dhabi, and Muscat.
Philip has been in the teaching profession for 18 years and is currently teaching Maths at a government school in Kerala.
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On what made him decide to take the plunge into cinema, he said, “I have always been interested in films since childhood. However, I was unable to pursue film studies. After I began my teaching career, during the two months of summer vacation each year, I used to assist my director friends with their films. This went on for around eight years. Through this journey, we formed an association called ‘Malayalam Chalachitra Prekshaka Samiti’ consisting of aspiring filmmakers, artists and technicians. Most of the technicians and artists who have worked on Swapnasundari are from this association.”
Speaking about the film’s release, Philip said, “We have finished most of the post-production work. But the final sound mixing is yet to be done. We are planning to release the film in December. The medium of release, whether theatre or OTT, will be decided based on the situation then.”