Malayalam filmmaker Rajesh Nair, whose 18 Hours released recently, will next be directing a film titled Wedding in Washington. The director made the announcement on social media on Tuesday.
Apart from directing, Nair will also be backing the film along with Salil Shankaran.
Speaking to Silverscreen India about the upcoming film, Nair says, “It is a romantic comedy. In my 2015 film, Salt Mango Tree, I had discussed how people chase after good schools for their children. In this one, I am talking about people who dream of getting married to a US guy and settling down there. How these people want to go to the US more than anything, and how they value that over relationships and compatibility. The film is about a wedding between a guy from the US and a girl from south India.”
The script of Wedding in Washington has been penned by Sreeparvathy. However, Nair says the core idea was his. “I’ve had it in mind for quite a long time. I have been outside India for 18 years and I understand how people see you when you come here, how they talk and what they want. I thought it would be good to make a film on this. Sreeparvathy and I then discussed this, and she came on board as the scriptwriter.”
Nair says the film will have a weighty cast, which will be disclosed with the release of the first-look poster. “You can expect well-known faces from the Malayalam film industry. It is one of my biggest films in terms of budget.”
The director also reveals that the film will go on floors in January 2022. The team will be travelling to the US in December as 80% of the shoot will take place in Washington DC. The rest will be set in Trivandrum, Kerala. “We have not yet decided if it will be a multilingual film. Initial plans are to shoot in Malayalam,” Nair adds.
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Wedding in Washington will mark the second collaboration of cinematographer PM Rajkumar with Nair, after 18 Hours. Speaking to Silverscreen India, Rajkumar says, “Since the US has a lot of skyscrapers, we are looking to show it as a paradise. In terms of cinematography, we want to convey the feeling of seeing something for the first time. We are going to show the film from the perspective of a normal person who is going to the US for the first time. We will be approaching it like wedding candid videos, with glossiness and a sense of grand celebration.”
“The location scouting has been done by the director,” adds Rajkumar, noting that they plan to film in two schedules: a 10-day shoot in Kerala and a 25-day shoot in the US. “During the pre-production, we have planned the timings and story-boarding. We are looking to complete the entire filming within 40 days,” he says.