Director Vijay Menon’s debut directorial film, Njaan Ippo Entha Cheyya (What Will I do Now?), is inspired by the pandemic; a time we spent doing nothing, and the boredom and anxiety that ensued during the period.
“The film is about what happens when two people are stuck inside. And to add to the complexity of the situation is a murder, and they have to deal with it. The movie explores how youngsters handle stress and anxiety,” explains Vijay.
The film was originally planned as a short film. Scripted by Smriti Amarendran, it was shot at Kolathur, Chennai, over a period of two weeks. “Although the movie shows the events unfolding in an apartment, it was actually filmed in a house. And the house is a character in the film,” says Vijay.
The indie film, which is a dark comedy, revolves around two youngsters, Dhivya and Arjun, played by actors Deepa Thomas, who has featured in Malayalam films like Karikku, Mohan Kumar Fans, and Home; and Abhimanyu Gautham, a new face, who is the grandson of V V Babu, who produced the cult Malayalam movie, Thakara.
“Deepa is playing the lead for the first time and she has given 200 per cent to the character. She held the movie together. Abhi has also done an amazing job portraying the role of Arjun,” says Vijay.
“It was originally planned as a feature film. But later it became a full length feature film on urban angst. It is about how Gen Z reacts to different challenges. The events unfold and lead to complexities, culminating in a murder,” he adds.
Chennai-based Vijay is the son of late director, producer and writer, P Venu, who has directed some of the popular Malayalam movies such as Udyogastha (1967), Viruthan Shanku (1968), CID Nazir (1971), and Prethangalude Thazhvara (1973), among others. “I always wanted to be a director because I grew up watching my father’s films and was inspired by him,” says Vijay, who also runs an advertisement agency in Chennai.
Things started rolling for him in 2020, with a short film-cum-musical, Intezaar. And soon he started working on the script of Njaan Ippo Entha Cheyya. However, Vijay recollects that it was not easy to bankroll the project as he was a debutant director. But he managed to get on board a group of people and the rest is history.
“We completed the shoot of the movie in 14 days. Since it was a small film with little money we had no luxury to go wrong. We did a lot of pre-production work and we could complete it within the stipulated time,” he says.
The director is currently working on another movie, which will be in Tamil, but informs that it is too early to delve into more details.
Njaan Ippo Entha Cheyya is streaming on Saina Play.